Spanish explorers first entered Georgia in the 1500s, bringing diseases that devastated the native population. In 1540, the conquistador Hernando De Soto led 600 soldiers across Georgia, torturing and enslaving natives in search of gold and silver. Though he found no gold, De Soto had a lasting negative impact on the natives. Diseases introduced by the Spanish, to which the natives had no resistance, wiped out entire villages. The Spanish went on to establish missions along Georgia's barrier islands to convert natives to Catholicism.