Apalachee (Amerind tribe)

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was born around 1490 into a hidalgo family, the son of Francisco Núñez de Vera and Teresa Cabeza de Vaca y de Zurita, in the town of Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Spain.

Despite the family's status as minor nobility, they possessed modest economic resources.

Álvar Núñez's maternal surname, Cabeza de Vaca (meaning “head of cow”) is said to be associated with a maternal ancestor, Martin Alhaja.

He had shown the Spanish king a secret mountain pass, marked by a cow’s skull, enabling the king to win the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Muslim Moors in 1212.

Some sources indicate that after his parents died when he was young, the boy Álvar had been taken in by relatives (most likely his aunt and uncle or his paternal grandfather, Pedro de Vara).

Evidence suggests that he probably had a moderately comfortable early life.

He had been appointed chamberlain for the house of a noble family in his teen years, then had participated in the conquest of the Canary Islands where he had been appointed a governor.

Enlisting in the Spanish army in 1511, he had served in Italy (with distinction), Spain and Navarre, receiving several medals of honor and becoming more of a political figure in Spain.

The explorer named Pánfilo de Narváez has been sent by Spain’s King Charles I to explore the unknown territory that the Spanish called La Florida (present-day Florida in the United States).

Cabeza de Vaca had been attached to this expedition as the expedition’s treasurer.

Records indicate that he also has a military role as one of the chief officers on the Narváez expedition, noted as sheriff or marshal.

On June 17, 1527, the fleet of five ships had set sail towards the province of Pánuco (which is on the western border of Florida).

When they stopped in Hispaniola for supplies, Narváez lost approximately one hundred and fifty of his six hundred-man expedition: They chose to stay on the island rather than continue with the expedition.

The expedition had gone on to Cuba, where Cabeza de Vaca had taken two ships to recruit more men and buy supplies.

Their fleet had been battered by a hurricane, resulting in the destruction of both ships and the loss of most of Cabeza de Vaca’s men.

Narváez had arrived days later to pick up the survivors.

After nearly four months, on February 20, 1528, Narevaéz arrives in Cienfuegos with one of two new ships and a few more recruits.

The other ship he sends on to Havana.

At this point, the expedition has about four hundred men and eighty horses horses.

The winter layover had caused a depletion of supplies, and they plan to restock in Havana on the way to the Florida coast.

Among those hired by Narváez is a master pilot named Miruelo, who claims extensive knowledge of the Gulf Coast.

Historians will debate for centuries his full identity and the extent of his knowledge.

In any case, two days after leaving Cienfuegos, every ship in the fleet runs aground on the Canarreos shoals just off the coast of Cuba.

They are stuck for two to three weeks, while the men depleted the already meager supplies.

Not until a storm creates large seas, in the second week of March, are they able to escape the shoals.

The Narváez expedition, after battling more storms, rounds the western tip of Cuba and makes its way toward Havana.

Although they are close enough to see the masts of ships in port, the wind blows the fleet into the Gulf of Mexico without their reaching Havana.

Narváez decides to press on with the journey and colonization plans.

They spend the next month trying to reach the Mexican coast but cannot overcome the Gulf Stream's powerful current.

Alonso del Castillo Maldonado is a captain of Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition to colonize Florida and the Gulf Coast, which had departed Spain in 1527.

When the expedition was organized, he and Andrés Dorantes de Carranza had obtained a boat under his command.

Castillo, born in Salamanca, Spain, the son of the doctor Castillo and Aldonza Maldonado, is a close cousin of the Alcalde Mayor of Santo Domingo, Alonso Maldonado.

Raised, like Dorantes, in a poor noble family of hidalgos, Castillo has traveled to the Americas in order to obtain wealth.

Dorantes was born in Béjar del Castañar, Salamanca (or possibly in Gibraleon), Spain, around 1500.

His father is Pablo Dorantes and he had been raised in a poor hidalgo family of an ancient lineage.

Dorantes de Carranza has traveled to the Americas to enrich himself under Narváez, who Charles V has appointed adelanto of Florida.

