Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

(c. 1490 - c. 1560)

Serving as treasurer for the Spanish expedition under Pánfilo de Narváez, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca landed on the shores of Florida in 1528; by next spring only he and fourteen others from the group were alive. He lived for a time as a slave among American Indians. After eight years, he arrived in Mexico City, having traveled a distance of around 1,200 miles. Núñez later became governor of the Río de la Plata province in South America.