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CABEZA de VACA, Alvar Nunez
Spaans ontdekkingsreiziger (1490 - 1557)
* 1490? - † 1557?
Hij was een ontdekkingsreiziger zowel van Noord als Zuid Amerika. In 1528, as a member of an expedition attempting to colonize Florida, he was shipwrecked on an island off the Texas coast. He and a few companions were prisoners of the Indians for several years. They finally reached Mexico on foot. His reports that great wealth lay north of Mexico led to the expedition of Marcos de Niza into what is now Arizona and New Mexico, and to those of Francisco Coronado and Hernando de Soto.
In 1540, Cabeza was appointed governor of Paraguay. On the way to Paraguay, he discovered the Iguacu Falls in Brazil. He was a failure as governor and the colonists later deposed him. He was sent back to Spain, where he later became a judge in Seville.
