The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca

This is the first-hand account of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, one of four men to survive out of the six hundred that embarked with Panfilo de Narvaez in 1527 on his ill-fated conquest of La Florida. Had those four men not survived, the fate of the Narvaez expedition would have been unknown. It would have just disappeared from history, swallowed up by the jungle. Since Narvaez had been on...more

This is the first-hand account of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, one of four men to survive out of the six hundred that embarked with Panfilo de Narvaez in 1527 on his ill-fated conquest of La Florida. Had those four men not survived, the fate of the Narvaez expedition would have been unknown. It would have just disappeared from history, swallowed up by the jungle. Since Narvaez had been on an official mission, the survivors had to prepare a report of their journey for the emperor, Charles V. They survived by walking all the way from Florida to Mexico, becoming the first Europeans to cross the North American continent. It was a brutal eight-year journey, filled with hardships and encounters with numerous native groups, some helpful, some hostile. Many of those groups were gone within 50 years, having fallen victim to European diseases. Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion is the only written account of some of them, and he writes about the peoples he encounters and their customs with a sensitivity unusual in a conquistador. This slim volume is edited, translated and annotated by Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz, reproduced for the general reader from their award-winning three-volume set. It is a gripping read, and a must for students of the history of the Spanish in the New World.   hide