De Soto National Memorial

De Soto National Memorial is a national memorial located in Manatee County, approximately five miles west of Bradenton, Florida. The national memorial commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto and the first extensive organized exploration by Europeans of what is now the southern United States. The memorial site comprises 26.84 acres, where the Manatee River joins Tampa Bay. It has 3,000 feet of coastline; eighty percent of the area is mangrove swamp.