Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was born in Spain around 1490 and grew up during the age of great voyages to the New World. Columbus, Cortés, Vespucci—these were names familiar to him.
In 1527 he sailed on Pánfilo de Narváez’s expedition to conquer what is now Florida. On June 15, 5 ships and 600 men sailed from Sanlúcar. Their mission was to bring Christianity to the “heathens”—by force if necessary—and to return rich with gold!
Cabeza de Vaca did get to Florida, but his achievements were not the ones the Spanish had hoped for. He was among the first to report on Florida’s interior and on the opossum and the armadillo. He was the first to explore what is now Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. He was also the first to describe the buffalo, the Gila monster, and many tribes of Native Americans. His explorations proved that the North American continent was much, much larger than anyone had imagined.
