Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Background

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was born around 1490 in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, to an hidalgo family. His paternal grandfather, Pedro de Vera y Mendoza, was a military governor who conquered Grand Canaria and brutally suppressed a revolt on Gomera. Cabeza de Vaca served as a page and chamberlain to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, fought in the Italian Wars (including the Battle of Ravenna in 1512), and later fought against the Revolt of the Comuneros and the French in Navarre. In 1527 he was appointed royal treasurer for Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition to La Florida.

The expedition set sail in June 1527 with five vessels and 600 people. After losing men in Hispaniola and ships in a hurricane in Cuba, the reduced fleet reached Florida in April 1528, likely near Tampa Bay.

Against Cabeza de Vaca's advice, Narváez split the expedition, leading 300 men overland toward Apalachee while the ships sailed ahead. Cabeza de Vaca joined the overland march, later writing that he preferred risking his life to placing his honor in jeopardy. After eight years of travel, he and three others were the only survivors, reaching Mexico in 1536.

After returning to Spain in 1537, he wrote La relación y comentarios (published 1542), later retitled Naufragios y comentarios. In 1540 he was appointed adelantado of what is now Paraguay, serving as governor and captain general of New Andalusia. He worked to build up Buenos Aires but was charged with poor administration in 1544, arrested, and transported to Spain for trial in 1545. His sentence was eventually commuted, but he never returned to the Americas.