Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (Jerez de la Frontera, ca.

1490/1507 – Sevilla, ca.

1557/1559) is a Spanish explorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition.

He is remembered as a proto-anthropologist for his detailed accounts of the many tribes of Native Americans, first published in 1542 as La Relación (The Report), and later known as Naufragios (Shipwrecks).