Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to cross the North American continent. This book is his odyssey, first written in 1542 as an official report to the king of Spain under the title La Relación. This book was published by Hispaniola Books on October 23rd, 2016. Cabeza de Vaca and the men landed in Florida on April 14th 1528. Upon their arrival, Governor Pámfilo de Narváez who was in charge of the expedition raised flags on Florida's coast and claimed the country in the Majesty's name. This is where Cabeza de Vaca's story begins. He was very vivid with the description of the men who experienced and witnessed the trip of the Interior of America. It almost felt like you were tagging along with them. Was it fate that brought them …show more content…
Over the next few months time only goes slower and things get tougher. More survivors die off, and others are put into slavery, including Cabeza de Vaca. He is enslaved for several years and is now one of only four survivors. Eventually he becomes a merchant for the natives, and while doing so, De Vaca was granted freedom. He also becomes a healer of faith, and actually gathers a large following consisting of both Natives and Spanish. Considering the time, it may also have been more or less expected that many men would die. I’m sure the men knew there wasn’t a 100%, or even 80% survival rate for these kinds of expeditions. In life, everyone is put in situations where they really have no choice but to just roll with the flow and accept what is going on. De Vaca did not really have a choice on deciding on going. He was captured and used as a guide to governor Pámfilo de …show more content…
That’s the stereotype of the natives, but they are in fact very kind and offer him and his men fish and roots to eat. He develops a lot of empathy for the natives and their plight at the hands of the Spanish, because of the many years he spent in slavery. Towards the end of his journey Cabeza de Vaca could possibly relate to the Native Americans more and better than his own people. There is no way he views them as savages at this point. By now he views them as a distinctive and unique culture. The way of Native American life was much more different than the rest of peoples lives. They always got the short hand in life but they did not have much of a choice other than to just live life. Thankfully Cabeza de Vaca came to realize that the Native Americans were real people with real feelings just as much as the Spanish were. Cabeza de Vaca must have felt some guilt for how they have been mistreating the Spanish. It’s easier to feel justified for killing and enslaving a culture if you believe they are savages, and inferior to your culture. It is not okay to kill someone who is no harm to
A second reason Cabeza de Vaca survived was because of his diplomacy and goodwill skills, or the fact that he was just a good person in general. A good example of this reason would be that, shortly after being captured by the Charrucos, Cabeza de Vaca became friends with them, they which in turn allowed him to be a trader, (though still enslaved,) to tribes as far as 150 mile from the Gulf Coast region.(Doc B) A second example of this reason would be, while Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved, as well as during his trek to Mexico City, Cabeza
Christopher Columbus and Alvez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca were both explorers for Spain, but under different rulers and different times. The more famous, Christopher Columbus, came before de Vaca’s time. Columbus sailed a series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504 in search for a route to Asia which led accidentally to his discovery of new land inhabited with Indians. Christopher sailed under the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella for his journey to the “Indies,” whom he was loyal to by claiming everything in their name. De Vaca , followed in Christopher’s footsteps and journeyed to Hispanionola for Spain’s emperor, Charlves V, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. Both, Columbus and de Vaca composed a series of letters addressing the main issue of their journey to the new land, but both were expressed in a different manner, included different material, and were motivated to write for dissimilar reasons.
other guys and have no water and little to no food what so ever? In the spring of 1527, Cabeza De Vaca and his three partners left the country to sail The New World. The ships went of course and got stranded on an Island called modern day Galveston Island. Cabeza was the only one who survived because of his survival skills and ways to do nifty tricks. During the time Cabeza was a slave on Galveston Island, he survived for three reasons.
Through the entire article, de las Casas discusses how great the Indians of the New World are. In paragraph 2 he states: "And all the infinite universe of humanity, these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity, the most obedient and faithful to their native masters and to the Spanish Christians whom they serve. They are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome. These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world. And because they are so weak and complaisant, they are less able to endure heavy labor and soon die of no matter what malady. The sons of nobles among us, brought up in the enjoyments of life 's refinements, are no more delicate than are these Indians, even those among them who are of the lowest rank of laborers.” They are also poor people, for they not only possess little but have no desire to possess worldly goods. For this reason they are not arrogant, embittered, or
...survival. Cabeza de Vaca cannot thank God enough for carrying him through the terrible times that he and the few remaining Spaniards went through as captives of the Indians. He feels a sort of accomplishment for making it through and comes out with a better appreciation for life. After experiencing what it was like to have been an Indian and a slave, and after being on the verge of death several times, the fact that Cabeza de Vaca was able to keep his composure and take each day at a time is astonishing. Of course, like a worthy Christian, Cabeza de Vaca gives God all of the credit in the world for his survival and success. However, it is Cabeza de Vaca’s faith in himself and determination that allow him to survive and go through the changes that he makes. It is almost a riches to rags, and back to riches story. However, the riches at the outcome of the expedition are far different from the riches going in. These new riches are not measured in gold or land, but in the appreciation for human life and the struggle for survival which made a better man out of him.
