When Spanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez made landfall on April 15, 1528 at present-day Boca Ciega Bay, he lit the fuse on one of the most significant explorations in American history.
An expedition of 300 men set out, on foot, to explore Florida, which had been discovered by the Spanish in 1513, and the vast continent’s inland areas. This was a half-century before the settlement of St. Augustine.
Eight years and 3,000 miles later, just four men – Narváez was not among them – reached the Pacific Ocean.
Survivor Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca went on to publish La relación y comentarios (The Account and Commentaries), the first written documentation of American inland exploration.
Another survivor was the Moorish slave Estevanico, whose communication skills with native populations (starting with the Tocobaga in Florida) proved invaluable.
This, pointedly, took place some 275 years before the very famous Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West.
Although a small sign was erected in 1925 near Jungle Prada, determined to be the more or less exact location of the Narváez landing (it was named a Florida Heritage Site in 2020), St. Petersburg has never embraced this groundbreaking exploration as something to be commemorated.
That may be about to change.
On June 11, the St. Petersburg City Council passed a resolution acknowledging the importance of the event, and its local starting place, and encouraging “appropriate historical recognition and public awareness” as the 500th anniversary approaches in 2028.
“There’s no doubt that it happened here,” said retired business executive and historical scholar James E. MacDougald, who’s been studying the Narváez expedition for decades, and has written several books on the subject. “That’s been proven. So why isn’t the city recognizing it?”
MacDougald, Jose B. Fernández (former Dean of the University of Central Florida, noted scholar and author) and Alex Henderson are officers for the Florida Heritage Council, a nonprofit formed – with an advisory board consisting of scholars, authors and educators – to encourage and steward recognition of the upcoming Quincentennial.
The board includes all four of the living published translators of Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relación.
“So I wrote a proposal that said the city should build a monument,” MacDougald said. “Because if there isn’t a monument, it didn’t happen. That’s just how it is. You need a sense of place.”
MacDougald found an ally in councilmember Copley Gerdes, who introduced the resolution. The package included letters of support from the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, the Dali Museum, the St. Petersburg Museum of History, the Tampa Bay History Center, The Florida Orchestra and others.
The Florida Heritage Council commissioned St. Pete sculptor Mark Aeling to design a potential statue. MacDougald envisions it at the St. Pete Pier, to maximize its educational potential (the statue, if fabricated, would be accompanied by short panels describing the historical importance of Jungle Prada and the expedition).
Depicted are Cabeza de Vaca, Estevanico and a Tocobaga chief.
“The statue,” McDougald explained, “is called The Dawn of Destiny. It’s not called the Narváez Monument, who cares about that? Three distinct groups, formative groups in American history that are ignored. We want America to learn this story.”
Estavanico, who later discovered Arizona and New Mexico, “has been called the first great Black man in America,” MacDougald said. “Estavanico always went out front, always introduced them to the next tribe. There was something about him that made him really, really special.”
Cabeza de Vaca “not only survived but wrote a book that people have been looking at for 500 years. He deserves recognition for that.” The expedition treasurer also became a well-known advocate for Native American rights.
As for the Tocobagans, “I’m interested in the people that we’ve forgotten. I like the idea of somebody saying ‘There used to be Indians here, that were here for 10,000 years. They had cultures. They made beautiful carvings, and pottery.’ We never see that. Shouldn’t we know they existed? Shouldn’t we know something about them?”
The Heritage Council also recommended a second, smaller monument at the actual site, at Elbow Lane and Park Street N. The proposal includes a reproduced example of Tocobagan pottery.
Less than two years remain before the 500th anniversary. “It’s fixed in time,” MacDougald said. “It’s April, 2028. You can’t move that date, so if you don’t prepare for it now the opportunity’s lost forever. It needs to happen now.”
Inertia, he is certain, would result in the moment slipping past. A 501st anniversary celebration makes zero sense, MacDougald said.
“The City has to lead the charge. The City is the only institution that can establish a monument. You can call it public art, by the way. It’s a huge story, and we have to figure out a way to get St. Petersburg to tell it.”
MacDougald can cite example after example of historical tourism bringing fame (and income) to a community.
“People don’t go to the coast of Massachusetts to see Plymouth Rock,” he said. “But when they’re in the vicinity, they go see it. When people are in Council Bluff, Iowa, they go to see where the Lewis and Clark expedition began. There’s two huge monuments in a 35-acre park, and a Visitors’ Center that tells about it.”
Public commemoration of this event would lionize key Native American peoples, an Hispanic man and a Black man. “People need to know that this is a source of potential pride for the community.
“The City has acknowledged that one of the most important events in American history happened here,” MacDougald said. “That nobody knows about. Cool. What next?”
Anyone interested in learning more, or donating, is encouraged to contact jimm@wesven.com.
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
