Francisco Adventure Summary

“One of the great themes of historical literature over the past five centuries has been the assessment of the European discovery of the Americas as one of the two greatest events in human history.” (2). A similar, better-known pronouncement was penned by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Hernan Cortes’s private secretary

Cabeza De Vacaśsurvival was a mystery among others or was it ? In the spring of 1527 five spanish ships set sail for the New world one of them was holding a man named Cabeza De Vaca.After waiting for winter to stop Panfilo De Narvaez (The leader of the expedition) hopelessly confused made accidental landfall near modern day tampa bay,Florida After 2 difficult months,Narvaez and his men arrived at Apalache Bay and only new he had to travel west to get to mexico and told the men to melt guns down into tools to build 5 rafts that could hold fifty men and one of the five rafts was led by Cabeza. Some wondered how Cabeza survived when he came back from his horrible trip and I have three of many to tell you abou. Cabezaś survival was attributed by having faith in god, the ability to be trusted by indians,and being able to heal the indians.

Cabeza de Vaca overcame obstacles in the wilderness from the skills that he had learned. By looking at Document A I can infer that Cabeza de Vaca walked an extremely long way

Death, starvation, illness, and hostile natives are some of the difficulties explorers faced during the 15th century. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and Garcia Lopez de Cardenas were two Europeans who traveled great distances in hopes of discovering something new. Throughout their journeys, both men wrote down the problems and discoveries they made. With the passages from their journal one can compare and contrast their expeditions. In the upcoming paragraphs one will learn the similarities and differences between the two men during their expeditions.

Chapter Three is based on Governor’s Alonso De Leon’s 1690 expedition. This chapter is a continuation of what chapter one and two talk about. In chapter three we are able to track the route of the 1690 expedition route through Alonso De Leon’s diary.

Can you imagine setting sail with about 600 men on a conquest hoping to successfully complete a task. Instead your castaway and you are one of four survivor’s out of 600 men; We can all attempt to imagine, but this was reality for Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. In the early 1500’s Alvar Nuñez was amongst the first Europeans to step foot in what is known as North America today. The narrative and film Cabeza de Vaca Relacion and Cabeza de Vaca the film, recounts the trials and tribulations of the eight year journey. The film adaptation of Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition compares to the text in many ways. The film is merely a mirror to the narrative and although the film is not as long as the book it gives its audience visual validation of the hardships Alvar Nunez and his men endured, The way in which Alvarez was inhumanly treated by the Indians and how Alvar Nunez became popular and respected in the Indian community.

Imagine an explorer that is captured by Indians for two years and then have to example and find a way back to their home, or die. Well this is exactly what Cabeza de Vaca went through in his journey. Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer that landed on modern day Galveston Island, Texas, Cabeza de Vaca was also captured by Indians during his trip. Cabeza de Vaca escaped after two years of being captive. Cabeza de Vaca survived his journey because of his relationship he built with most Indian tribes, his prior knowledge, and his ability to know a lot of languages.

The map on Document A shows you the route Cabeza took to reach freedom. He wouldn’t have been able to do it with his wit alone, luck played a key role in survival. Fall of 1532, Cabeza mets the other survivors again and waits for the right moment to escape the indian stronghold. With a 21 month journey ahead of them, they lucked out with the nice Native Americans down south(Cabeza de Vaca: How did He Survive).

In the 1520’s, an expedition with 600 men and five ships began from Spain to the New World, but the ships were blown off course and landed in modern day Tampa Bay, Florida. On one of those five ships was a military veteran named Cabeza de Vaca. The leader of the expedition, Panfilo de Narvaez, ordered his men to leave the ships and search for treasure, but to no avail. Narvaez ordered his men to melt down their firearms and build rafts after two long months of searching for treasure. The men set off, but were blown out to sea. Hunger and thirst began to take its toll, and many men died off. The rafts eventually drifted to shore in modern day Galveston Island, Texas with only 80 men left. This began an eight year long battle to survive for

This famous conquistador did many things, but I think the one linking most with his survival on his harsh journey was his wilderness skills. “Cabeza de Vaca drank water stored in hollowed out horse leg containers” (document B). Document A displays the treacherous distance of his walk and the terrain he would have to travel through. These display how he used the environment and his materials to his advantage such as the horse legs. It also shows that Cabeza must have had lots of skills to wayfare that long distance with almost no

Cabeza de Vaca was lost and alone in the swamp wetlands of the San Antonio Bay. He was naked, his feet were covered in mud, and he was covered in mosquitoes, but he was still able to survive. Cabeza de Vaca was on a expedition with Panfilo de Narvaez along with 300 other men to establish settlements along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The 300 men were ordered to leave the ships by Panfilo de Narvaez on modern-day Tampa Bay, Florida to search for treasure. While they were all looking for their treasure, they didn't know that the would never see their ships again. Now the only thing that mattered was not colonization, it was survival. Cabeza de Vaca survived by healing the native americans, respecting the native americans, and using his wilderness skills to survive.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel America without anything but three partners and your feet? Well that's what Cabezas did and he went through extremely tough tasks. In 1527 five Spanish ships left a port in Seville He escaped from Indians, he was stranded on Galveston island after being in a raft with his fellow castaways, and after that, escaping Indians again and walking to Mexico. Most people would ask how Cabeza survived, and if they did I would tell them that Cabeza De Vaca survived because of his wilderness skills, success as a healer, and his respect for Indians.

While many would say Cabeza De Vaca’s exploration was built on struggle, death, and extreme suffering, I would say that Cabeza De Vaca’s exploration although disastrous, was a complete success. The significant purpose was to gain insight on the different cultures of the Indians that Cabeza De Vaca had encountered, to find gold and signs of wealth, and also possible agricultural environments. But the overwhelming purpose that ties all these together is Cabeza De Vaca’s understanding of the possibility for the spread of Christianity throughout the American southwest.

Before women could pursue the opportunities that California had to offer, they had to embark on and endure the onerous journey to California. Through the tough terrains, survival was difficult. Many of the travelers chose the route that took five to seven months through the Cape Horn route, and the Isthmus of Panama which was difficult due to a small boat and mule. Another way of traveling was on land with wagon or on foot, going through deserts and plains with the difficulty of keeping their family safe and free of disease. Many women journeyed with their father, brother, or husband to the land of golden opportunity leaving behind their entire livelihood. Women who got here to California were pushed. They thrived, notwithstanding

The European colonization of the Americas was a time of excitement and prosper and those involved left many interesting stories to be told. In each story, there is struggle and heroism over prized land, cheap labor and political control. In order for these historic stories to live on and teach us not only how far we’ve come but how much has not changed, authors need to capture the reader’s minds. I believe authors Jordan Goodman and Joseph Boyden accomplished this. They both opened my mind into a period of time that I found intriguing but also disheartening.