Joara
![A map showing the de Soto expedition route thru Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Based on the Charles M. Hudson map of 1997](/Images/godic/202501/21/DeSoto_Map_Leg_2_HRoe_20082859.jpg")
![Detail of Joara (spelled Xuala) and neighboring villages on Chiaves' 1584 map of La Florida](/Images/godic/202501/21/Chiaves-map-xuala-15842859.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/21/Mississippian_cultures_HRoe_20102859.jpg")
Joara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina, about 300 miles in the interior in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joara is notable as a significant archaeological and historic site. It was a place of encounter in 1540 between the Mississippian people and the party of Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto.