1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: a show that explores the past one day at a time. 4 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Louzier, and in this episode, we're talking about 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,159 Speaker 1: a botched attempted Spanish conquest that left a group of 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: humbold explorers stranded in Texas. The day was November six. 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca became the first 8 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: European to set foot on land that would later become 9 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: the state of Texas. Notable, though it was, his arrival 10 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:55,319 Speaker 1: was also unintentional. Cabeza de Vaca and his crew had 11 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: been trying to sail from Florida to Tampico, Mexico, but 12 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: when bad weather blew them off course, they wound up 13 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: shipwrecked along the Texas coast instead. Things hadn't gone well 14 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,839 Speaker 1: for the crew in Florida, so when they set sail, 15 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: they did so aboard five makeshift rafts. Two of the rafts, 16 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: including the one captained by Cabeza de Vaca, washed ashore 17 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: on present day Follett's Island, just off the coast of Texas. 18 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: This means the captain about eighty or ninety other Spaniards 19 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: and at least one enslaved African Man were the first 20 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: to reach the lone Star state from foreign shores. Cabeza 21 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: de Vaca, which means cow's head in Spanish, was born 22 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: in Harez de la Frontera in the south of Spain. 23 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: The year of his birth is unknown, but is thought 24 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: to be sometime between fourteen seven and four two. He 25 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: joined the Spanish Army as an adult and was later 26 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: appointed the treasurer and first lieutenant of an expedition to 27 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: Mexico in fifteen twenty seven. The head of the expedition 28 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: was the conquistador Ponfilo de Narvaez, who left Spain that 29 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: summer with five ships. He and his fleet had been 30 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: authorized by Charles the First to settle and colonize the 31 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: region between Florida and present day Tampico, Mexico. After spending 32 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: the winter in Cuba, the expedition landed on the Florida 33 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: coast in April of fifty eight, and it's here that 34 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,239 Speaker 1: Narvaez made the fatal error that got Cabeza de Vaca 35 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: and the rest of the crew shipwrecked. Narvaez decided to 36 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: send three hundred men and about forty horses inland to 37 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: scout the lands to the north while his ships and 38 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: the rest of the crew continued on to Tampico. Narvaez 39 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: was under the mistaken impression that he and the others 40 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: would only have to hike about thirty or four party 41 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: miles before making it to the rendezvous point in Mexico, 42 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: but in reality the actual distance along the coast was 43 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: fifteen hundred miles. In effect, Narvaez had just stranded himself 44 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: and three hundred others in the wilds of the Florida Peninsula, 45 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: cut off from their ships and with just enough food 46 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: to last a few weeks. After four months of wandering, 47 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: more than fifty men had died, so the survivors decided 48 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,839 Speaker 1: to take their chances at sea. With just one carpenter 49 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: in the group, the best they could manage were five 50 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: flimsy wooden rafts with sails made from their own shirts 51 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: and trousers. Each raft was loaded with fewer than fifty men, 52 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: plus about six horses, which were killed for food on 53 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: every third day at sea. The overloaded rafts had to 54 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: be sailed close to shore, as they only rose about 55 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: six inches above the water. They launched the rafts on September, 56 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: hoping to reach the closest known Spanish settlement before their 57 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: food ran out. The first month of the voyage passed uneventfully, 58 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: but then winds kicked up and the raft spent a 59 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 1: full two weeks battling the waves. During the storm, the 60 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,840 Speaker 1: five rafts lost sight of each other. Three of them, 61 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: including the one captained by Narvaez, were lost at sea. 62 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: The other two eventually landed along the Texas coast, with 63 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: the raft captained by Cabeza de Vaca being the first 64 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: on November six. Unfortunately, life on land didn't prove much 65 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,799 Speaker 1: easier than life on a raft. By spring of fifteen 66 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: twenty nine, Cabeza de Vaca and fourteen others were the 67 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: only ones left alive of those who had made it 68 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: to shore. A year later, the survivors parted ways, with 69 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: a few men remaining on the i land where they landed, 70 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: and most of the others heading down the coast towards Mexico. 71 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: As For Cabeza de Vaca, he went to the Texas mainland, 72 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: where he eked out a living by trading medical treatment 73 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: to the Native American population and exchange for food. Two 74 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: years later, in fifteen thirty two, Cabeza de Vaca finally 75 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: decided to make a break from Mexico. On his way 76 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: down the coast, he came across the three surviving men 77 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: who had left for Mexico and the spring of twenty nine, 78 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: but apparently never got there. Instead, they had been enslaved 79 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: by a Native American tribe. Cabeza de Vaca met the 80 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: same fate, and the Spaniards became known from then on 81 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: as the Four Ragged Castaways. Reunited with his countrymen, Cabeza 82 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: de Vaca finally learned the fate of the rest of 83 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: the Narvaez expedition. All of them were dead. Many had drowned, 84 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: others died of starvation or exposure, and the rest had 85 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: been killed by Native Americans. Of the original three hundred 86 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: who set to shore in Florida, only the four Ragged 87 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: Castaways remained, representing a one and a half percent survival rate. Eventually, 88 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: in the summer of fifteen thirty four, the four men 89 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: were able to escape captivity and flee south toward the 90 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: Rio Grand. Two years later, they finally arrived in Spanish 91 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: occupied Mexico City, having walked barefoot from Texas for about 92 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: twenty four hundred miles. Cabeza de Vaca later published an 93 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: account of his grueling eight year odyssey titled Simply Relasion 94 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: or Account. The book included the first written descriptions of 95 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: the region's landscape, flora, fauna, and people. In this way, 96 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: Cabeza de Vaca is not just the first European to 97 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 1: reach the land that would one day become Texas, he 98 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: was the first historian as well. I'm Gabe Lousier and 99 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 100 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you have a second and 101 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: you're so inclined, look us up on Twitter, Facebook and 102 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d I h C Show and if 103 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: you have any thoughts or comments to share, you can 104 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: send them my way at this Day at i heart 105 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 106 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 107 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another Day in History class. For more 108 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 109 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.