Despite becoming wealthy following his role in the conquest of Peru, he returned to the Americas in 1539 and ended up exploring much of what became the American Southeast. A painting of him discovering the Mississippi River hangs in the US Capitol, and he was the first documented European to cross it – possibly near Memphis. The bridge on which Interstate 40 crosses the Mississippi between Arkansas and Tennessee is named for which Spanish explorer and conquistador, who died along the river in 1542?
HERNANDO DE SOTO