Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

"The power and mercy of God enabled us to survive"

He and his three companions were the first Europeans to study the interior
of the continental United States.  They were in search of a "land bridge" to New Spain that had been conquered by Hernan Cortes.

They penetrated inland from eastern Texas to Sonora, on foot. They were castaways and the only survivors of the 400 manexpedition under Panfilo Narvaez near Tampa Bay, Florida - April 1528.

Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, their leader was a nobleman, born at Jerez de la Frontera, near Cadiz, Spain. His grandfather had conquered the Grand Canary Island. Nunez Cabeza de Vaca had friends in the royal court and had left Spain with Narvaez, as the king's treasurer and hight sheriff of this expedition.

Captain Alfonso de Castillo was another survivor, son of a Salamanca physician;
Andres Dorantes of Bejar, and Estaban who was a native of Azamor, Morocco.