Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez

 

Born in 1490; died in 1564 (according to some sources, 1507-59). Spanish conquistador.

In 1528, Cabeza de Vaca sailed from western Florida to Texas on one of the ships of P. Narvâez’ military expedition. He was shipwrecked off the coast of Texas. From 1529 to 1536, in wandering from one Indian tribe to another, he was the first to cross the Great Plains and the Rio Grande basin, finally reaching Mexico. In 1541-42, after being appointed governor of the province of Rio de la Plata, he landed on the coast of Brazil at 27°S lat. and crossed the southern part of the Brazilian plateau. He discovered the Iguaçu River, a left tributary of the Parana, and traveled to its mouth. From there he marched west to the Paraguay River, sailing as far as 18°S lat. in search of silver. In 1544, Cabeza de Vaca was arrrested by a rival and deported to Spain in 1545. He described his travels in Tales of Failures (1555).

REFERENCES

Magidovich, I. P. Istoriia otkrytiia i issledovaniia Severnoi Ameriki. Moscow, 1962.
Magidovich, I. P. Istoriia otkrytiia i issledovaniia Tsentraiinoi i IuzhnoiAmeriki. Moscow, 1965.

I. P. MAGIDOVICH

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.