Living Among The Indians
Surviving the harsh environments of Texas, like deserts, mountains, indian territory and lack of resources and food. It is very hard to fight through all of this physically, but most importantly, mentally. Cabeza de Vaca left the port of Seville in 1527 to the new world, to establish settlements. When he got to the gulf of Mexico currents made the ships with 300 men, off course and they shipwrecked near today’s Tampa Bay. Here's the real question, how did Cabeza De Vaca end up surviving with only 3 fellow men? Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his wilderness skills, his success as a healer, and his respect for the native Americans.
Cabeza survived because of his wilderness skills, by using all the resources he had like eating horses (I’ve eaten horse in Kazakhstan, it tastes good actually!), since there was a lack of water, he hollowed out horse legs and filled them with water whenever he had the chance. He also watched what the natives ate, so he did the same since he was enslaved, and there was hardly any food. He learned the charrucos language and sign language to communicate to the Indians when he ran away from the Indians that enslaved him. “Cabeza learned 4 native american languages including charrucos plus sign language. Cabeza drank
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He respected the natives because he they roam around on their own land, and they had to deal with the harsh lifestyle, above all of it they were free people and he didn't want to harm them like the spaniards.”He was with his three fellow survivors and a following of the hundreds of indians. The spaniards were on a slave catching expedition that spread fear across the land. And that we did not covet anything but rather, everything the indians gave us we later returned.”This relates to my statement because it proves that he didn't want anything from the natives, not slavery, gold, wealth anything, because they respected
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,
Cabeza de Vaca was originally part of the 600-man Narváez Expedition, and in the end was one of four survivors. The trip was highly disastrous, on the literal first page he tells how local inhabitants “seduced more than 140 of our men to the desert”#.
However, he then goes on to say how deeply moved they were, which is somewhat ironic. It's almost as if Cabeza de Vaca and his followers know that the Indians aren't truly unworthy creatures but they use what everybody already agrees upon to manipulate their supposed worthiness and justify their claims. He also goes on to explain the warrior-like tendencies of the Indians and how fierce and relentless they are. He describes them by saying, "whoever has to fight Indians must take great care not to let them think he is disheartened or that he covets what they own. In war they must be treated very harshly, for should they notice either fear or greed, as a people they know how to bide their time waiting for revenge and take courage from their enemies' fears. After using up all their arrows, they part, each going his own way, without attempting pursuit, although one side might have more men than the other. Such is their custom." (68) They have these customs that are very unnatural and are not normative behavior. Cabeza de Vaca refers to the customs of the Charruco Indians with great
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
Columbus never even walked on what we now call the United States of America. Where ever he did land, he was motivated only by his own greed. Columbus came for the gold, spices, and slaves. In his diary, he mentioned gold 75 times just in the first two weeks, alone (Katz 13). Indians who weren’t able to find gold, were punished by having their hands cut off. Most slaves died en route to Spain. Many Indian females were taken as sex slaves, some as young as nine and ten years old. Columbus forced cooperation from the Indians by disfiguring them and using them as examples. Even worse, he used hunting dogs to tear the Indians apart. Many natives committed suicide, and murdered their own children to save them from such a horrible life. Those who survived the voyage were worked to death. Still, another huge portion of these Indians died from disease brought over by Columbus and his
While trying to adapt Native Americans to European customs, Columbus and his followers took advantage of the Indians. The Spanish burned the Natives sacred objects and would not allow them to practice their own religions. They also abused the Natives, enslaving them, taking land from them, and raping their women. Because of the conquistadors quest for gold and other riches,
He became desperate to pay the dues back to the king and queen, so he order every native older than fourteen to collect a certain quantity of gold by three months. Once they had collected the amount, they would receive a copper to put around their neck, those without it had their hands cut off and bled to death. Many felt it was impossible to do this, and tried escaping but were always found and killed. When it was finally clear that there was no gold left, they took them all as slave labor to huge estates which are called encomiendas.
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.
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.
Cabeza de Vaca went through many things that gave him a new outlook. He was a slave and then considered to be a scared healer. On his return to Spain Cabeza de Vaca reported of the inhumane treatment of the natives. New laws about the treatment of natives were taken.
On June 17, 1527, Cabeza de Vaca set sail on the order to conquer and govern the lands from the Rio Grande to the cape of Florida. However, during his journey he encountered much devastation such as the wrecking of his ship which resulted in his separation from the majority of his Christian companions. Praying to God after every ordeal, Cabeza routinely sought after his Christian religion to guide him through his unexpected journey. While traveling through the interior of America, he also encountered many native tribes which inhabited the land. While most of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century spread their religion through warlike ways and rearranged societies
Would you be able to survive in the desert terrain, being shipwrecked on a island in the middle of nowhere or escape from indians and walk to mexico city and live to tell the tale? Cabeza de Vaca survived against all odds making it to mexico city after 8 treacherous years after being shipwrecked on an island, captured by indians, starved by the indians and walking alone in the desert for years. How was he able to survive in the new world? There are three main reasons; his survival skills, mutual respect with the Indian tribes and being the best healer in New Spain.
An Explorer's Journey Cabeza DeVaca a pioneer in the hunt for the “New World”. Cabeza De Vaca was in the Narvaez expedition to reach Mexico to claim new land for Spain, Cabeza was the treasurer for the crew. The expedition went south when they crashed in current day Tampa-Bay the crew built rafts to get to Mexico, but Cabeza’s was the only one that made it to land In the Galveston islands. How did Cabeza De Vaca survive in the harsh environments he was stranded in? He survived with his survival skills, success as a healer, and his respect for the indian tribes.
Cabeza de Vaca explore, healer, and expert survivalist. Cabeza de Vaca came to america on an expedition with Panfilo de Narvaez as the expedition's treasurer. The expedition of five ships set sail out of the port of Seville in 1527 and crashed in modern-day Tampa Bay, Florida on four survived Cabeza de Vaca was one of them. How did Cabeza de Vaca survive? Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his wilderness/survival skills, success as a healer, and his respect that he showed to the native american groups he met.
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, Andres Dorantes, Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevan were the sole survivors of a four hundred men expedition. The group of them went about the friendly Indian tribes preforming miracles of healing, with the power of Christianity. At one time five sick persons were brought into the camp, and the Indians insisted that Castillo should cure them. At sunset he pronounced a blessing over the sick, and all the Christians united in a prayer to God, asking him to restore the sick to health, and on the following morning there was not a sick person among them. De Vaca and his companions reached the Pacific coast where the Indians, showed signs of civilization, living in houses covered with straw, wearing cotton clothes and dressed skins, with belts and ornaments of stone, and cultivating their fields, but had been driven therefrom by the brutal Spanish soldiery and had taken refuge in the mountains, de Vaca and his comrades, being regarded as emissaries from the Almighty, exercised such power over these untutored savages that, at their bidding, the Indians returned to their deserted habitations, and began again to cultivate their fields, the assurance being given them by de Vaca and his companions that henceforth they would