Cabeza De Vaca Summary

1963 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of spanish colonization of latin america

The Europeans motivations and world views shaped their attitude about the Indians by the life and historical experience of the author, de Vaca. In the case, the discussion of Cabeza de Vaca’s life is used to analyze the European treatment and how things changed at the better part of the Author’s journey. The author explains how the American journey turned out to be the most horrifying event that brought lessons to the Spaniards who had the perception of conquering the America. Starting his mission as a governor, the author explains how their ego as Spaniards had increased. He arrived in Florida with his back up soldiers in 1527 with the objective of controlling over the “New world”. He suggests that the Spaniards were very arrogant as he mentions …show more content…

The author witnessed the killing of the 2500 men as he was the appointed Cuban governor during the event. Their encounter with the Indians seems like a revengeful act as that Karma was taking its place. The Indians had shot arrows at the group, which was advancing into their territorial zones. In essence, most of the soldiers got injured during the raid in the forests. Cabeza thought that the zone where they were adventuring, the Apachelen, was an area, which they had already captured under their rule. It is, however, to his surprise that most of his soldiers got killed in the process of reaching out to the imagined gold and …show more content…

His amazing skills in the healing sector turn out to be the saving factor, which made him reconcile with most of Indians. It is at that juncture when he started developing different perceptions about the Indians. It happened that he was left with the choice of healing their natives. The Indians had the belief of blowing the wounds of the sick as a way of healing. As a rule of survival, Cabeza de Vaca alongside other survivors of the storm was adhered to the rule in order to receive food. It happens miraculously that Cabeza de Vaca managed to heal the sick using spiritual Christian beliefs. This moment was a point of reflection to the Indians when they began to see the wonders of the bearded

Show More
Related

  • Matthew Restall's The Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    Admittedly, these men are responsible for much of the exploration of the America’s, but to focus on so few of the explorers ignores how reactive their actions were, and the larger narrative of the world at that time (4). For example, Columbus is praised and idolized for discovering the America’s, however it was only by luck that he arrived on those shores. Moreover, there were many other explorers at the time who could have reached the America’s if Columbus had not done so first (9). Another man who is seen as the key figure in the actual Conquest is Cortes. Cortes’ campaign in the America’s is commonly viewed as the standard to strive for, yet it is also the exception to a typical conquest (19). He is viewed as some above-it-all conquistador idol, when in all actuality he merely followed the standard protocol of the Conquest (19). This does not mean that Cortes’ actions were any less inspirational, merely that they were not uncharacteristic acts that he created (19). Both Columbus and Cortes were merely following standard procedure of the time, yet they are written about as if they were heroes of their time, bravely going and doing what none had done before. And in some sense, they were the first to discover and conquer, but it is foolish to assume that just because they were the first to be in the America’s

    Read More

  • Viva La Causa Summary

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Viva La Causa is a documentary about how hundreds of farmworkers fought for their human rights because they were treated poorly. This took place in the early 1960’s because the workers were not receiving their benefits and civil rights. A farmer himself, Cesar Chavez, spoke on behalf of the rest of the farmers saying why should they put up with the low wages and no benefits. After watching this documentary it helps me understand the functions of the legislative and executive branches of the Texas State Government by providing interesting concepts of how the government was back then and how they took action.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Matthew Restall's Seven Myths Of Spanish Conquest

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anais Nin once said that “we write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection.” In his book, Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest, Matthew Restall tries to change our perception of the past in other to open our eyes to what life was really like during the colonial period. As Restall puts it, the main propose of the book is to “illustrate the degree to which the Conquest was a far more complex and protracted affair” (p.154) than what was supposed in the latters and chronicles left by the conquistadores. Each one of Restall’s chapters examines one of seven myths regarding the mystery behind the conquest. By doing so, Matthew Restall forces us to look back at the Spanish conquest and question

    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

  • How Did Christopher Columbus's Relationship With The Spanish Crown Change Over Time?

