Narváez expedition

The Narváez expedition was a Spanish journey of exploration started in 1527 intended to establish some colonial settlements and garrisons in Florida. Some 300 were assigned to explore Florida by land; they numbered 80 by late 1528. More men died as they traveled west along the Gulf Coast and Southwest of present-day United States and into the north of Mexico; the four survivors reached Mexico City in 1536. The expedition was led by Pánfilo de Narváez, who died in 1528. The survivors of the land expedition were the first known Europeans and Africans to see the Mississippi River, and cross the Gulf of Mexico and Texas.

The crew initially numbered about 600, including men from Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy. Making stops along the way to Florida at Hispaniola and Cuba, the expedition suffered a hurricane, among other storms, losing two ships. After landing near Sarasota Bay, Florida, the expedition was split, with 300 men sent overland in search of gold. They were subject to attacks by American Indians, and suffered from disease and severe lack of food. By September 1528, following an attempt by survivors to sail on makeshift rafts from Florida to Mexico, only 80 men survived after being swept onto Galveston Island, Texas. Over the next few years, survivors were enslaved by Native American tribes; more men died from harsh conditions and disease.

Only four of the original party survived the next eight years to encounter Spanish slave catchers in Sinaloa in 1536. With them, the survivors, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and his enslaved Moor Estevanico, finally reached Mexico City. After returning to Spain, Cabeza de Vaca wrote of the expedition in his La Relación (The Relation), published in 1542 as the first written account of North America. With later additions, it was published under the title, Naufragios (Shipwreck).

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