Podcast – Pánfilo de Narváez Explorations

Pánfilo de Narváez Explorations
Today I will talk about the Pánfilo de Narváez Explorations. Narvaez was another one of the lesser-known explorers. His disastrous expedition was one of the earliest to reach the current state of Texas.
From the Book
Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664

Transcript:

Today I will talk about the Pánfilo de Narváez Explorations. Narvaez was another one of the lesser known explorers. His disastrous expedition was one of the earliest to reach the current state of Texas.

Before getting started, I would encourage you to subscribe to the Mossy Feet Books You Tube channel for more great content. I also entreat you to visit my website, http://www.mossyfeetbooks.com. There you will find sample chapters, podcasts, a slew of content and links to where you can buy my books. While visiting the web site you can subscribe to it and receive email notifications of when I publish a new book or other content, like this video and podcast. You can also subscribe to the Mossy Feet Books You Tube Channel to ensure you do not miss any of my content. This episode is based on my book, Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664. It is the first book in my 6 book Timeline of United States History Series.
You can find my books locally at the Walnut Street Variety Shop in Batesville, Indiana.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor granted Spanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez a license to claim the gulf coast of what is now the United States.

Pánfilo de Narváez (c. 1478 – November 1528)
Historians know little of his early life. Possibly native to Castile, he entered the military while still a youth. He joined a campaign to conquer Jamaica in 1509. He then moved on to conquer Cuba under the command of his uncle, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. The expedition proved to be a disaster when his uncle sent him to capture conquistador Hernando Cortez, whose loyalty to Spain had come into question. Cortez’s force battled with Narváez in a fierce struggle in which Narváez lost an eye. Cortez captured him and held him prisoner for about 2 years.

After his return to Spain, Charles V granted Narváez the title of Adelanto of Florida. This entitled Adelanto to conquer Florida and the Gulf Coast. Narváez had to secure the funding for the expedition. The license gave him one year to recruit an army, travel to Florida, found two towns with at least 100 colonists and establish two forts along the coast. The Crown would receive 5% of any wealth the expedition acquired. By June the next year, Narváez was ready to depart.

Narváez gathered a fleet of five ships and over 600 men. The expedition departed Sanlúcar de Barrameda on June 17, 1527. The ships arrived on the Canary Islands about a week later, a tradition that began with Columbus’ first voyage in 1492. At the Canaries, they would re-supply with water, fruit and other supplies.

He sailed on to Santo Domingo where he obtained more horses and supplies. While here the ill-fated Vázquez de Ayllón expedition arrived, having lost 450 out of the 600 men that had embarked on that expedition. Over 100 of Narváez’s men deserted at this time. He sailed on to Cuba to gather more supplies. He dispatched two ships to Trinadad to obtain more horses, however a hurricane struck, sinking both ships. They overwintered in Cienfuegos, departing in the spring to voyage to Havana, however storms swept them past the settlement and they spent weeks ensnared in the Canarreos shoals.

Narváez tried to sail on to Mexico but fickle seas prevented them from reaching that point, they sailed on to Florida, reaching that coast in the middle of April 1528. They set up camp, probably at the site of St. Augustine. Narváez decided to divide his force into two groups, one of which would sail around Florida searching for a bay one of his men had described. This man, named Miruelo, claimed to know the Florida coast well. Narváez would lead an exploratory expedition into Florida.

The expedition was short of supplies and the men were soon placed on starvation rations. As the starving men waded through swamps and traversed the difficult terrain, they came under attack by natives that harassed them constantly.

As they explored, Miruelo returned to their original camp and found it deserted. He would spent the next 2 years searching for Narváez, to no avail.

Narváez’s men made their way to the coast to a place they called the Bay of Horses. They named it this as they decided to build boats and use their beloved horses as food while they built. They constructed five small boats by September 22, 1528 and they set sail for Mexico with about 50 men in each boat.

A storm blew them off coarse and the starving men landed at a site believed to be Galveston in South Texas. During the stormy passage Narváez boat disappeared, never to be seen again. The remainder of the expedition, the survivors at this point were about 80 men, reached the mainland. By 1532 only 4 men remained. These men hiked to Culiacán Texas, reaching it in July 1536. Spanish slavers rescued them at this point. One of the survivors returned to Spain, where he wrote a book chronicling the expedition.

The next episode will cover Hernando de Soto’s disastrous expedition to the Mississippi. The articles in the book contain much more detail about the topics discussed. Additionally, there are other topics not included in the podcast. I encourage you to subscribe to both my web site, mossyfeetbooks.com and this You Tube channel.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast and thank you for listening.