Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was from a respected Spanish military family. After serving in Europe, he joined the 1528 expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez to the unexplored and vast territory stretching from eastern Mexico to Florida. After seven months of exposure to the elements, starvation, and battles with Indians, what remained of the force that had landed on the coast of Florida tried a risky raft voyage across the gulf to Mexico. Fewer than a hundred survivors washed up on the shore of an island off the coast of Texas, and this number dwindled steadily. Cabeza de Vaca spent years among local Indians, until he was reunited with three other survivors around 1533. They then began a journey across Texas and Mexico and arrived at a Spanish outpost in 1536. They later moved on to Mexico City, having walked several...