Álvar Núñez Cabeza De Vaca

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca c. 1490–1557 Quotes  You can imagine what it would be like in a strange, remote land, destitute of means either to remain or get out.” Personal History  Cabeza de Vaca was born in the village of Jerez de la Frontera, located on southwestern Spain’s Atlantic coast. Cabeza de Vaca’s parents were members of the upperclass; his father was a member of the municipal council and his mother was a noblewoman.

 Not much is known about Cabeza de Vaca’s early years, including where or if he received any formal education. What is known is that he served for many years as a soldier before taking the position of treasurer on a Spanish expedition to Spanish North America in 1527.

 The ill-fated voyage landed in present-day Tampa Bay in April 1528. Within a year, the majority of sailors who had sailed with Cabeza de Vaca would be dead. The remaining men survived by living with various groups of Native Americans as captives, traders, and healers.

 While serving as healing shamans, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions developed a following that numbered in the thousands. Some think that Cabeza de Vaca’s work as a healer may have been a predecessor of the curandero (native healer) cultural tradition that remains an important part of modern-day Southwestern culture.

 n 1536, after making their way through present-day Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions arrived in Mexico, where they met a group of fellow Spaniards. In 1537 Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain, where he wrote La Relación, an account of his experiences traveling across southeastern and southwestern North America and the people he met along the way.

 In 1540, Cabeza de Vaca was appointed governor of Rio de la Plata in South America. He arrived off the coast of Brazil in 1541, and he headed an expedition that arrived in Paraguay a year later. The colonists were not happy with Cabeza de Vaca, as they felt that he was too kind to the indigenous people (Cabeza de Vaca forbid enslavement of the native people). In 1544 the colonists revolted against his rule. Cabeza de Vaca was imprisoned for several months in the colony before being deported to Spain, where he remained in prison from 1545 to 1551.

 In 1551 he was convicted of malfeasance of office and banished to obscurity in Algeria. Five years later, the sentence was reversed, and in 1556 Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain, where he took a governmental position as a judge, a title he retained until his death the following year. Influences  The early Spanish Renaissance period in which he lived and his Christian philosophy are both seen as influences in Cabeza de Vaca’s writings. Points of Interest  The name Cabeza de Vaca, which means “head of cow,” came from his mother’s side of the family. The family earned the title when one of their ancestors used a cow skull to mark the route for the king’s armies as they headed toward battle with the Moors.

 La Relación includes some of the earliest references to the buffalo and the opossum. It also serves as a primary source of information about a number of different Southwestern tribes of Native Americans and includes descriptions of their traditions and customs.

 La Relación was a source of inspiration for many Spanish explorers that followed in Cabeza de Vaca’s footsteps.