Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
~1490–~1559 · Spanish (Jerez de la Frontera) · Age of Discovery
Known for: Survived an eight-year odyssey across North America living among Native Americans—the first European to cross the continent's interior
Cabeza de Vaca was part of the failed Narváez expedition to Florida. After the expedition's destruction, he and three companions spent eight years walking across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico, living among Native Americans as a healer, trader, and spiritual figure.
His account, La Relación, is remarkably sympathetic to indigenous peoples—he described them as more kind than Christians. He later governed Río de la Plata but was arrested for treating indigenous people too humanely and sent back to Spain in chains.
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