Cabeza De Vaca: A Summary

When a Spanish treasurer, Cabeza de Vaca set of to find the New World he faced many challenges and failures along the way. The leader of the expedition was Panfilo de Narvaez, who had dreams to build settlements along the coast on the Gulf of Mexico, Cabeza de Vaca is a 37- year-old military veteran who served as the expedition's treasurer. Cabeza de Vaca: How Did He Survive? Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his success as a healer, his wilderness skills, and his respect for the Indians.

Being one of four survivors out of a crew of 250 on the expedition Cabeza de Vaca was a part of, was not a walk in the park. Cabeza was on a ship setting sail for the New World, in 1527, when his ship was blown off course and landed him in Galveston Island, Texas. The Native Americans living in Galveston eventually became his slave owners for two years before he escaped. He encountered many obstacles including starvation, thirst, unfamiliarity, slavery, etc. He endured all of these over a course of seven years, before he made it out alive. The question that remains is, how did Cabeza de Vaca survive all of this? Cabeza survived, because he was very resourceful, he had the advantage of being able to

If you shipwreck forced you to survive facing many forces like native americans and thousand mile walks would you make it ? .In 1527 Cabeza and his crew set sail with his large crew to explore the new world. But unsuspectedly all that changed when he landed in florida, and lost their ships. Their only option was to travel to west and hope to make it back to Mexico City. When the crew reached texas most of his crew was dead. The native americans made them slaves. After escaping and meeting more indian groups he met back up with other three that survived crew mates and slipped away and walked back to Mexico city.( background essay).Cabeza de vaca survived because of his survival skills, his success as a healer, and his respect for the natives.

“A Land So Strange” is a book any history enthusiast would enjoy. Beautifully written by Andres Resendez he is able to show the epic journey of Cabeza de Vaca through a book. Cabeza de Vaca a Spaniard scholar who shipwrecked in Florida in 1528 with a group of about 300 Spanish men, explorers, and slaves who accompanied him along the way. Having hopes to claim and settle in Florida but unexpectedly consistent events; like nature, natives, and loss of navigation turned their mission into an unexpected journey. Andres Resendez wonderfully words these unexpected events with a pleasant amount of detail that any reader could picture the journey of eight years of challenges leaving only four survivors Cabeza de Vaca, two other Spaniards, and an African slave who ended up wanting to just go back home. Regardless of these events he is considered one of the best explorers who survived the unimaginable and lead even with the lack of supplies and men to get their way back home. The journey was humbling by the fact he had to survive with what was around him and pushed through because of his curiosity to know more. This book is informative and practical because the author was able to illustrate his words that created a story based upon facts and understanding of the main characters experience that allowed one to see the passion Cabeza de Vaca in his expedition.

Leon-Portilla based the stories told in this book upon old writings of actual Aztec people who survived the Spanish massacres. The actual authors of the stories told in this book are priests, wise men and regular people who survived the killings. These stories represent the more realistic view of what really happened during the Spanish conquest. Most of the history about the Aztec Empire was based on Spanish accounts of events, but Leon-Portilla used writings from actual survivors to illustrate the true history from the Indians’ point of view.

This particular story is like a complementary to the note lectures about the Aztecs. Also, this lecture help to understand

     The next day the Spaniards met the Indians and tried to regain there water soured back, but were met with a huge resistance. They were sent back to the palace, and watched the Indians burn all of Santa Fe during the night. The next morning the Spaniards took the Indians by surprise, and killed

Estevanico the Moor explored because he was forced to by his master, Andres Dorantes de Carranca. He was a Moroccan slave, and as such, did not have a choice. Carranca was going on an expedition in 1528 to Florida, and brought his slave, Estevanico (“Estevanico, Biography in Context” Gale). He was a guide to Carranca and his expedition, and when the expedition was at what seemed to be its end, Estevanico keep the explorers exploring. He helped them to keep exploring the American Southwest. And when none of them would keep going, he continued to explore. Although his accomplishments may seem to be few, he helped many famous explorers to achieve their greatest accomplishments, whether as a guide, a healer, a medic, and, yes, a slave.

The book “A Land So Strange” by Andrés Reséndez basically illustrates 8 years of long odyssey from what is now Tampa, Florida to Mexico City on Cabeza de Vaca’s perspective. Cabaza de Vaca along with his companions named Andres Dorante, Alonso del Castillo, and Estebanico, are survivors of failed expedition to New World from Spain during 16th century. Unlike other members from the expedition, these four members found a way to live with native Indian tribes to survive. They were slaves of Indians and treated cruelly all the time. However, after long period of time of being slaves, they decided to make escape to Spanish territory. During their fugitive period, they had chance to help injured Indians. Their knowledge of certain medicine,

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is best known as the first Spaniard to explore what we now consider to be southwestern United States. His nine-year odyssey is chronicled within the book The Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition. His account is considered especially interesting because it is one of the very first documents that illustrates interactions between American natives and explorers. However, when examining the exploration of the modern United States, there are many arguments that have to do with the entitlement to the land and the motivations behind settling in the first place. Most explorers were obviously in favor of their own conquests and Cabeza de Vaca is of course no exception. In Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition, Cabeza de

Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America is a tale of epic proportions worthy of The Odyssey. The only difference being that this tale is true. Written by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America details the events of Cabeza de Vaca’s eight-year trip from Spain to the New World. It becomes quite clear though his journey that Cabeza de Vaca changes into a completely different man than he was when he set out from Spain in the name of the king, and God.

Now Cortez was in Tenochtitlan and conquering Mexico, the Cuban governor sent a force to kill Cortez and take over what he accomplished. Cortez took the Cuban commander hostage and

Cabeza de Vaca was known for his discovery of America. He documented his trek in America, as a lost traveler, exposed to unfamiliar territory, multiple hardships, and the native Indian tribes. His journal entry over his reencounters with the Christians is only a small record over his adventures on the whole Narvaez Expedition of 1528. The document was published in Spain, 1542, at a time when dispute over the mistreatment of natives in America in their colonization became a subject to resolve. His journal entry discusses his brief experience in an Indian tribe, the news he receives of nearby Spanish men penetrating the tribal communities, and the realization that the “Christians” were not a character he thought they were. Cabeza de Vaca sympathized the indigenous tribes and believed that they should not face the cruelty the Spanish settlers set in order to

Cabeza De Vaca was the most bravest and smartest explorer trying to survive being deserted on a new land. Cabeza De Vaca’s expedition was searching for gems, gold, and other treasure, and trying to find new lands to colonize (Background essay). It soon came that their goal was no longer colonization or riches; it was survival (Background essay). At the time there were 250 men, but it had dwindled down to 4 men including Cabeza De Vaca (Background essay). How did Cabeza De Vaca survive? The main reasons that Cabeza De Vaca survived is because of his wilderness and survival skills, his success as a healer, and his respect for the Indians.

Christopher Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca were both well experienced explorers of the New World. They both traveled to the New World to find out what was out there and if what they would find, could help them and their country. In the narratives, “Letter of Discovery” by Christopher Columbus and Castaways by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, they exemplified the overall environment of the New World. Each explorer had quite the experience within the New World and interactions with the natives but they were not quite the same. Columbus’ journey consisted of learning about the new land and obtain resources to bring back to his country. Cabeza de Vaca also wanted to find resources and goods but mainly wanted to explore the land and try to understand if it was possible to create a society alongside the natives. As they went into the New World, they had found new discoveries but their purpose of the journey lead them down paths that would give off two different perspectives.