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    One question posed by the authors is “How did Columbus’s relationship with the Spanish crown change over time, and why?” In simple terms, Columbus’s relationship with the

    Read More

  • Bartolome History Of The Indies Summary

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    The source of the first passage that I read was History of the Indies written by Bartolome de Las Casas written in 1528. Bartolome was a 16th century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar/priest, who condemned the treatment of Indians in the Spanish empire. Bartolome widely disseminated History of the Indies and helped to establish the Black Legend of Spanish cruelty (Give Me Liberty, 28). The source of the second passage that I read was the “Declaration of Josephe” which was created by Josephe on December 19, 1681, and Josephe was a Spanish-speaking Indian questioned by a royal attorney in Mexico City investigating the Pueblo Revolt, which is the revolt of the indian population, in 1680, which temporarily drove Spanish settlers out of present day New Mexico

    Read More

  • Bartolome De Las Casas Analysis

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    This text was created to bring to light the hardship Natives went through during the Age of Exploration. The populous, who only hear rumors and short stories from all territories west of the Atlantic Ocean, cannot grasp the tough and difficult task that is at hand in the Americas. From these short blurbs of what is said about the west, they make inferences of what it is like, and how it is possible for another land mass to be unknown to many for so long. But for those who do know what is past the Atlantic, know that this Agenda of the King and Queen must be fulfilled and to do so would be to claim land for Spain for it to be settled upon. On top of that is to further collect the riches of the Americas to benefit Spain in the conquest of the Americas.

    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

    Milanich, Jerald T. and Susan Milbrath., ed. First Encounters: Spanish Exploration in the Caribbean and the United States1492-1570. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 1989.

    Read More

  • Columbian Exchange Argumentative Essay

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 AD in Seville and died in 1566 in Madrid. In the ending of the 15th century and the beginning of 16th, he came to America and become a “protector of Indian”. In 1542, most based on his effort, Spain has passed the New Law, which prohibit slaving Indians (Foner, p. 7). In 1552, he published the book A Short Account of the Destruction of The Indies.

    Read More

  • Geronimo

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several of the gold seekers set out on horseback to Pinos Altos, where they knew Mangas and his followers would be found. They were joined by an army unit under the command of Brigadier General James Carleton, who was no friend of the Indians. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He had issued an order to those serving under his command “to kill all Indian men wherever found”.

    Read More

  • Douglas Monroy's Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California

    1454 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first section, Monroy describes the Indian and the Iberian cultures and illustrates the role each played during missionization, as the Indians adapted ?to the demands of Iberian imperialism.?(5) He stresses the differen...

    Read More

  • The Conquest Of New Spain Sparknotes

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Conquest of New Spain” is the first hand account of Bernal Diaz (translated by J.M. Cohen) who writes about his personal accounts of the conquest of Mexico by himself and other conquistadors beginning in 1517. Unlike other authors who wrote about their first hand accounts, Diaz offers a more positive outlook of the conquest and the conquistadors motives as they moved through mainland Mexico. The beginning chapters go into detail about the expeditions of some Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernando Cotes. This book, though, focuses mainly on Diaz’s travels with Hernando Cortes. Bernal Diaz’s uses the idea of the “Just War Theory” as his argument for why the conquests were justifiable

    Read More

  • Rough Riders Thesis

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    These men had returned with the news of a Spanish outpost with the name Las Guasimas. By afternoon of the same day the Rough Riders had been order to head out to the location of Las Guasimas and eliminate all opposition and secure the surrounding area, the men would camp outside the outpost then attack the next morning. For started, the Rough Riders were at a disadvantage, they were not accustom to the dense jungles of Cuba in which they were fighting in, and did not know the jungles trails like the Spanish did. Yet the next morning the attack commenced, with General Young, commander of the cavalry and regulars, attacked the outpost straight on.

    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 Summary

Open Document