Cabeza De Vaca Expedition

424 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Native american culture and traditions

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. To continue living, Cabeza de Vaca consumed what was available including berries, mollusks, rats, roots, lizards, snakes, and spiders. He also survived dehydration by drinking water stored in hollowed out horse leg containers. Other than food, he had to sustain the weather …show more content…

An injured Native American was brought to him and Cabeza de Vaca started healing him by cutting open his chest and with great difficulty. After that with a deer bone he gave the person two stitches. Two days later, the Native American was healed and he gained a good reputation throughout the land. Being a expertise healer, he was able to help the Native Americans. Helping the Native Americans gave him a good reputation so the natives gave him things needed for life. For example, food and supplies. He gave everything back that the Native Americans gave him. He cured the Native Americans. He learnt their languages. For example, he learnt four Indian languages including Charrucos and sign language. Cabeza de Vaca learning their languages helped him make friends and gained more of their trust. Gaining more of their trust, they gave him more supplies. His wilderness skills, his success as a healer, and his respect for the Native Americans helped him survive the dangerous journey. He might have these three expertise however the major skill needed is his respect for the Native Americans. That is the most important because he gained their trust. By gaining their trust they gave him food, water, and supplies which are needed to live. This question is still important because of all the difficulties Cabeza de Vaca went

Show More
Related

  • Cabeza De Vaca Dbq Essay

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Voyage Long And Strange By Tony Horwitz

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this section his initial thoughts show through. “But losers matter, especially in the history of early America.” Many different regions of early America are examined in their years of early conquest when native populations started their descent. The biggest theme throughout the section is the effect that conquistadors and explorers had on the native population in their search for gold and glory. The information that is given is not typical of what is learned of early America, but tries to really focus on the most important figures of the time and there voyages. For example, when talking about the Plains nations and there explorers, Coronado and De Soto a tattooed woman woman is brought up who had been captured by both explorers at different times and different places, but little is known about her. “Of the tattooed woman who witnessed the two greatest expeditions of conquest in North America, and became captive to both, nothing more is known.” This point captures the main idea of the theme and what many know of this time. Horwitz aims to point out the important facts, not just the well known

    Read More

  • The Conquering of the Karankawa Indians

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    Karankawa gave them food and shelter. Cabeza de Vaca gave us the first recorded accounts of

    Read More

  • History Of Juan Cortina

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    One, he gives us a point of reference for someone in his difficult and turbulent time period. He was a (presumably) rich Mexican that saw the injustice of how the white American settlers treated the Mexicans that lived near them. He shows us another side of the story, beside the story that the victors would’ve shared.

    Read More

  • Exploring the Transformation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca

    2183 Words  | 5 Pages

    In "The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca", Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s fight for survival, while being deprived of the basic necessities of life, proves there is a change in him from the beginning of the narrative to the end. This transformation, though, affected multiple aspects of de Vaca, including his motives, character, and perspective of civilization. Cabeza de Vaca’s experience is crucial to the history of America, as well as Spain, because it was one of the first accounts that revealed a certain equilibrium between the mighty and superior Spaniard and the Indian, once the Spaniard was stripped of his noble stature. The idea of nakedness is consistent throughout the narrative and conveys the tribulations he experienced and a sort of balance between him and the Indians. The original intentions of conquering and populating the area between Florida and a northern part of Mexico quickly shifted Cabeza de Vaca’s focus to the need to survive. His encounter with different Indian tribes and ability to get along with them (no matter what the means), and then prosper as a medicine man, shows that through his beliefs in Christian faith, and in himself, he turned the failure into an unexpected success.

