{"id":4867,"canonical_url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1542ce-may-21--4867","name":"1542 CE, May 21","year":1542,"era":"CE","month":5,"day":21,"url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1542ce-may-21--4867","iso-date":"1542-05-21","precision":"year-month-day","description":"\u003cp\u003eSpanish explorer and conquistador, Hernando De Soto, died on May 21, 1542. on the banks of the Mississippi river. He had first reached the Mississippi a year earlier on May 1541, at a point below Natchez, becoming the first European to seen and document the river. From there, he had traveled through Arkansas and Louisiana, before turning back to the Mississippi, where de Soto died of a fever.\u003c/p\u003e","additional_details":"","photo":"https://k365fs.imgix.net/Mjj7ZNZpRvL93IbJcjAT_Hernando_de_Soto_1881%20-%20PDR.jpg?auto=format,compress\u0026fit=clip\u0026max-w=1600","photo_width":640,"photo_height":476,"created_at":"2026-05-21T11:41:06-07:00","updated_at":"2026-05-21T11:41:06-07:00","breadcrumbs":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"May History","item":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"May 21","item":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may-21"}]},"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Thing","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1542ce-may-21--4867#eventK365","name":"1542 CE, May 21","headline":"Spanish explorer and conquistador, Hernando De Soto, died on May 21, 1542 - 1542 CE","description":"Spanish explorer and conquistador, Hernando De Soto, died on May 21, 1542. on the banks of the Mississippi river. He had first reached the Mississippi a year...","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1542ce-may-21--4867","additionalType":"HistoricalEvent","inLanguage":"en","datePublished":"2026-05-21T11:41:06-07:00","dateModified":"2026-05-21T11:41:06-07:00","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/#organizationK365"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://k365fs.imgix.net/Mjj7ZNZpRvL93IbJcjAT_Hernando_de_Soto_1881%20-%20PDR.jpg?auto=format,compress\u0026fit=clip\u0026max-w=1600","width":640,"height":476},"temporalCoverage":"1542-05-21","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/#websiteK365"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may","name":"What Happened in May History"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may-21#pageK365","name":"What Happened on May 21"}]}}