The Pánfilo de Narváez Expedition of 1528: Highlights of the Expedition and Determination of the Landing Place

By James E. MacDougald

The first major exploration of the North American continent began in Florida in April 1528. Pánfilo de Narváez led an inland expedition with 300 men. Only four survived. The courageous quartet endured an astonishing eight-year odyssey, traversing more than 3,500 miles from Florida to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. One of the survivors, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca wrote his book, the Relación, in 1542, detailing their amazing journey. Yet, precisely where this expedition began has long been debated by researchers and historians. In this book, author James E. MacDougald provides an analysis of published research and a new investigation, finally establishing that one of America’s most important historic events began in present-day St. Petersburg, on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay. Based on MacDougald’s years of study, he adds a new and independent analysis, using research resources not available to many previous historians that details one of the most important Spanish expeditions in North America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Aug 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781483486703

Book preview

law.

Copyright © 2018 James E. MacDougald.

First Edition 2018

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and the publisher do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8671-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8672-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8670-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018906897

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

18MarsdenHouselogo.jpg

Marsden House Research, LLC

St. Petersburg, FL

Rev. date: 07/25/2018

Cover: The Spanish Nao Victoria. Photo credit: Fundación Nao Victoria, Seville

The journey of the Narváez expedition is one of the greatest survival epics in the history of American exploration.

Paul Schneider, Brutal Journey.

"This odyssey of hardship and misfortune is one of the most remarkable in the history of the New World."

Martin Favata and José Fernández,

The Account: Àlvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Relación.

Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo, and Estevanico were the first…to cross the North American continent.

Donald E. Chipman, In search of Cabeza de Vaca’s Route Across Texas.

"The most remarkable overland journey in the history of American exploration."

John Upton Terrell, Journey into Darkness.

Estebanico of Azamor, the first great black man in America.

Helen Rand Parish, Estebanico.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, … compelled to make a pedestrian tour of some three thousand miles across the continent, altered the maps of North America.

Cleve Hallenbeck, Journey and Route of Cabeza de Vaca.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 Relación is unique as the tale of the first Europeans and the first African to confront and survive the peopled wilderness of North America.

Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz,

The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca.

Estevanico was the only black explorer in the Sixteenth Century to make major discoveries in the region of North America which was later to become the United States.

Application to US Department of Interior, which was granted, to recognize Hawikku, in Zuni, NM, as a national historic site in 1974.

The sixteenth-century odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca’s is one of the great true epics of History.

Cyclone Covey, Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America.

Dedication

With love, to my wife, Suzanne; to my children and their spouses, Joe and Fai, Beth and Bill; and to my grandchildren, James, Michelle, Sarah, Abby, Tess, and Jimmy.

"Every human being is intended

To have a character of his own,

To be what no other is, and

To do what no other can do."

William Ellery Channing

"It is always the adventurers

who accomplish great things."

Montesquieu

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the guidance and advice that I have received from scholars in the field of study concerning the early Spanish exploration of La Florida: Sterling Professor Rolena Adorno of Yale University, Professor and Department Chair J. Michael Francis of the University of South Florida, and Pegasus Professor José Fernández of the University of Central Florida. Special thanks are due to Professor Emeritus Martin A. Favata of the University of Tampa, who spent many hours assisting in the preparation of the manuscript and whose encouragement was key to its completion.

For assistance in the study of the coastal geography and geomorphology of the west coast of Florida, I am indebted to Professor Emeritus Albert C. Hine of the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science; and Professor Ping Wang, of the University of South Florida, School of Geosciences.

For information concerning archaeological studies conducted at the Jungle Prada site and elsewhere on the Pinellas Peninsula, I was aided by archaeologist Robert J. Austin, Ph.D., of the Alliance for Archaeological Research and Education, Inc. The editing of the completed manuscript was accomplished by Amy Harriett Miller, the Executive Director of The History Council, whose advice, patience and attention to detail persisted through reading multiple versions of the manuscript.

The guidance and assistance from those mentioned above is deeply appreciated, but I bear sole responsibility for this work.

