USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca first set foot on land that would become Texas in 1528, when his crude raft ran aground near Galveston Island.

Detailed explanation-2: -His father, Francisco de Vera was an hidalgo, a rank of minor Spanish nobility. His mother was Teresa Cabeza de Vaca, also from an hidalgo family. He was named after his mother’s great-grandfather, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, but the real influence in his life was his paternal grandfather, Pedro de Vera.

Detailed explanation-3: -Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, (born c. 1490, Extremadura, Castile [now in Spain]-died c. 1560, Sevilla, Spain), Spanish explorer who spent eight years in the Gulf region of present-day Texas. Núñez was treasurer to the Spanish expedition under Pánfilo de Narváez that reached what is now Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1528.

Detailed explanation-4: -Captured by the Karankawa Natives, they lived in virtual bondage for nearly two years. Only after Cabeza de Vaca had won the respect of the Karankawa by becoming a skilled medicine man and diplomat did the small band win their freedom.