Pánfilo de Narváez

Who was Pánfilo de Narváez?

Pánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conquistador and soldier in the Americas. Born in Spain, he first embarked to Jamaica in 1510 as a soldier. He came to the participate in the conquest of Cuba and led an expedition to Camagüey escorting Bartolomé de las Casas. Las Casas described him as exceedingly cruel towards the natives.

He is most remembered as the leader of two failed expeditions: In 1520 he was sent to Mexico by the Governor of Cuba Diego de Velázquez, with the objective of stopping the invasion by Hernán Cortés which had not been authorized by the Governor. Even though his 900 men outmanned those of Cortés 3 to 1, Narváez was outmaneuvered and taken prisoner. After a couple of years in captivity in Mexico he returned to Spain where the King Carlos V named him adelantado with authority to explore and colonize Florida. In 1527 Narváez embarked for Florida with five ships and 600 men, among them Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca who later described the expedition in his Naufrágios. A storm south of Cuba wrecked the ships and a group of men were shipwrecked in Florida among hostile natives. The survivors worked their way along the US gulf coast trying to get to the province of Pánuco. During a storm Narváez and a small group of men were carried out to sea on a raft and were not seen again. Only four men survived the Narváez expedition.