Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Survivor of the 1527 Narváez expedition who walked and lived for eight years (1528-1536) among the native peoples of today's Texas and northern Mexico, one of four survivors of an expedition of hundreds. His Relación is the earliest extended European description of the North American interior — and an unusual one, written by a man who survived as healer and trader rather than conqueror.