See the extensive bibliography (divided into print, video/audio, and online resources) below the essay. Bibliography updated by Adam Kaufman 3/10.
 Sixteenth century explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is best known as the first Spaniard to travel on foot through a large section of what is now the Southwestern United States. Cabeza de Vaca's eight-year journey (1528-1536) was chronicled in the self -penned Relacion (The Account) first published in 1542 in Zamora, Spain. A second edition was published in Valladolid in 1555. Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion is one of the earliest written documents of Spanish contact with a wide variety of American native peoples. His account, which contains not only a narrative of his own experience but also a description of the lands which he traveled and the natives he encountered, is considered an important document by historians, ethnographers, literary scholars, and anthropologists. His journey of eight years through the United States and Mexico predates the expeditions of Hernando De Soto and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.
 Cabeza de Vaca was born about 1488 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, a small Andalusian town. His father was Francisco de Vera, son of the conqueror of the Canary Islands Pedro de Vera Mendoza. Alvar Nunez's last name Cabeza de Vaca (which means "the head of a cow") was taken from his mother Dona Teresa Cabeza de Vaca's side of the family. His mother bestowed the Cabeza de Vaca name on her fourth son to evoke the prestige of her noble lineage. The house of Cabeza de Vaca was a prominent line of Spanish nobility since the thirteenth century. The origin of the Cabeza de Vaca name has been ascribed traditionally to Alvar Nunez's supposed ancestor Martin Alhaja. Alhaja is a legendary shepherd who reportedly helped the Spanish Christians win an important battle against the Moors at Las Novas de Tolosa in 1212. The story is that Alhaja marked an unguarded mountain pass with the skull of a cow, which allowed the Spanish troops to find a route to the top of the mountain and defeat the Moors in a surprise attack. Alhaja and his descendants were awarded with the title of "Cabeza de Vaca." Recent scholarship has discounted the Alhaja story and traces Alvar Nunez's lineage to thirteenth century Spanish nobleman Inez Perez Cabeza de Vaca. The actual history of the name's origin is unknown.
 Little is known about Cabeza de Vaca's early life, but scholars believe that he was involved in military service to four dukes of Medina Sidonia from 1503 to 1527. Cabeza de Vaca in 1527 received a royal appointment as treasurer and second in command of the Panfilo Narvaez expedition to conquer and govern Florida. Cabeza de Vaca's duties as treasurer included collecting royal revenues (about one-fifth of all income), keeping accounts of financial transactions, paying the royal officials their salaries, and sendngi regular reports of the expedition to the Emperor Charles V.
 The Narvaez expedition left Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain on June 17, 1527. Two ships were lost in a hurricane off the coast of Trinidad, which Cabeza de Vaca relates in detail in his narrative. Four ships commandeered by Narvaez narrowly escaped the storm. After wintering in Cuba, the Narvaez expedition set out with four ships and five hundred men for Florida. In April 1528 the fleet sailed into Tampa Bay. After friendly contact with natives in Florida, Narvaez ordered the expedition to leave the ships and march inland to explore the land and look for gold. Cabeza de Vaca cautioned Narvaez against the inland march, but Narvaez ignored Cabeza de Vaca's warnings. The land force set out with three hundred men on May 1, 1528. Narvaez's decision to split his sea and land forces sealed the fate of the expedition. The ships sailed out of the Bay but were never seen or heard from again.
 The expedition found no gold and little food, was ravaged by disease, and was forced to survive by eating its horses. After several hostile skirmishes with natives, the group marched overland to Apalachee Bay, built makeshift rafts, and sailed into the G