[marktwain]

True, the wild hogs of the Southeastern USA are descendants of the pigs that escaped from DeSoto’s and DeLeon’s explorations....................

Many were deliberatly let go to establish a food supply for the Spanish explorers.

One notable trip credited with numerous hog introductions was Hernando De Soto’s expedition across the southeastern United states from Florida to Texas. De Soto’s expedition was supplied with hogs from free ranging populations in Cuba. During his expedition, De Soto regularly left groups of pigs behind due to escape, capture, and so that there would be food sources for their return journey. De Soto’s expedition arrived in Texas in 1542, where they set up multiple camps losing pigs at each one.

[Red Badger]

A secondary consequence of this was the destruction of Southeastern Indian tribes food crops. The Indian tribes of the Southeast, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creak and Seminoles, among others, were primarily land subsistence farming growing corn, squash, melons, peas and beans. The hogs uprooted many of the tribes fields creating sudden famines.............