Andrés Dorantes de Carranza

Andrés Dorantes de Carranza (ca. 1500 – 1550s), was an early Spanish explorer in the Americas. He was one of the four last survivors of the Narváez expedition, along with Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevanico, Dorantes' slave of African descent.

Biography Dorantes was born in Béjar del Castañar, Salamanca (or possibly in Gibraleón ), Spain, ca. 1500. His father was Pablo Dorantes and he was raised in a poor hidalgo family of minor Spanish nobility. His family was of an ancient lineage and had mayorazgos of quality. the survivors crossed the modern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa, reaching the city of Culiacán, where they connected with other Spanish people.

When New Galicia's governor Nuño de Guzmán heard news about the Spanish castaways who had reached land under their jurisdiction, he gave them several goods (horses and clothing) and sent them to the capital of New Spain, Mexico City, to surrender accounts to the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza.

Mendoza offered Dorantes a position leading a new expedition, but Dorantes refused and instead made plans to return to Spain. Dorantes sold Estevanico to the Viceroy. However, when he was preparing to leave, his ship was pronounced unfit to sail, so he came back to Veracruz. After this, Dorantes never left New Spain again. He died in the 1550s.

Personal life Dorantes first married María de la Torre. After she died, Carranza married Paula Dorantes. Both of his wives were widows. He had more than fourteen children. One of his children was Baltazar Dorantes de Carranza, born in Mexico in the mid-sixteenth century, who served as treasurer of Veracruz and procurator of New Spain in Castile.