Accompanying Dorrantes is one Esteban, later called Estevanico, who had been sold into slavery in 1522 in the Portuguese-controlled Berber town of Azemmour, on Morocco's Atlantic coast.

He had been sold to Dorantes, who has taken Estevanico as his slave on the Narvaez expedition.

Estevanico had been raised as a Muslim, but because Spain does not permit non-Catholics to travel to the New World, some historians believe he had converted to Roman Catholicism.

Some contemporary accounts refer to him as an "Arabized black" or "Moor", a generic term often used for anyone from North Africa.

Diego de Guzmán, a contemporary of Estevanico who will see him in Sinaloa in 1536, describes his skin as "brown".

When leaving the island of Hispaniola and entering the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a ship had been put under the joint command of Captains Castillo and Dorantes.

The expeditionary group had survived a hurricane near Cuba and, though intending to sail west to the mouth of the Rio de las Palmas (modern Rio Soto la Marina) in northern Mexico, a combination of the Gulf current and an inexperienced navigator had caused their course to veer north.

On April 12, 1528, they spot land north of what is now Tampa Bay.

They turns south and travel for two days looking for what the pilot Miruelo describes as a great harbor.

During these two days, one of the five remaining ships is lost.

Finally, after spotting a shallow bay, Narváez orders entry.

They pass into Boca Ciega Bay north of the entrance to Tampa Bay.

They spot buildings set upon earthen mounds, encouraging signs of culture (and wealth), food, and water.

The natives have been identified as members of the Safety Harbor Culture (Tocobaga).

The Spaniards dropped anchors and prepared to go ashore.

Narváez lands with three hundred men near the Rio de las Palmas—at what is known as the Jungle Prada Site in present-day St. Petersburg.

They claim the newly discovered land for the Castilian Crown.

The comptroller Alonso Enríquez is one of the first ashore.

Making his way to the nearby village, he trades items such as glass beads, brass bells, and cloth for fresh fish and venison.

He reports to Narváez that, although there is little wealth among the people, they seem peaceful.

The villagers abandon their homes that night to flee the strangers.

Several members of the expedition spend the next day exploring the empty village.

They are most interested in a small gold disc or rattle found among some fishing nets.

Narváez orders the rest of the company to debark and establish a camp.

The next day, the royal officials assemble ashore and, with ritual, perform the formal declaration of Narváez as royal governor of La Florida.

He reads (in Spanish) the Requerimiento, which states to any natives listening that their land belongs to Charles V by order of the Pope.

He also says that natives have the choice of converting to Christianity.

If they convert, they will be loved and welcomed with open arms.

If they choose not to abandon their native faith, war will be made against them.

The expedition ignores both pleas and threats by a party of natives the next day.

After some exploring, Narváez and some other officers discover Old Tampa Bay.

They head back to the camp and order Miruelo to pilot a brigantine (brig) in search of the great harbor he had talked about.

If he is unsuccessful, he should return to Cuba.

Narváez will never hear from Miruelo or any of the crew of the brig again.

Meanwhile, Narváez takes another party inland, where they find another village.

The villagers are using Spanish freight boxes as coffins.

The Spanish destroy these and find a little food and gold.

The locals tell them that there is plenty of both in Apalachee to the north.

After returning to their base camp, the Spanish make plans to head north.

Narváez decides on May 1, 1528, to split the force into land and sea contingents.

He plans to have the army of three hundred march overland to the north while the ships, with the remaining one hundred people, sail up the coast to meet them.

He believes the mouth to Tampa Bay to be a short distance to the north (it is south).

Cabeza de Vaca argues against this plan, but is outvoted by the rest of the officers.

Narváez wants Cabeza de Vaca to lead the sea force, but he refuses.

(He later will write it was a matter of honor, as Narváez had implied he was a coward.)

Narvaez’s men march in near starvation for two weeks before coming upon a village north of the Withlacoochee River.

They enslave the natives and for three days help themselves to corn from their fields.

They send two exploratory parties downstream on both sides of the river looking for signs of the ships.

With no sight of the ships, Narváez orders the party to continue north to Apalachee.

Several years later, Cabeza de Vaca will learn what became of the ships.

