The narrative of cabeza de vaca summary

The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca (first published in 1542) gives a vivid and frank account of an early and disastrous attempt to conquer and settle New World territory.

The narrative of cabeza de vaca summary

The author, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was second-in-command on a venture to settle what the Spaniards called “Florida”—the vast and as yet unexplored area north of New Spain (present-day Mexico), stretching from the Florida peninsula to the Pacific coast.

Of the 600 men who sailed from Seville in June 1527 under the impetuous leadership of Pánfilo de Narváez, four alone would reach the Gulf Coast of Florida and survive a mostly overland trek to Mexico. Their voyage of conquest turned into a battle for survival among the impoverished and sometimes hostile coastal tribes.

Eventually it became a cross-cultural spiritual encounter, as the three Spaniards and one North African slave learned and practiced a form of faith healing that gained them Native