James E. MacDougald

St. Petersburg, Florida

May, 2018

Preface

My research concerning the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition began in 2002, not long after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida. I had met local historian and co-founder of the Tampa Bay History Center, Tom Touchton, and been told that St. Petersburg was the site of the first major inland exploration of North America, occurring in 1528. When I expressed astonishment that I had never heard of the expedition, he suggested that I contact a local historian, Judge E.J. Salcines, the Honorary Vice-Consul of Spain, to learn more. I met with Judge Salcines and heard the incredible tale of the four survivors of the 300-man Narváez inland expedition who had crossed the North American continent. Judge Salcines told me that one of the survivors, a slave from Africa named Estevanico, is believed to have later become the first non-Native American to enter what are now the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

As I heard the story, I couldn’t understand why such a significant event was generally unknown, even by most St. Petersburg residents. That led me into a deeper study of the Narváez expedition, and of two of the principal characters of the four who had survived the 300-man inland exploration: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and a slave, Estevanico. I learned that a place on the shore of Boca Ciega Bay in St. Petersburg had been acquired years ago by the city, known as the Jungle Prada site. A small sign had been erected stating, Here landed Panfilo de Narvaez April 15, 1528. From the site of this ancient Indian village was launched the first exploration by white men of the North American continent. The site was a boat ramp, a small unpaved parking lot, and some overgrown mangroves on a small sandy beach. Next to it was privately-owned Sacred Lands, the site of one of the few remaining (and partially excavated) shell mounds that had been created by ancient Tocobaga Indians. The sign proclaiming the landing was in a place unlikely to be seen by anyone other than local neighbors. Nothing in downtown St. Petersburg or anywhere else in Florida recognized or heralded the importance of the Narváez landing.

19JunglePradasign.jpg

Sign at Jungle Prada site in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo by Amy Harriett Miller

As my interest grew, I collected and read books on the subject of the Narváez Expedition. The first source of information I identified was a translation by Professors Martin A. Favata and José B. Fernández of the Relación written by Cabeza de Vaca. As the years passed I collected and read other books on the subject. The more I learned, the more convinced I became that this was a story that should be widely told. From time-to-time I met with Judge E.J. Salcines, who added details, reference sources, and provided encouragement. Keep going, Jim was his continuing advice.

After years of research, in 2015, I had written a brief history of the Narváez expedition, intended to bring attention to the incredible story of the eight-year survival journey that had been undertaken by Cabeza de Vaca, Estevanico and their two companions. I had hoped that publication of the story of the Narváez Expedition would ignite an effort to create a monument or memorial of the expedition. I recognized that without a sense of place it is difficult for the telling of a story to begin.

My first manuscript, intended to become the basis for a short booklet, was met with some skepticism. I had concluded that the Narváez landing place in present-day St. Petersburg was widely accepted but had found that my conclusion was not shared by some others. Some historians had published works that had opined that the Narváez landing may have occurred elsewhere. In order to advance the telling of the Narváez story it would have to be demonstrated that there was general scholarly agreement that the landing most likely occurred on the Pinellas Peninsula, just north of the entrance to Tampa Bay, in present-day St. Petersburg. Without it, there could be no place to establish a memorial, and no story to tell, as there could be no place from which to tell it.

At first, I attempted to identify a researcher who had surveyed the conclusions of other researchers in order to determine if a general consensus exists. No such research could be found. There was no choice but to do a study of published research myself. During the course of the research, I identified a massive work of three volumes and more than 1,200 pages, published in 1999 by Sterling Professor Rolena Adorno of Yale University and Patrick Charles Pautz, an independent researcher, entitled Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: His Account, His Life, and the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez. They had reviewed many of the previously published works, many original documents, and had published their own translation of the primary information resource, the Relación by Cabeza de Vaca. They had concluded that the Narváez landing occurred on the Pinellas Peninsula, just north of the entrance to Tampa Bay, the approximate location of the Jungle Prada site. Eighteen years had passed since it had been produced, and I wasn’t sure that one scholarly work would be accepted unless other works were reviewed in order to determine if there was general agreement among other researchers.

