Andrés Dorantes de Carranza
Andrés Dorantes de Carranza (ca. 1500 – 1550s), was an early Spanish explorer in the Americas. He was one of the four last survivors of the Narváez expedition, along with Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes' slave Estevanico, and Alonso del Castillo Maldonado. Biography Dorantes was born in Béjar del Castañar, Salamanca (or possibly in Gibraleón), Spain, ca. 1500. His father was Pablo Dorantes and he was raised in a poor hidalgo family. His family was of an ancient lineage and had mayorazgos of quality. Carranza traveled to the Americas to enrich himself under Captain Pánfilo de Narváez. When the expedition was organized, one boat was placed under the joint command of Dorantes and Alonso del Castillo Maldonado. Thus, Dorantes and Estevanico traveled to Florida in 1527. In April 1528, the expeditionary group escaped a hurricane near Cuba and arrived to Florida, landing in a zone located near Tampa Bay. They claimed the newly discovered area for the Castilian Crown. However, the group was affected by several more hurricanes and by attacks of the Native Americans, which caused the death of many expedition members. In addition, after leaving Florida, with fewer men on board (for the reasons before mentioned), three