Pánfilo de Narváez (1478–1528) is a Spanish conquistador and soldier in the Americas.
Born in Spain, he first embarks to Jamaica in 1510 as a soldier.
He comes to participate in the conquest of Cuba and leads an expedition to Camagüey escorting Bartolomé de las Casas.
Las Casas describes him as exceedingly cruel towards the natives.
He is most remembered as the leader of two failed expeditions: In 1520 he is sent to Mexico by the Governor of Cuba Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, with the objective of stopping the invasion by Hernán Cortés which had not been authorized by the Governor.
Even though his nine hundred men outnumber those of Cortés by a factor of three to one, Narváez is outmaneuvered and taken prisoner.
After a couple of years in captivity in Mexico he returns to Spain, where King Carlos V names him adelantado with authority to explore and colonize Florida.
In 1527, Narváez embarks for Florida with five ships and six hundred men, among them Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who will later describe the expedition in his Naufragios.
A storm south of Cuba wrecks several of the ships; the rest of the expedition continues on to Florida, where the men are eventually stranded among hostile natives.
The survivors work their way along the Gulf Coast trying to get to the province of Pánuco.
During a storm Narváez and a small group of men are carried out to sea on a raft and are not seen again.
