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Cabeza De Vaca New World Analysis
355 Words1 Page
The accounts of Spanish explorers in the Americas each provide a unique representation of the “New World.” In the first-person chronicle of an explorer’s turbulent, nine year journey through the American southwest, The Relation, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca writes “I hope in some measure to convey to Your Majesty not merely a report of positions and distances…but of the customs of the numerous people I talked with and dwelt among, as well as any other matters I could hear of or observe” (28). Having lived alongside the Native Americans, deep within the landscape, De Vaca attempts to deliver an accurate and candid representation of the “New World.” His disenchanted portrayal illustrates how America was not a miraculous land, devoid of civilization
but vastly inhabited by many established tribes and oftentimes a laborious, weary place. De Vaca’s experiences provide a stark contrast to Columbus’s gleaming narrative presented in his “Letter to Luis Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” in which he describes his initial impressions of the New World. Throughout the letter, Columbus hyperbolically depicts the New World as a sort of paradise, untouched and disposed for colonization. The Native Americans and the lack of promised riches are barely referred to as Columbus focuses mainly on the landscape and many spectacles of the discovered islands. Columbus’s later “Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella regarding the Fourth Voyage” opposes his earlier account, now describing the land as “exhausted” (26) and “full of cruelty” (27). Similarly, the priest and author, Bartolome de Las Casas, who offers an honest portrayal of Spanish brutality in The Destruction of the Indies, presents a miserable and violent depiction of the New World, however, implies throughout that it was an inherently peaceful place until the Spaniards arrived. De Vaca, who lived among the natives, poses a more moderate perspective, neither glorifying nor condemning the New World, and demonstrates that the land, while generally peaceable, was capable of brutality. In conclusion, the author’s initial, hopeful expectations of the New World fall short as they experience its reality and through their accounts, represent the Americas as not a utopia, but rather as a place of dissent.
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