Digital Repository

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca first set foot on land that would become Texas in 1528, when his crude raft ran aground near Galveston Island. Cabeza de Vaca then embarked upon what one scholar described as "the most remarkable [journey] in the record of American exploration."

Image: Painting of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca on a postage stamp. Image courtesy of the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.

Audio: Houston Public Media

Painting of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca on a postage stamp