1549 – Luis Cancer de Barbastro, a Dominican missionary was killed by Tocobaga Indians near Tampa Bay on this date. He first came to the New World from Spain in 1518, working with the native groups on the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. He later traveled to Guatemala in Central America and continued practicing a non-violent type of evangelical work. After receiving a royal decree from King Charles V, Luis Cancer sailed from Havana to southwest Florida in early June. After losing some of their crew during an overland expedition to the Tampa Bay area and receiving a warning from a Spanish sailor who had escaped captivity, Cancer went ashore to greet a group of Indians and was soon killed.