Miruelo had returned to Old Tampa Bay in the brigantine, and found all the ships gone.

He sailed to Havana to pick up the fifth ship, which had been supplied, and brought that back to Tampa Bay.

After heading north for some time without finding the party on land, commanders of the other three ships decided to return to Tampa Bay.

After meeting, the fleet again searched for the land party for nearly a year before departing for Mexico.

Juan Ortiz, a member of the naval force, had been captured by the Tocobaga.

Enslaved by them, he will live at Uzita for nearly twelve years before being rescued by Hernando de Soto's expedition.

Narváez's expedition passes along the western fringes of the Timucua territory.

The Timucua may have been the first American natives to see the landing of Juan Ponce de León near St. Augustine in 1513.

An archaeological dig in St. Augustine in 2006 revealed a Timucuan site dating back to between 1100 and 1300, predating the European founding of the city by more than two centuries.

Included in the discovery were pottery, with pieces from the Macon, Georgia, area, indicating an expansive trade network; and two human skeletons.

It is the oldest archaeological site in the city.

The word "Timucuan" may derive from "Thimogona" or "Tymangoua", an exonym used by the Saturiwa chiefdom of present-day Jacksonville for their enemies, the Utina, who live inland along the St. Johns River.

Both groups speak dialects of the Timucua language.

The pre-Columbian era has been marked by regular, routine, and probably small tribal wars with neighbors.

The Timucua are a large and powerful group, made up of as many as thirty-five chiefdoms, each of which has hundreds of people in assorted villages within its purview.

They sometimes form loose political alliances, but do not operate as a single political unit.

Three major Western Timucua groups are the Potano, Northern Utina, and Yustaga.The Potano live in north central Florida, in an area covering Alachua County and possibly extending west to Cofa at the mouth of the Suwannee River.

They participate in the Alachua culture and speak the Potano dialect.

They were among the first Timucua peoples to encounter Europeans.

They are frequently at war with the Utina tribe.

North of the Potano, living in a wide area between the Suwanee and St. Johns Rivers, are the Northern Utina.

This name is purely a convention; they are known as the "Timucua" to their contemporaries.

They participate in the Suwanee Valley culture and speak the "Timucua proper" dialect.

The Northern Utina appear to have been less integrated than other Timucua tribes, and seem to have been organized into several small local chiefdoms, with the leader of one being recognized as paramount chief.

The Timucua, knowing from scout reports that the Spanish party is nearing their territory, decide to meet the Europeans as they come near on June 18.

Through hand signs and gestures, Narváez communicates to their chief, Dulchanchellin, that they are headed to Apalachee.

Dulchanchellin appears pleased by this (it turns out the Apalachee are his enemies).

After the two leaders exchange gifts, the expedition follows the Timucua into their territory and cross the Suwannee River.

During the crossing, an officer named Juan Velázquez charges into it on his horse, and both drown.

His is the first non-shipwreck casualty of the expedition, and the men are disturbed by his death.

The starving army cooks and eats his horse that night.

When the Spaniards arrive at the Timucua village on June 19, the chief sends them provisions of maize.

That night, an arrow is shot past one of Narváez's men near a watering hole.

The next morning, the Spaniards find the natives have deserted the village.

They set out again for Apalachee.

They soon realize they are being accompanied by hostile natives.

Narváez lays a trap for the pursuing natives, and they capture three or four, whom they use as guides.

The Spanish have no further contact with the Timucua.

The expedition enters Apalachee territory on June 25, 1528.

Finding a community of forty houses, they think it is the capital, but it is a small outlying village of a much larger culture.

The Spanish attack, take several hostages including the village's cacique, and occupy the village.

Although the villagers have none of the gold and riches Narváez is expecting, they do have much maize.

Soon after Narváez takes the village, Apalachee warriors begin attacking the Europeans.

Their first attack is a force of two hundred warriors, who use burning arrows to set fire to the houses the Europeans occupy.

The warriors quickly disperse, losing only one man.

The next day a second force of two hundred warriors, equipped with large bows, attacks from the opposite side of the village.

This force also quickly disperses after losing only one man.