1536 - Cabeza de Vaca treks across America

       After surviving a shipwreck in Florida, Cabeza de Vaca and two other men spent seven years wandering across America as the slaves of Indians.  (Click here for more)  This map shows the route of their extraordinary odyssey.  After crossing the continent they were finally reunited with their countrymen in Mexico.  This was the first recorded transcontinental adventure by a European.

 Cabeza de Vaca, the first European to cross the North American continent.