    Read More

  • Cabeza De Vaca Analysis

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Exploration of Hernando de Soto

    2944 Words  | 6 Pages

    In 1539 Hernando de Soto and five hundred adventurers began on a journey of exploration that would take 4 years and would travel through 10 states in the southeast United States. His goal was to discover a source of wealth, preferably gold, and around his mines establish a settlement. During his travels through La Florida he encountered numerous groups of native peoples, making friends of some and enemies of others. His expedition was not the first in La Florida; however, it was the most extensive. In its aftermath, thousands of Indians would die by disease that the Spaniards brought from the Old World. De Soto would initially be remembered as a great explorer but, would be later viewed as a destroyer of native culture. However, in truth de Soto was neither a hero or a villain but rather an adventurer.

    Read More

  • The Devastation of the Indies

    287 Words  | 1 Pages

    The gold and silver mines offered quick wealth to the Spaniards, and the native population was given out freely because of the repartimiento system. The Indians were given as a reward to the Conquistadors for helping the Spanish king in conquering Latin American.

    Read More

  • Hernan Cortes: A Man On A Mission

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    His main accomplishment was the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. With about 600 men and 16 horses, Hernan Cortes landed on the Mexican coast in search of gold. From local inhabitants, he heard of a great and he had heard of a great and wealthy civilization farther inland. This civilization is what we call now the Aztec empire. He and his troops marched onward towards Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital.

    Read More

  • Essay On Francisco Coronado Expedition

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    Francisco Vazquez de Coronado served as the political liaison for the preliminary exploration. Francisco came from a prominent Salamanca family after the passing of his father and mother he did not inherit the families fortune, this put him in a position to make a shift to New Spain and hopefully chase the dream of making a fortune and becoming rich. At the age of twenty five Francisco arrived in New Spain in 1535, upon his arrival he was introduced and attached to a highly appointed officer Viceroy Mendoza. As time passed he went on to marry a wealthy women named by the name of Dona Beatriz de Estrada, his mother in law gave Francisco a large amount of money that is called “hacienda” which mean he received a large estate or plantation with a dwelling house. Around 1537 Francisco started to make a name for him when a rebellion just outside of México broke out; he successfully put down the rebellion and the following year Mendoza appointed him “regidor” which means a member of a council of municipalities. Then a year later in 1538 at the age of twenty ei...

    Read More

  • Bartolome De Las Casas

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Cahuilla Tribe

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e able to plan ahead and harvest fruits, nuts, and herbs depending on the season. Another thing that was amazing was the tools they used in order to hunts and prepare their food. They were able to use the foods in different manners in order to have a variety of meals. The Cahuilla were very resourceful that they were able to flourish, and thrive in an otherwise inhabitable region.

    Read More

  • Native American Medicine and Spiritual Healing

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Medicine men utilize the use of herbs, ceremony, song, stories and prayer to treat each person individually. Medicine men’s healing beliefs advocates a personalized treatment plan for each individual’s unique health problems. Consequently The medicine man is unswervingly devoted to his calling for his entire life, both publicly and privately. Frequently he fasted and his thoughts would reflect upon the supernatural. Publicly his duties were numerous and onerous; dedicated children to the Great Spirit, carried out the setting up of the chief, conferred military honors on the warrior, held leadership positions for war, enforced orders, appointed officers for the buffalo hunts, and when planting the maize he decided on the time to plant.

    Read More

  • Columbus' Quest for Spice Trading Routes

    382 Words  | 1 Pages

    Conquistadors came over to get all the gold they possibly could. The Spanish were cruel and took advantage of the Native Americans who were living there. Not only did the Spanish want the gold but they also wanted the land. The Native Americans were enslaved by the Spaniards and were forced to mine for gold. The Spaniards gave the Natives extremely high gold quotas to meet. Most were unable to do so and because of that they were punished. Natives would have both of their hands cut off(Document 1). The other reason was so that the Spaniards wouldn’t have a problem with resistance from them. The Native Americans were majorly taken advantage of for gold.

    Read More

  • Effect Of Christianity On Cabeza De Vaca And The Natives

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... 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.

    Read More

More about Cabeza De Vaca Expedition

Open Document