MR James J Drexler

The Route and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca MR James J Drexler

The first Europeans known to have crossed the North American continent were a group of four Spanish explorers who started their trek in the present State of Florida and journeyed to the northwestern Pacific coast of Mexico. These four were the only survivors of a three hundred man expeditionary land force to ever reach civilization again. This book describes their trials and tribulations on the way from the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas through the deserts and mountains of West Texas and parts of New Mexico and Arizona and into the northern states of Mexico in 1535-1536. The book also traces the route of these Spaniards, with the help of modern satellite images and topographic maps, directly from the Spaniards own descriptions of the land through which they passed. Mr. Drexler has well substantiated his interpretation of the route and has compared it to several other routes proposed by other authors in the past.