Exploring the Early Americas

The Jay I. Kislak Collection

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This account tells how four men of the 600-member Narváez expedition to Florida—Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, two other Spaniards, and an African slave, Esteban—survived a seven-year trek on foot from Florida through Texas to Mexico City.  The four survivors arrived in Mexico in 1536, having survived hardships, privation, Indian attacks, and even enslavement.