Answer:
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer. He is best known for the epic journey he made between 1527 and 1536 in North America.
He participated in the expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez through Florida. That expedition was wrecked and Cabeza de Vaca was one of the few survivors. He was stranded on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, near Galveston in current Texas. Cabeza de Vaca fought for survival. He began a journey through the interior of North America, to return to the Spanish occupation in New Spain. Large groups of Indians regularly joined him, who believed that he had magical powers. Cabeza de Vaca began to feel sympathy for the Indians, and at one point he hardly knew whether he was an Indian or a European.
In 1529 he met Andres Dorantes, Alonso Castillo Maldonado and the African slave Estevanico, also shipwrecked from the Narvaez expedition. The four of them continue the journey. They traveled further through New Mexico and the Sierra Madre Mountains until they reached the Gulf of California. In February 1536 they met a Spanish slave trader. Cabeza de Vaca prevented him from imprisoning his Indian companions, and traveled on to Mexico City.
He returned to Spain, where he wrote a report about his journey. This report was published in 1542. He hoped to be appointed governor of Florida, but instead was appointed governor of La Plata. He was deposed and arrested by political intrigues. He was transported back to Spain in 1545. He wrote another book and lived his last years in Seville, where he died in 1559.