I identified as many sources as possible, published before and after the Adorno and Pautz work, in order to determine what the majority of other scholars and researchers had concluded. Since I would gain the benefit of having read and reviewed all of these publications, translations, interpretations, and theories, as well as having first-hand experience sailing all of the waters described by Cabeza de Vaca, I would first study and summarize their findings and then add my own analysis in order to attempt to establish the landing place of the Narváez Expedition with a high degree of probability.

Little did I know that over the ensuing years I would become acquainted with the fields of archaeology, paleography, cartography, and geomorphology, or that I would find myself in the desert of New Mexico, near a pile of clay bricks where mighty Hawikku, one of the legendary cities of Cíbola, once stood. Or that I would have a tribal leader and archaeologist, Kenny Bowekaty, take me and my wife out into the New Mexico desert and point out where Estevanico had died, and from whence Coronado had come. Through Tom Touchton and the Tampa Bay History Center, I was able to peruse the finest collection of Florida maps and charts extant; and to learn how latitude was indicated, how Portolan charts were used, and how early mappers thought the Florida coast and the Gulf of Mexico were defined.

Through a serendipitous confluence of events, I found myself in the unique position of having studied the Narváez expedition while also having first-hand knowledge of all of the places identified in the Relación, both on land and as a sailor, allowing me a perspective that apparently had not been shared by previous researchers. Professional coastal geologists and geomorphologists would help me as I tried to learn what the Florida Gulf coastline looked like 500 years ago. My own analysis would benefit from all that I learned from other researchers, and then add a new perspective as well…that of sailing conditions, the presence of barrier islands, water depths, the types of ships used, navigational practices of the era, and a close look at navigational charts and maps that were not available to most previous researchers.

It has been quite an experience conversing with both scholars and laymen in researching the Narváez Expedition. Scholars and laymen live in two different worlds. Scholars demand minute detail, while laymen usually want a much simpler story. Scholars look for certainty when such certainty is often impossible to obtain. Establishing the precise place of an event that occurred 500 years ago isn’t possible unless permanent physical proof is found. Early explorers left no monuments to themselves when they landed. All that scholars can do is to search for evidence in archaeological surveys, written records, and maps, and then conclude that a likely landing place can be determined. But none will claim certainty, as that is not possible to establish. Laymen usually don’t require certainty. A statement that the landing is believed to have happened near here is good enough for most. They’ll add, tell me the rest of the story.

Many of the publications that I have examined were produced by highly-educated scholars who spent hundreds or thousands of hours, and in many cases their entire working lifetimes, pursuing their passion for exploring, and often teaching, history. Many had to learn Spanish, and then palaeology (the study of ancient people, cultures, and languages) before they could even begin their deeper research. Some of them disagree, to this day, about the interpretation of a single word in the Relación. Their focus on detail can be distracting, but we must recognize that without their passion and detailed research, laymen like us would know very little about the adventurers who came before us. And it is these adventurers that excite, mystify, humble, and motivate many of us.

Laymen have the advantage of being able to review, in a matter of hours, research works that have taken years to produce. I never lost sight of that as I perused more than 100 books and articles, published over a period of three hundred years by those who cared enough to produce, and to leave behind, a lasting account of their efforts.

I have learned from the experts that Narváez is not pronounced Nar-va-yez, but more like Narva-eyes, although many laymen tend to employ the former pronunciation. I’ve also learned that referring to Hernando de Soto as, De Soto is incorrect…one should use his full name, or just Soto. And the name of the slave Estevanico, is pronounced Esteva-nee-co, not Este-vah-nico, and that there are several variations of his name: Estebanico, Estevan, and Estevan al Zemmouri.

Of course, the scholars are right. One should use and pronounce the names of people and places properly. But we should also recognize the fact that sometimes, getting into fine-grained detail is an impediment to telling the bigger story. For example, many believe that the Hernando de Soto Expedition landed