The Navarez Expedition left Spain hopeful of settling and expanding their colony in Florida. Panfilo de Nazarez was captain of the fleet, and together with his crew of 600 men stopped by Cuba, Hispaniola, and Florida. But then their journey took a turn for the worse. Hurricanes and attacks by the natives left only four people alive – Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca being one of them.

On this day November 6th, in 1528, after being shipwrecked, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in Texas. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca has been hailed as a pre-anthropologist for his detailed records of the Indians in America, published in his book La Relació (The Report) in 1542.

In Texas there sits a statue which honors Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. He is known for having spent a lot of time in Galveston, Texas where he encountered many Natives and again wrote about them, with specific names. Due to him becoming a lone survivor on what he called the Island of Doom, he became a participating observer and documented customs particular to the Native culture.