Ruskin Hillsborough Florida United States

Conquistador Hernando de Soto, Governor of Cuba, having sailed from Spain the previous year, arrives to the Florida coast with over six hundred and twenty men and two hundred and twenty horses.

He also brings with him thirteen pigs, the first of their species on the American mainland. (Their descendants will become the American Razorbacks, some of which now roam wild in the southeastern United States.

Landing on May 30, 1539 in south Tampa Bay, he names it Espíritu Santo after the Holy Spirit.

The ships have brought priests, craftsmen, engineers, farmers, and merchants; some with their families, some from Cuba, most from Europe and Africa.

Few have traveled before outside of Spain, or even their home villages.

Near de Soto's port, the party finds Juan Ortiz, a Spaniard, living with the Mocoso.

Ortiz had been captured by the Uzita while searching for the lost Narváez expedition, and had later escaped to Mocoso.

Ortiz knows the Timucua language and will serve de Soto as an interpreter as he traverses the Timucuan-speaking areas on his way to Apalachee.

The Mocosos of Tampa Bay, who live in the area of the Safety Harbor culture, paint their bodies red and wear plumes in their hair.

The de Soto expedition chroniclers record that Mocoso is subject to an inland chief named Paracoxi or Urriparacoxi of a village of the same name.

Paracoxi is a leadership title used some of the Eastern Timucua groups.