Christopher Columbus discovered the America’s for Spain in 1492. The explorers and settlers that settled in Central and South America were mostly Spanish and Portuguese. The English took notice of the Spanish success in the America’s, so they decided to explore the upper part of the America’s, North America, in the late 1500’s.
Rio Bravo, staring John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Ricky Nelson to name a few, was released in 1959 and is the perfect example of a classic American Western genre film. The film blends American political and gender role ideologies with the classic genre conventions of a Western help Rio Bravo to deliver its somewhat understated message.
As the values of the Indians, the natives that Cabeza De Vaca encountered on his eight year journey, that were roaming the south are compared to the moral values of the Spanish and then to the
A man who had to devour anything he could see. A man who had to drink water from a horse container to survive. A man who had to make his own hole for warmth. That man was Cabeza de Vaca. During Cabeza de Vaca's expedition, he shipwrecked near present day Galveston Island, Texas. This caused a life threatening situation. Cabeza de Vaca survived his eight year journey for three reasons: his wilderness skills, his success as a healer, and his respect for the Native Americans.
Milanich, Jerald T. and Susan Milbrath., ed. First Encounters: Spanish Exploration in the Caribbean and the United States1492-1570. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 1989.
Cabeza de Vaca stories is a conversion narrative, which the conversion is the between Cabeza de Vaca 's thoughts of the Native Americans. In the beginning of Castaways, Cabeza de Vaca did not interact with the natives as much as he does later in his story. In chapter three of his book, Castaways, he says that the Indians and his group, Spaniards did not get along. Once his group reached Florida he states:
What he and his men did to the Indigenous people is told in horrifying detail by the Dominican priest Bartolome de Las Casas, “whose writings give the most thorough account of the Spanish-Indian encounter.” Las Casas witnessed firsthand Columbus’ soldiers stabbing Natives for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks, and sexually abusing Indigenous women. His testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses, such as a group of Dominican friars, who addressed the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping to bring an end to the atrocities. At the very least, Columbus was complicit in the actions of his men. He cared so little for the welfare of the Indigenous people that he let his soldiers commit reprehensible acts that would be considered crimes against humanity in the present day. Christopher Columbus’ actions suggest he had no issue with serving as an enabler of the horrifying actions committed by his men against the Indigenous
Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 discovered Florida and was later met by a southern Indian tribe that would cut Leon’s triumphant moment short. A second attempt to colonize in America was led unsuccessful by Panfilo de Norvaez in 1528. Many men were lost at sea and others were among the Indian people. The first Spanish expedition in 1539 to what would later be known as Florida was an invasion that would be soon attacked twice by natives. Herman de Soto and his group of men in 1542 were defeated along with the rest of the Spanish attempts. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was another explorer in 1540 that attempted to bring back any rare goods to Spain. The army traveled through the southwest and to the Great Plains, returning empty-handed.
The movie La Jaula de Oro, is a life story of a journey of three kids from Guatemala to the United States. In the movie there are three kids Sara, Samuel, and Juan, they first embark on the journey through Mexico. When they first arrive to Chiapas, the kids put on a play to collect money for food, after the play Sara befriends this boy named Chauk. Who is an indigenous boy from Tzotzil, and also plans to get to America, and convinces them to come join the group. This group of kids is put through a lot during the film, it’s a very interesting journey for 4 kids to experience. This film shows the struggles and difficulties immigrants succumb and sheds some light into the harsh realities of what people don’t think about when they hear the word
... hardships he must face. Differing from other Spanish explorers Cabeza does not use violence as a means of spreading his word and eventually gains utter respect from the Indians he interacts with and even the respect of Indians that he has never met. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers spread a wave of bloodshed and disease through the New World killing almost all of the natives indigenous to the land. Cabeza de Vaca stands apart from his counterparts in the fact that he used peace and kindness to win the hearts of the natives and successfully converted the Indians he met into Christians.