Written by: Amit
Hello, I Amit P. is honored to present to you my person, Cabeza de Vaca. He is one of the explorers of the world that no one knows. But that’s why I’m here, to show you how Cabeza de Vaca was just as important as Christopher Columbus. De Vaca was a Spanish explorer, in 1527 he was the first European to journey across North America. The name Cabeza de Vaca means “head of a cow.” Cabeza de Vaca was born into a noble family in the Spanish town of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain, the center of the sherry production. Cabeza de Vaca’s avvount of many adventures and treacherous overviews were published in 1542. This is what drew many other 16th-century explorers to the New World. This has also provided future generations of scientists and historians, still today.
Early in de Vaca’s adult life, he fought in the Spanish king’s army. In 1527 he was appointed treasurer or second in command of an expedition to North America commanded by Pánfilo de Narváez, by Kind Charles the 5th. April 1528, the leader of the whole crew Narváez’s four chips dropped anchor in what is now Tampa Bay of Florida. Narváez has claimed the land for there king, the Spain’s king. Cabeza, Narváez, and an exploratory gang of 300 other men and also 40 horses headed northward and inland to explore what ever was ahead of them. During there adventure they had a limited amount of food. Each man had only small amounts of ship biscuits and bacon to eat. Soon they all ran out of food. The Spanish invaded the Native Americans villages and took supplies and different types of food they could find, they took corn, beans, and squash. It wasn’t easy for them to raid into the Native Americans territory; the native’s were armed with bows and arrows, as soon they saw the Spanish invaders they took drastic measures and attacked, frequently with arrows flying all over the place.
By the end of summer, around 100 of the Spanish men had died either from a disease or starvation, or by the attack from the Indians. The expedition decided that the best hope for survival was to go to the Spain’s colony on Cuba. They have built five rafts formed from tree logs. The men made rope from plant fibers and horsehair and stitched together sails from their shirts. They melted their stirrups, spurs, crossbows, and other iron apparatus make the nails, saws, hatchets, and other tools. They also slaughtered their horses for food. By 1532 only four members of the original expedition were still alive, they were Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo, Andres Dorantes de Carranca, and Estevan, a North African slave. These four men headed west in hopes of reaching a Spanish outpost in Mexico. They crossed through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and northern Mexico. In July 1536 they finally encountered a group of Spaniards searching for Indians so they can enslave in Sinaloa.
Cabeza de Vaca and his four members of the original expedition, were angered by what they saw when the countrymen’s mistreatment of Indians. In 1537 he and his crew returned to Spain, his crew thought that they would die just like there unfaithful comrades. But they were proven wrong because they did make it back to Spain. On their journey to discover new land they met many civilians. When he got back home to Spain he decided to write an account of his experiences and to argue for better treatment of Native Americans. In 1540 he was appointed territorial governor of the Spanish settlement of the Rio de la Plata (now called Paraguay).
Cabeza de Vaca was a trustworthy subaltern, but not fit for independent command. His men rebelled against him in 1543; they took him as a prisoner, and sent him to spain, where for 8 years he was kept in mild captivity. He explored along the Paraguay River (in 1542, he was the first European to see Iguacu Falls). His subjects were unhappy with his policies and accused him of corruption. Two years later, he was stripped of his governorship and deported to Spain. Eventually he was put on trial and convicted. De Vaca died in 1527, many of people in the present or in the past do not remember when he died. I bet it’s another mystery to add to our expeditions.
To tot up, this exploration I think that Cabeza de Vaca’s exploration was extremely helpful for us. Now a day’s all people talk about is Christopher Columbus and how he found America. Cabeza de Vaca discovered North America through Spain. I appreciate all he has done for us in this time. I have now realized how amazing and exciting an explorers voyage can be. Well this is it and don’t forget anything you have learned from this biography on the amazing Cabeza de Vaca.
