Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and the Seven Cities of Cíbola

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was born in Spain around 1490. In 1527, he joined the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez as its treasurer and an officer. The expedition was supposed to establish Spanish control over territory along the Gulf Coast of North America.

In April 1528, the expedition landed near present-day Tampa Bay, Florida. Narváez led about 300 men inland, expecting to find food, wealth, and Spanish settlements farther west. His understanding of the region’s geography was poor, however, and the group soon became separated from its ships.

Short of food and unable to return to their ships, the survivors built five makeshift rafts and attempted to travel west along the Gulf Coast toward Spanish settlements in Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca commanded one of the rafts.

Storms and strong currents separated the rafts. By late 1528, survivors reached the coast of the land that is now Texas. Cabeza de Vaca’s raft came ashore near present-day Galveston Island. Disease, hunger, exposure, and conflict caused many deaths. By the following year, only a small number of expedition members remained alive.

Cabeza de Vaca became seriously ill but recovered. For several years, he lived among and traveled between Indigenous communities in coastal Texas. At different times, he traded goods such as shells, hides, and red ochre. He also participated in healing practices and received food in return.

His experiences were complicated. Some Indigenous communities helped him and the other survivors, while at other times Cabeza de Vaca and his companions were held in forced servitude. Indigenous knowledge of local foods, water sources, travel routes, and environments was essential to their survival. Later in his life, Cabeza de Vaca argued that Indigenous peoples should be treated more fairly under Spanish rule.

Eventually, Cabeza de Vaca reunited with three other survivors: Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevanico, an enslaved Moroccan man. They were the only four members of the Narváez expedition known to have reached Spanish settlements.

In 1534, the four men began traveling south and west across parts of what are now Texas and northern Mexico. They passed through many Indigenous communities and relied on local people for food, guidance, and information. In 1536, after years of travel, they reached a Spanish settlement in Mexico and later arrived in Mexico City.

After returning to Spain, Cabeza de Vaca wrote about his experiences in a book called the Relación, or Account. It was first published in 1542.

His descriptions are among the earliest surviving European written accounts of the lands and Indigenous peoples of what is now Texas. However, the Relación reflects Cabeza de Vaca’s own experiences and European point of view. Historians compare his account with archaeology, Indigenous knowledge, and other evidence when studying this period.

Cabeza de Vaca later returned to South America as a Spanish colonial official. He served as governor in the region that is now Paraguay but became involved in conflicts with other Spanish colonists. He eventually returned to Spain, where he died around 1559.

When Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors reached Mexico, Spanish officials were eager to learn about the lands north of New Spain. The survivors described large areas, trade networks, Indigenous communities, and stories they had heard during their travels.

Spanish officials connected some of these reports with older European legends about wealthy cities. One of these was the story of the Seven Cities of Cíbola, which Spaniards came to believe might contain great amounts of gold and silver.

Cabeza de Vaca and his companions had not discovered golden cities. However, their reports increased Spanish interest in exploring lands farther north.

In 1539, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza sent the Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza and Estevanico north to investigate. Estevanico traveled ahead of the main group and reached Háwikuh, a Zuni pueblo in what is now New Mexico, where he was killed. Marcos de Niza later returned to New Spain and reported that he had seen a large and wealthy settlement from a distance.

His report encouraged another expedition. In 1540, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado traveled north with Spanish soldiers and Indigenous allies in search of Cíbola. Instead of cities filled with gold, the expedition encountered established Pueblo communities.

The Seven Cities proved to be a legend, but the search for them encouraged further Spanish exploration of the Southwest, including parts of the land that is now Texas.