CCD HISTORY 201 - History of United States 1
On June 17,1527, the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition left Spain with five ships and 600 men, including Cabeza de Vaca. The mission was to establish a colony in "la Florida," which stretched from the southern tip of modern-day Florida along the Gulf Coast to the Rio de las Palmas, north of the ill-defined province of Pánuco.In mid-September, they landed on Hispaniola, where 140 men deserted. They were nearly wiped out by a hurricane in Cuba. After six months of wandering in Florida, fighting hostile Indians, malaria, and dysentery, they pushed to sea again, building five 30-foot barges and heading west along the Gulf Coast toward Pánuco.
On November 5 and 6, 1528, two barges and 80 men landed on either Galveston Island or an island just west of Galveston. The barges were soon lost, and all but 15 of the men, too, to cold, hunger, disease, drowning, injuries, cannibalism (among themselves), and violence at the hands of not-so-friendly Indians.
After six years of living with both hostile and friendly native peoples, Cabeza de Vaca and three other survivors: Andrés Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Esteban (Dorantes' slave, a black Moor from Morocco) - began their journey anew. They again headed south toward Pánuco, then turned inland, living with the natives, eating straw, roots, worms, spiders, and bitter fruits and nuts, practicing the art of healing, and moving on, often accompanied by hundreds of Indian guides and well-wishers.
In late January 1536, they met up with a party of Spanish soldiers on a slaving expedition and ultimately prevented their old countrymen from enslaving their new ones - their Pima Indian escorts. Finally, in July 1536, the four arrived in Mexico City to heroes' welcomes.