Search
  
 
ExplorersWriters
bornactivedied
1490 ca1520s-1540s1557 ca
a Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across the US Southwest, he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish colonial forces in Mexico in 1536. After returning to Spain in 1537, he wrote an account, first published in 1542 as La Relación ("The Relation", or in more modern terms "The Account"), which in later editions was retitled Naufragios ("Shipwrecks"). Cabeza de Vaca has been considered notable as a proto-anthropologist for his detailed accounts of the many tribes of American Indians that he encountered. Explored southwestern United States, Mexico, Argentina. He is thought to have been the first European to see the Iguaçu Falls.
 Contemporaries
Category
Nationality
Sort
Selected
47
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca1490 ca1520
 
15491557 ca

Ferdinand Magellan14801495
 
15211521
 a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, ...
Duarte Barbosa1480 ca1500
 
15211521, May 1
 a Portuguese writer and Portuguese India officer between 1500 and 1516–1517, with the post of s...
Jorge Alvaresunknown1510
 
15211521, Jul 8
 credited as the first European explorer to have reached China and Hong Kong by sea. Álvares made...
Francisco Serraounknown1511
 
15211521
 a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known Eur...
Vasco da Gama1460s1480
 
15241524, Dec 24
 a Portuguese explorer. He was the first European to reach India by sea, linking Europe and Asia f...
Goncalo Alvaresunknown1490
 
15241524
 a Portuguese explorer who actively participated in the age of discovery starting from the second ...
Gomes de Sequeiraunknown1525
 
 
1525unknown
 a Portuguese explorer in the early 16th century. It has been suggested by some historians that Go...
Juan Sebastian Elcano14761509
 
15261526, Aug 4
 a Basque explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth. After Ferdinand Magellan...
Garcia Jofre de Loaisa14901525
 
 
15261526, Jul 20
 Commanded a 16th-century voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean and ordered by King Charles I ...
Giovanni da Verrazzano14851508
 
15281528
 an Italian explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He is renowned ...
Cristovao Jacques1480 ca1500
 
15291530+
 a Portuguese noble of Aragonese descent. In 1516, in command of two caravels, he was in charge of...
Panfilo de Narvaez14701510
 
15291528
 Explorer
Alonso de Salazarunknown1520
 
15291526, Sep 5
 the Spaniard, born in Las Encartaciones who discovered the Marshall Islands on August 21, 1526. D...
Alvaro de Saavedra Ceronunknown1526
 
 
1529unknown
 one of the Spanish explorers in the Pacific Ocean. It is unknown the exact date and place of his ...
Gonzalo Guerrerounknown1510
 
15301530 ca
  a sailor from Palos, in Spain who shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a sl...
Diego de Almagro1475 ca1510
 
15381538, Jul 8
 a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro. He participated in t...
Hernan Ponce de Leonunknown1510
 
1539unknown
 a Spanish conquistador who participated in the discovery of Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua in ...
Francisco Alvares14651515
 
15391536~1541
 a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese e...
Pedro de Alvarado1485 ca1510
 
15411541, Jul 4
 a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Jua...
Francisco de Orellana1490/15111540
 
 
15421546, Nov
 a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He completed the first known navigation of the entire length...
Jacques Cartier1491, Dec 311534
 
 
15431557, Sep 1
 a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. Jacques Cartier was...
Ruy López de Villalobos1500 ca1520
 
15441544, Apr 4
 a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain...
Martim Afonso de Sousa1500 ca1530
 
 
15451571, Jul 21
 a Portuguese fidalgo, explorer and colonial administrator. Born in Vila Viçosa, he was commander...
Bartholomeus Welser VI1512, Oct 261540
 
 
15461546, May
 the son of Bartholomeus V. Welser (the elder), he journeyed to Venezuela to join an expedition by...
Hernan Cortes14851504
 
15471547, Dec 2
 a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought...
Inigo Ortiz de Retes1505 ca1538
 
 
1548unknown
 a 16th-century Spanish maritime explorer, who navigated the northern coastline of the Pacific–M...
Francisco Xerez14951514
 
15491565 ca
 a Spanish explorer-turned-historian, the personal secretary of conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He...
James Alday15161540
 
15491576 ca
 a 16th-century English navigator, explorer and privateer. He participated in raids against the Sp...
Lourenço Marquesunknown1540
 
1549unknown
 a 16th-century Portuguese trader and explorer. Marques explored the area that is now Maputo Bay i...
Sebastian de Belalcazar1479/80/951507
 
15511551
 a Spanish conquistador. He entered Nicaragua with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1524 during...
Fernao Pires de Andradeunknown1510
 
15521552
 a Portuguese merchant, pharmacist, and official diplomat under the explorer and Portuguese Malacc...
Francis Xavier1506, Apr 71534
 
15521552, Dec 3
 a Navarrese Roman Catholic missionary, born in Javier (Xavier in Navarro-Aragonese), Kingdom of N...
Piri Reis1467 ca1481
 
15531553
 an Ottoman admiral, geographer, and cartographer. Piri began engaging in government-supported pri...
Pedro de Valdivia1497, Apr 171520
 
15531553, Dec 25
 a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army...
Pedro Mascarenhas14701512
 
15551555, Jun 16
 a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. He was the first European to discover the islan...
Hans Staden1525 ca1547
 
15551579 ca
 a German soldier and explorer who voyaged to South America in the middle of the sixteenth century...
Domingo Martinez de Irala1509 ca1530
 
15561556 ca
 a Spanish Basque conquistador. He headed for the Americas in 1535 enrolled in the expedition of P...
Sebastian Cabot1474 ca1494
 
15571557, Dec
 an Italian explorer, likely born in the Venetian Republic. He was the son of Italian explorer Joh...
Hernando de Alarconunknown1540
 
1559unknown
 a Spanish navigator of the 16th century, noted for having led an early expedition to the Baja Cal...
Lope de Aguirre1510 ca1530
 
15611561, Oct 27
 a Basque Spanish conquistador in South America. Nicknamed El Loco ('the Madman'), he styled himse...
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi1502 ca1528
 
15651572, Aug 20
 a Basque Spanish navigator and governor who established the first Spanish settlement in the East ...
Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesado1506/091535
 
15731579, Feb 16
 a Spanish explorer and conquistador in Colombia. He explored the northern part of South America. ...
Diogo Rodrigues1495 ca1507
 
15771577, Apr 21
 a Portuguese explorer of the Indian Ocean who sailed as an ordinary helmsman under the command of...
Juan Perez de Zurita15161536
 
15791595 ca
 a Spanish Conquistador. In 1536 he began his military career. In 1548 he was in Granada and in 15...
Pero Escobarunknown1470
 
159unknown
 a 15th-century Portuguese navigator who discovered São Tomé, Annobon, and Príncipe islands, to...
Gaspar de Lemosunknown1500
 
162unknown
 a Portuguese explorer and captain of the supply ship of Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet that discov...
Andres de Urdaneta1498, Nov 301520
 
1651568, Jun 3
 a Basque circumnavigator, explorer and Augustinian friar. As a navigator he achieved the "second"...
Colonial Sense is an advocate for global consumer privacy rights, protection and security.
All material on this website © copyright 2009-24 by Colonial Sense, except where otherwise indicated.
ref:T5-S50-P1196-CPerson-M