USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -Cabeza de Vaca finally convinced his lone countryman, Lope de Oviedo, to accompany him down the coast toward Mexico by promising to take the man on his back when they had to cross inlets or streams. Their journey went well until the two men confronted Matagorda Bay.

Detailed explanation-3: -Starving, dehydrated, and desperate, he is the first European to set foot on the soil of the future Lone Star state. Cabeza de Vaca’s unintentional journey to Texas was a disaster from the start. A series of dire accidents and Native American attacks plagued his expedition’s 300 men as they explored north Florida.

Detailed explanation-4: -As the number of survivors dwindled rapidly, they were enslaved for four years by various American Indian nomadic tribes of the upper Gulf Coast. The tribes to which Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved included the Hans and the Capoques, and tribes later called the Karankawa and Coahuiltecan.

Detailed explanation-5: -Explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca spent eight years in the Gulf region of present-day Texas and was treasurer to the Spanish expedition under de Narváez.