The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. This expedition was a total disaster. The story has it all. Great expectations, five Spanish galleons and 600 men heading for the New World with guns, golden dreams and civilisation building ambitions. In April 1528 they landed near St. Petersburg. This was the first mistake. They believed they were in Mexico. Instead they were in the midst of severely hostile natives. A storm destroyed their fleet and the group began wandering north, still with no clue where the were. Next the reached the land of the Apalachee indians in the merciless swamps of Florida. Again many men lost their lives and commander Pánfilo de Narváez decided to get the hell out of there on improvised rafts. Then a hurricane hit the gang. Only 86 survived and they reached another bad decision: To walk to Mexico in search for Spanish settlements. It took them 8 years only 4 survived the hunger, enslavement by indian tribes and all the abominations you can possibly imagine. #shouldhavestayedhome
Download the free e-book about the expedition here (262 pages/9.2MB):
The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca