Juan Garrido
Juan Garrido is the best-known of the numerous African explorers who went to La Florida. He was sold into slavery as a child and taken to Lisbon (Portugal). He was later moved to Seville, at the time when Spain was beginning to explore the Caribbean. He was one of many African people (both free and enslaved) who took part in the first conquests of the New World.
Veteran conquistador
Florida was just one of his many campaigns. He also took part in the conquests of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the islands of Guadalupe and Dominica, as well as joining the Hernando Cortés exhibitions in Mexico and Baja California.
Well-deserved reward
In recognition of his long years of service, he was named herald and keeper of the town of Mexico and was given a plot of land. He claimed that he introduced wheat farming into Mexico, which he highlighted in a list of services he sent to King Charles I of Spain.
"... I was the first to experiment with sowing wheat in New Spain... and I did this... at my own expense". "Probanza" Juan Garrido.