Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca was a treasurer to the Spanish expedition under Panfilo De Narvaez. That reached what is now present day Tampa bay, Florida, in 1528. De Narvaez was granted the land in Florida in 1526 by the Emperor Charles the V. He led an expedition there with 250-300 men including Cabeza De Vaca. After surviving a hurricane near Cuba, his expedition landed on the west coast of Florida near Tampa bay on April, 1528, claiming the land for Spain. A series of fights with Native Americans and hurricanes killed most of the crew. The pilot of the ship sailed to Mexico without the men. The men hastily made 5 makeshift rafts, and sailed west, hoping to make it to Spanish settlement in Mexico. Three rafts sank, but the remaining two, carrying 80 men, landed on Galveston Island, off which is now Texas, and Narvaez did not survive. After a very cold winter, with very little food, only 15 men survived. In the spring the men traveled west along the Colorado river. By 1533 there were only 4 survivors, Estevanico, Carranza, Cabeza De Vaca, and Alonso Castillo Maldonado. The men were enslaved by some Indian tribes, and helped by others. They were the first non-natives that traveled the southwest of North America. By September all of De Vaca's party but 60 had perished. They reached shore near present-day Galveston, Texas. He spent eight years in Texas and was appointed governor of the province of Rio De La Plata.