Everything about Lvar N Ez Cabeza De Vaca totally explained
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (
Jerez de la Frontera,
Cádiz, ca.
1490/
1507 –
Sevilla, ca.
1557/
1559) was an early
Spanish explorer of the
New World and is remembered as a protoanthropological author.
Biography
Family
Cabeza de Vaca was son of Pedro de Vera y de Hinojosa (a distant relative of
Francisco Pizarro), of
Jerez de la Frontera, and wife Teresa Cabeza de Vaca y de Zurita. His name is spelled as
Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca in
16th Century documents. The
Cabeza de Vaca means "head of cow". This
surname was granted to his family in the 13th century, when his ancestor aided a Christian army attacking
Moors by pointing out a secret
mountain pass by leaving a cow's head there. In the prologue to his great story relating his shipwreck and wanderings in North America, he refers to his forefather's service to the King, and regrets that his own deeds couldn't be as great, due to forces beyond his control.
Narvaez Expedition and Early Indian Relations
As treasurer, and hence one of the chief officers, of the
Narváez expedition, Cabeza de Vaca and three others were the only survivors of the party of 300 men who landed near Tampa Bay, Florida in the spring of 1528. Over the course of eight years, various members of the expedition succumbed to disease, starvation, exposure, and the attacks of various Native American groups as they slowly made their way west, toward Mexico, where they knew there were other Spaniards. Others among them simply gave up the effort and "went native." For a few years, the survivors were enslaved by various
Native American tribes of the upper Gulf coast (including the Hans and the Capoques of
Galveston Island, which the explorers termed
Malhado, or Island of Doom). Only the final four--Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo, and a Moroccan
Berber named Esteban (who was later called
Estevanico)--ultimately escaped and eventually reached
Mexico City.
Traveling mostly in this small group, Cabeza de Vaca explored what is now the
U.S. state of
Texas, and possibly smaller portions of
New Mexico and
Arizona. He traveled on foot along the Texas coast and up the
Rio Grande and then down the Pacific Coast to
Sinaloa,
Mexico, over a period of roughly eight years, during which time he lived in conditions of abject poverty and, occasionally, in slavery. During his wanderings, passing from tribe to tribe, he developed sympathies for the indigenous population. He eventually became a trader, which allowed him freedom to travel among the tribes. Cabeza de Vaca claims to have learned to heal the sick, and to have gained such notoriety as a healer that he and his companions gathered a large following of natives who regarded them as "children of the sun" endowed with the power to both heal and destroy, and who accompanied them in their journey across what is now the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. Eventually, after returning to the colonized reaches of
New Spain and encountering a group of fellow Spaniards in the vicinity of modern-day
Culiacán, he went on to Mexico City and returned to
Europe in
1537. Cabeza de Vaca wrote about his experiences in a report for
Charles V. It was later published in
1542, under the title
La Relación (The Report), and is considered a classic of colonial literature. Cabeza de Vaca desired to succeed
Pánfilo de Narváez (whose supposed ineptitude is commonly credited with causing the deaths of most of the party) as governor of
Florida and return there, but Charles V had already appointed
Hernando De Soto to lead the next expedition. Cabeza de Vaca declined to travel with the expedition as second in command. His apparent reluctance to provide his countrymen with sufficient information about the uncharted territory may have been due to his jealousy over De Soto's appointment.
Return to Spain
Instead, in
1540 he was appointed governor of
Río de la Plata, in what is now
Paraguay,
Argentina and their surroundings. As in North America, he was unusually sensitive and benevolent towards the Native peoples. He was the first European to behold the
Iguazu Falls, among the most spectacular in the world. Political intrigue against him caused his arrest in
Asunción and return to Spain in chains, in around
1545. He was eventually exonerated and wrote an extensive report on South America, which bound with his earlier
La Relación and published under the title
Comentarios (Commentary).
Ancestors
Ancestors of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Bibliography, in English
- Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez: The Narrative of Cabeza De Vaca. Translation of La Relacion by Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz. University of Nebraska Press 2003. ISBN 080326416X (Many other editions)
- Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez: Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America. Translation of La Relacion by Cyclone Covey. University of New Mexio Press 1983. ISBN 082630656X
- Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez: The Commentaries of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. The Conquest of the River Plate, part II. London: Hakluyt, 1891. (First English edition).
- Reséndez, Andrés. "A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca." Basic Books, Perseus, United States of America, 2007. ISBN 0-465-06840-5
- Schneider, Paul:Brutal Journey, Cabeza de Vaca and the Epic First Crossing of North America. Henry Holt, 2007. ISBN 0805083200
- Udall, Stewart L.: Majestic Journey: Coronado's Inland Empire. Museum of New Mexico Press, 1995. ISBN 0890132852
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