Narváez, Pánfilo de << nahr VAH ayth, PAHM fee loh thay >> (1470?-1528), was a Spanish soldier and explorer. He helped conquer Cuba in 1511 and lost an eye trying to arrest the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés in Mexico in 1521. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted Narváez the unexplored land of Florida in 1526, and Narváez led an expedition there in 1528. Landing near Tampa Bay, Narváez marched inland and lost many of his men in storms and attacks by Indigenous (native) people. Having been cut off from their ships, Narváez and his men built five crude barges. They sailed along the coast to what is now south Texas. In November 1528, winds and currents forced Narváez’s boat out into the Gulf of Mexico, and he was drowned. Narváez was born in Valladolid, Spain.
