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:''Also see: Mauvilla.'' The town of Mabila〔 (or Mavila, Mavilla, ''Mauvilla'')〔 was a small fortress town known to Chief Tuskaloosa in 1540, in a region of present-day central Alabama.〔 The exact location has been debated for centuries, but southwest of present-day Selma, Alabama, is one possibility. Mabila was a Trojan-horse, fake village concealing over 2500 native warriors, planning to attack the expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540.〔 Sylvia Flowers, "DeSoto's Expedition", U.S. National Park Service, 2007, webpage: ( NPS-DeSoto ). 〕 When Hernando de Soto had first met Tuskaloosa at his home village, and asked him for supplies, Tuskaloosa advised them to travel to another of his towns, known as ''Mabila'', where supplies would be waiting. A native messenger was sent ahead to Mabila, but when Tuskaloosa and the first group of Spaniards arrived, Tuskaloosa simply asked them to leave. When a fight broke out between one soldier and a native, many hidden warriors emerged from houses and began shooting arrows.〔 The Spaniards fled, leaving their possessions inside the fortress. The full conflict that resulted is called the ''Battle of Mabila''.〔〔 The single primary source about DeSoto's expedition was written by Hernández de Biedma. Another account usually described as that of DeSoto's aide Rodrigo Ranjel, survives only partially in a summary history written by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés. That secondary source had a strong influence on the formation of the text generally known as the ''Relaçam'' of the "Gentleman of Elvas" and then, in turn, on the writing of Garcilaso de la Vega's ''Florida del Inca''. (see review of ''The Hernando de Soto Expedition:'' ''History, Historiography, and Discovery in the Southeast'' in ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' 30.3, Winter 1999, webpage: ( SIU-G )). 〕 ==The fortress town== The walled compound of Mabila, one of many that the Spaniards encountered in their travels,〔 was enclosed in a thick stuccoed wall, 16.5-ft (5-m) high, made from wide tree trunks tied with cross-beams and covered with mud/straw stucco, to appear as a solid wall.〔 The fortress was defended by shooting arrows or throwing stones. The town of Mabila was described by Garcilaso de la Vega as: 〔〔 Related spellings: ''Mavila'', ''Mavilla'', ''Mauvilla''. 〕 : "...on a very fine plain and had an enclosure three estados (about 16.5 feet or 5-m) high, which was made of logs as thick as oxen. They were driven into the ground so close together that they touched one another. Other beams, longer and not so thick, were placed crosswise on the outside and inside and attached with split canes and strong cords. On top they were daubed with a great deal of mud packed down with long straw, which mixture filled all the cracks and open spaces between the logs and their fastenings in such manner that it really looked like a wall finished with a mason's trowel. At intervals of fifty paces around this enclosure, were towers capable of holding seven or eight men who could fight in them. The lower part of the enclosure, to 'the height of an estado' (5.55 feet), was full of loopholes for shooting arrows at those on the outside. The pueblo had only two gates, one on the east and the other on the west. In the middle of the pueblo, was a spacious plaza around which were the largest and most important houses." 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mabila」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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