Pánfilo de Narváez (1470 – 1528) was a Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas. He was born in Vallenda, Spain. He is most remembered as the leader of two expeditions, one to Mexico in 1520 to oppose Hernán Cortés, and another, disastrous, to Florida in 1527.
Narváez was a young duke much like his father, born in Castile (in either Cuéllar or Valladolid) in 1470.Narvaez took part in the conquest of Jamaica in 1509. In 1512 he went to Cuba to participate in the conquest of that island under the command of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. He led expeditions to the eastern end of that island in the company of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan de Grijalva.
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Expedition to Mexico
After living on Hispaniola and Cuba, Narváez was sent to Mexico as Velázquez's agent to undermine Cortés's ambitions there. Narváez disembarked in Veracruz with at least 800 spanish men, 50 horses and some artillery[1]. There they supervened a period of struggles in which they faced indigenous attacks, which caused several victims among Narváez's troops[2]; and later, the forces of Hernán Cortés. Many of the men who were accompanying Narváez joined Cortés's side and finally Narváez was defeated, in Zempoala, Veracruz on May 24, 1520, despite of his numerical superiority. Narváez, who was injured during the battle, was made prisoner and led to Port of Veracruz where he was imprisoned for nearly two years.
Expedition to Florida
Narváez was subsequently appointed adelantado (governor) of Florida by Charles V. He sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on June 17, 1527 with a fleet of five ships and 700 men. The expedition arrived on the coast of Florida in April 1528, weakened by storms and desertions. He landed with 300 men near the Rio de las Palmas—thought to be somewhere near Tampa Bay—among hostile natives. From there, his expedition marched northward through interior Florida until it reached the territory of the powerful Apalachee Indians. Unable to find the gold and other riches he sought and tired of the hostilities with the Indians, Narváez ordered the construction of four rafts to return to the sea from the interior. He intended to rejoin the ships and continue to Mexico, but the vessels were destroyed in a storm. Narváez and almost all the members of his expedition died. The storm wrecked two of the four rafts. The eighty men who survived the storm began an overland trek for Mexico. Starvation claimed most of their lives. Only four men survived the trek — Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza and one Berber slave named Estevanico (Esteban). Estavanico was arguably the first person born in Africa to set foot in what is today the United States. Cabeza de Vaca wrote a narration entitled Naufragios (Shipwrecks), in which he described the journey made by these four survivors on foot across the southeastern United States. This trek took eight years before they arrived in Culiacán (Sinaloa), where they found a Spanish settlement.
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References
- Schneider, Paul. Brutal Crossing: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America. Henry Holt. 2006. ISBN 080506835X
