Luis de Moscoso Alvarado

Luis de Moscoso Alvarado (1505–1551) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. Luis de Moscoso Alvarado assumed command of Hernando De Soto's expedition upon the latter's death.

Early life Luis de Moscoso Alvarado was born in Badajoz, Spain, to Alonso Hernández Diosdado Mosquera de Moscoso and Isabel de Alvarado. De Moscoso had two brothers, Juan de Alvarado and Cristóbal de Mosquera. His uncle was the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, who had excelled in the conquests of Mexico and Central America.

Career

Expeditions with Pedro de Alvarado Alvarado accompanied his uncle on expeditions to the Americas, where he participated in the conquest of present-day Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.

In 1534, he traveled to Peru with his uncle on an expedition through what is now Ecuador. As Alvarado explored the area, he and Pedro discovered several tribes in the Manabí Province. After returning to Peru, Alvarado obtained the title of "maestre de campo" (field commander) and kept this title until March 1541, when the group was attacked by the Chickasaw Native American tribe, which caused the death of twelve Spaniards and many of the horses that participated in the expedition. The attack was, apparently (and mainly), the result of a misunderstanding between Alvarado and the tribe. De Soto died of fever on May 21, 1542, in what became Arkansas, leaving Moscoso as the leader of the expedition, in the position of commander. After consulting with the other leaders, Moscoso decided to abandon the mission to found a colony and take the expedition to New Spain in present-day Mexico.

As expedition leader

Moscoso and his army marched west, reaching northwest Louisiana and Texas. They encountered Caddoan Mississippian peoples along the way, but lacked interpreters to communicate with them and eventually ran into territory too dry for maize farming and too thinly populated to sustain themselves by stealing food from the local populations. The expedition promptly backtracked to Guachoya on the Mississippi River.

There Moscoso wrote two letters to Charles V, the king of Castile at the time, although these letters explained little about the expedition. Later, Moscoso began to work for the viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza, whom he accompanied to Peru in 1550. It was there where Moscoso died in 1551.

Personal life After sending the letters to the King of Spain, Moscoso Alvarado married his cousin Leonor in Mexico City. Leonor was daughter of the Alvarado's uncle Juan de Alvarado (the brother of Pedro de Alvarado).