The voyage to the new land was one that had many hardships for almost anyone that went. When I think of whom I would go with there is only one person I would really want to go with: Àlvar Nùñez Cabeza de Vaca. On that same note there is one person I also would choose to not go with on the voyage to the new land with: John Smith.
Àlvar Nùñez Cabeza de Vaca was one who had the most hardships during his time on his voyage to the new land. Cabeza de Vaca writes, “My only duty is to transmit what I saw and heard in the nine years I wandered lost and miserable over many remote lands” and after all that he experienced on the new land it was evident that he did not have the best time on his trip to his voyage to the new land (45). The reason that through all of his suffer and turmoil he experienced that I would want to go with him is the fact that he got to experience life with the Indians, or more correctly Native Americans, as none had really gotten to do. It seemed to me that he had thought that some people might believe for his experience to be one that not factual but he backs it up when he mentions, “[This story may be] difficult to believe though the things narrated may be, I assure you that they can be accepted without hesitation as strictly factual” (45). This makes me realize that he wanted to write what he had written and he also did not want people to think that what he had written was something that he had just made up during what was possibly the hardest time of his life.
Throughout Àlvar Nùñez Cabeza de Vaca’s nine years on the new land, he had gotten to experience what life was like for the several different tribes he had gotten to experience. The tribes that he had collaborated with, not completely willingly, were the...
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...and want also what the resources of the land could give him. While reading through Smith’s work I just really did not like the idea of going with him just for the reason that something just feels “off” to me and I would prefer to stay away from someone who was like that.
I really think that if I got the chance to go back to go back into time I would definitely go with Àlvar Nùñez Cabeza de Vaca, and not with John Smith more because of what they had to endure. Maybe possibly if given the chance I would go with everyone to the new land to experience all what they had to do.
Works Cited
Baym, Nine, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A., 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
Cabeza de Vaca, Àlvar Nùñez. The Relation of Àlvar Nùñez Cabeza de Vaca. 43-51.
Smith, John. The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles. 83-92.
Because of his restlessness in England, Smith became actively involved with plans to colonize Virginia, which had been granted a charter from King James I. After setting sail, this famous expedition finally reached Virginia in April, after enduring a lengthy voyage of over four months in three tiny ships. John Smith was one of the seven chosen to govern and start the colony. He took a...
that Cabeza had great respect for the Indians and wanted to help them as much as he could so he would be respected back. “That we cured the sick, and that (The Spaniards) killed those who were well.”(Doc D) Cabeza was set to cure those in need but the Spaniards were already killing those who were well so his goal was very hard to set but he managed to heal a great amount of people. “And was therefore allowed to serve as a trader among Indian bands.”(Doc B) Throughout Cabeza’s journey, he learned lots of ways to stay alive such as being accepted to trade with lots of Indians and make money to find more ways to escape
Baym, N. (2008). Cotton mather. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume 1 (p. 143). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
English colonists Captain John Smith and William Bradford were both explorers that made their way into the New World during the 1600s. There are many similarities and contrasts between John Smith and William Bradford. For instance, both Smith and Bradford wanted to leave England and write about their experiences in the New World. They wanted to inhabit the New World with working men, utilize the fertile land, and attract settlers with their writings. However, although both men had the same intentions, they wrote for different purposes.
The reading, after giving a brief introduction to the ideas behind the separate articles, is split into three different sections. The first of these sections is the section meant to idealize the Incan empire and cast doubt onto the appropriateness of the Spanish conquest of the Incas. The first two articles were written by conquistadores, Pedro de Cieza de León, and Mancio Sierra de Leguízamo. They both offer a romanticized view of the Incan culture. Cieza de León tries to paint a picture of the Incas as a ideal culture that tried to avoid war at any cost, while Sierra de Leguízamo paints a picture of a trusting uncorrupted society of Indians. These views are obviously slightly skewed, because it is hard to believe that anyone who was there at the time ...
During the era of maritime exploration and the discovery of the Americas, assumptions were made of the land likening it to not only a paradise, but one that was overrun with cannibalistic natives. These suppositions led to a desire to explore the lands and conquer the savages that posed a threat to man and civilization itself. The consequences of this mass colonization and dehumanization of the natives paved the way for literary pieces that pose as critiques of the era when viewed through a post-colonial lens. When looked at through a post-colonial perspective, a few common themes prevail amongst compared texts. Focusing on the theme of the journey, what it means, and what is at stake, Garcilaso de la Vega’s “The Story of Pedro Serrano” and Juan José Saer’s The Witness both touch on all these themes with great severity, dissecting the purpose of the journey and what it means to be a civilized man.
To the defense of the Spaniards, there was little knowledge that the diseases of the Columbian exchange had caused the widespread, mass deaths of the natives. Las Casas was pivotal in bringing to light the brutal treatment of the natives. The crown took this information seriously. If it hadn’t been for Las Casas stance on anti-brutality against the natives, change would not have come for a long
From a proud Conquistador, to a castaway, a slave and trader, and then medicine man, Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore much of the southern coast of Texas. Cabeza was a 37 year old military veteran in 1527 when he left on the Narvaez Expedition to find gold and colonize the Gulf Coast. He was the expedition’s treasurer. Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved by Indians in 1528 when one of the rafts the crew made crashed on present day Galveston island, he then escaped in 1530 and joined/was enslaved by another tribe called the Charrucos until his escape with 3 other survivors in 1534. He then walked to Mexico City. Cabeza survived this ordeal because of the incredible patience he had, his skills of diplomacy and goodwill, and his amazing wilderness survival skills.
... 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.
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.
Las Casas emphasizes on three main issues throughout his account. First, in almost each chapter, Las Casas writes about the luscious qualities of the land and the different indigenous peoples that inhabit them. Second, he explains and describes in detail how the natives were rapidly being massacred by the invading Christian Europeans. Finally, Las Casas discusses how God had brought justice to the Europeans for their diabolical acts upon the natives. Las Casas, a former slave owner himself, realized that those whom he previously enslaved were just as much human and capable of learning and practicing the Christian faith as he was. As a bishop, he realized he could do little for the Natives except document his experiences (in as much detail as possible) and hope that the royal administration would have sympathy for the Natives and establish laws to protect them from the Europeans.
John Smith explains the hardships of the voyage in the “General History of Virginia” he and others endured. While finally landing on land and discovering the head of the Chickahamania River, The colony endured Disease, severe weather, Native American attacks, and starvation all threatened to destroy the colony. Smith talks about his accomplishments of being a “good leader” and how he helped in many ways. John Smith was captured by the Native Americans and brought back to the camp. Within an hour, the Native Americans prepared to shoot him, but the Native Americans done as Chief Powhatan ordered and brought stones to beat Smiths brains out. John Smith gave an ivory double compass to the Chief of Powhatan. The Native Americans marveled at the parts of the compass. After the Native Americans admired the compass for an hour Chief Powhatan held...
The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World
Baym, Franklin, Gottesman, Holland, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1994.
Baym, Nina et al. Ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 8th ed. New York: