Narváez Expedition and Cabeza de Vaca's Odyssey (1527-1536)

The Narváez expedition was a Spanish attempt to conquer Florida that became one of the great disasters of the age of exploration. Of about 300 men who marched inland under Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528, only four survived to reach Spanish territory. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three companions spent eight years among the Indigenous peoples of the Gulf Coast and walked across Texas and northern Mexico, reaching Mexico City in 1536, and Cabeza de Vaca’s account remains a classic of early American history.

Background

Pánfilo de Narváez was a veteran conquistador of Cuba. In 1520 he had been sent to Mexico to arrest Hernán Cortés, only to be defeated and captured by him at Cempoala, losing an eye (see Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire). In 1526 Charles V granted him the right to conquer and govern the lands along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to the Río de las Palmas in northeastern Mexico. Florida itself had been reached by Spaniards since Ponce de León’s expedition in 1513, but no colony had lasted.

Narváez sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on 17 June 1527 with five ships and about 600 men. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a nobleman from Jerez de la Frontera, served as treasurer and royal official.

Disaster in Florida

Trouble began early. Many men deserted in Hispaniola, and a hurricane off Cuba destroyed two ships and killed about 60 men. In April 1528 the remaining force landed near Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida.

Hearing of gold in a province called Apalachee to the north, Narváez decided to march inland with about 300 men and 40 horses while the ships searched for a harbour. Cabeza de Vaca opposed separating from the fleet. The ships and the land force never found each other again; after searching for months, the ships sailed away to Cuba and Mexico.

The marchers reached Apalachee, in the region of present-day Tallahassee, in June 1528, but found only a village of farmers and no gold. Under constant attack by Apalachee warriors and short of food, they struggled to the coast. At a place they called the Bay of Horses, probably on Apalachee Bay, they killed their horses for food, made tools from their weapons and built five crude boats.

The boats and the shipwreck

On 22 September 1528 about 240 men set off in the boats, hoping to follow the coast west to Spanish Mexico. They suffered from thirst, hunger and storms. Off the Mississippi delta the boats were separated. Narváez’s boat was carried out to sea in a storm and never seen again.

In early November 1528 Cabeza de Vaca’s boat was thrown ashore on an island off the Texas coast, probably Galveston Island or a nearby barrier island. The Spaniards called it Malhado, the Isle of Misfortune. Survivors from another boat joined them, but cold and hunger killed most of them that winter, and some of the survivors ate the bodies of the dead, to the horror of the local Karankawa people.

Eight years among the peoples of Texas

For about six years Cabeza de Vaca lived among the peoples of the Texas coast and interior, at times as a near-slave, later as a travelling trader carrying shells, hides and other goods. He and his companions also became known as healers, praying over the sick and making the sign of the cross, which gave them protection and status.

Around 1532–1533 he was reunited with three other survivors: Andrés Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado and Estevanico, an enslaved Moroccan owned by Dorantes. In September 1534 the four escaped and set off west. Their route is disputed, but they crossed southern Texas, probably reached the Rio Grande, and passed through northern Mexico. Thousands of people accompanied them from village to village, treating them as powerful healers.

Early in 1536, in Sinaloa on the Pacific side of Mexico, they met Spanish slave raiders. Cabeza de Vaca was shocked at their treatment of the Indigenous people who had sheltered him. The four reached Mexico City in July 1536, where they were received by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza.

A changed view of the Indigenous world

Cabeza de Vaca’s years as a captive, trader and healer gave him an unusual view of the peoples he lived among. His account describes their seasonal movements, food such as prickly pear fruit and pecans, trade networks, rituals and warfare, and records the names of dozens of groups. It also expresses a growing conviction that the Indigenous peoples should be won over by good treatment rather than by force, a view that set him apart from many conquistadors.

Scholars have long debated how far his account was shaped by the need to present himself well to the crown, and how much it reflects real events. Most agree that it is a genuine and remarkable record, even if some episodes, such as his miraculous healings, were told to fit European expectations.

Key people

• Pánfilo de Narváez (c. 1478–1528): leader of the expedition, lost at sea.
• Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c. 1490 – c. 1559): treasurer, survivor and author.
• Estevanico (died 1539): enslaved Moroccan, one of the four survivors.
• Andrés Dorantes and Alonso del Castillo Maldonado: Spanish survivors.

Consequences

The survivors’ reports of large towns to the north fed rumours of rich cities. Viceroy Mendoza sent the friar Marcos de Niza north in 1539 with Estevanico as guide; Estevanico was killed at the Zuni town of Hawikuh. Their reports helped launch the Coronado Expedition of 1540. In Spain, Hernando de Soto tried to recruit Cabeza de Vaca for his own expedition to Florida.

Cabeza de Vaca published his account in 1542, with a revised edition in 1555. In 1540 he was appointed governor of the Río de la Plata in South America and reached Asunción in 1542, but in 1544 he was overthrown by rivals, sent back to Spain in chains and convicted. He died in Spain around 1559.

Legacy

La Relación is among the earliest European accounts of the peoples, plants and animals of the present-day southern United States, including some of the first descriptions of the American bison. Historians value it for its record of Indigenous societies before later epidemics and conquests transformed them, though its details must be read with care.

Estevanico is remembered as one of the first people of African origin known to have explored the interior of North America. The journey of the four survivors, who crossed thousands of kilometres on foot, is one of the most extraordinary stories of survival from the 16th century.

Timeline

• 1527, 17 June: Narváez sails from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 600 men.
• 1528, April: The expedition lands near Tampa Bay, Florida.
• 1528, 1 May: Narváez leads about 300 men inland, leaving the ships.
• 1528, 22 September: About 240 survivors set out in five boats.
• 1528, November: Cabeza de Vaca is shipwrecked on Malhado off Texas; Narváez is lost at sea.
• 1534, September: The four survivors, reunited some months earlier, escape and begin their journey west.
• 1536, early: They meet Spanish slave raiders in Sinaloa.
• 1536, July: The four reach Mexico City.

Why it matters

The Narváez expedition showed how dangerous the conquest of North America could be for the invaders, as well as for the peoples they met. Through Cabeza de Vaca’s account it gave Europe one of its first views of the lands north of Mexico, and its stories helped inspire the great Spanish expeditions of de Soto and Coronado.