Cabeza De Vaca Research Paper

The journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is single handedly one of the most breath taking feats of exploration in the Americas. He departed Spain as a member of a royal Spanish expedition in hopes to colonize the mainland of the Spanish called La Florida, present day Florida. As a treasurer, he was one of the chief officers on the Narvaez expedition. Cabeza de Vaca ultimately departed from Spain for the Americas on June 1527. (pbs.org) (Americanjourneys.org)

The entire Narvaez crew spent the fall and winter months in Cuba, where his group suffered many losses as a result of desertions and a storm, Cabeza de Vaca even said "Because of winter and its inclemency, the many days we had suffered hunger, and the heavy beating of the waves , the

people began next day to despair in such manner that when the sun sank, all who were on my boat were fallen on one another, so near that there were few among them in a state of sensibility." (alkek.library.txstate.edu) In April of 1528 he ferried with 5 ships and about 400 men to the west coast of Florida, landing near to what is now the city of Tampa Bay. Then Narvaez demanded to separate and divide 300 men from the support ships and to reconnoiter the land, despite various protests from the expedition’s trustworthy treasurer, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, who thought it was more than foolish to leave the enormous ships. (alkek.library.txstate.edu)
Narvaez's ludicrous decision to dissemble and split land and sea forces proved a grievous error on his part as the ships were never able to rendezvous with the crew that travleld on land.

Powerful storms, unquenchable thirst and near death starvation had minimized the expedition to roughly eighty frail survivors when a deadly hurricane dumped Cabeza de Vaca and his companions on the Gulf coast near what is now Galveston, Texas. They attempted to repair the rafts, using what remained of their own clothes to plug holes, but they lost the rafts to a large wave and the harsh environment. As the number of survivors dwindled quickly they were enslaved for a couple years by several American Indian tribes of the northern Gulf Coast. These included the Hans and the Capoques, and tribes called the Karankawa and Coahuitecan. He found himself, for the first time in his life, in the company of a band of hunters and gathers. Most of the Indians Cabeza de Vaca had come across from the east of the Mississippi were chiefdom-based farmers, from whom the Spanish treasurer and his comrades had stolen food from countless times. The Indians lived on Galveston Island or Isla de Malhado (Island of Misfortune) as it was called by Cabeza de Vaca. He chose the name because after one more attempt at escape from the treacherous island, the raft sank and they had no other choice but to spend the winter on the island. (pbs.org) (texasbeyondhistory.net) (wikipedia.com)

(books.google.com)
By 1532, only three other members of the original journey were still alive and breathing, Alonso de Castillo Maldonado, Andres Dorantes de Carranca, and Estevan, an African slave. Cabeza de Vaca then had unparalleled adventures in the vast state of Texas, during which he was a merchant, doctor, ethnologist, historian, and observer of different plants and multiple specimen that roamed the land. During his roaming about, passing from tribe to tribe, Cabeza de Vaca developed high sympathies for the indigenous population. Together with Cabeza de Vaca, they now headed west and south in hopes of finally reaching their long awaited destination, the Spanish Empire's outpost in Mexico. These men then became the first group of men of the Old World to enter the American West. (pbs.org) (tshaonline.org) (wikipedia.com)

Horrified and outraged by the cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spanish, in 1537 Cabeza de Vaca yet again returned to Spain to publish an account of his experiences and earn a more generous treatment for the indigenous Indians that call the New World home.

Cabeza de Vaca wrote his own personal experiences with the Natives of Ameica and called such The Relcacion, or The Relation. In this incredible narrative, Alvar wrote about many experiences he came across in Galveston Island and his years of struggle. How he and the other 3 men nearly died and starved. He also wrote about his two years of being captive by the Han and Capoque American Indians for two very long years. Despite his struggles, Cabeza de Vaca kept an eye on the Indians and very carefully observed their customs and way of life. Throughout his eight years living with the Indians, he grew nothing but love and respect for them, even being fascinated by their distinct culture. Cabeza de Vaca even wrote the he did "merely a report of positions and distances, flora and fauna, but of the customs of the numerous indigenous people I talked with and dwelt among, as well as any other matters I could hear observe"

(wikipedia.com)
In the same year, 1537, Cabeza de Vaca was granted the position of Governor of The Plata regions in what is now part of region in Argentina. This title only lasted a couple of years because in 1543 he was proven unworthy of the position of Governor. He was rebelled against by his own people and put out of power. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was therefore sentenced to prison, forcing him back to his native Spain. He then wrote two books under the title of Naufragios and Comentarrios respectively. His final days were said to be at the town of Seville, Spain were he finally died. (newadvent.org)

Work Cited
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03126c.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvar_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_Cabeza_de_Vaca
http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-070/summary/
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/cabezadevaca.htm
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca06
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/cabeza-cooking/
http://alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/cdv/the_route/route_survey.pdf
books.google.com