"Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca"

This blog post is comprised of my notes on the author information heading for Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca as it appears in the 7th edition of The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A.  

"Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca"

•  Lived 1490-1558
• Cabeza de Vaca fought in battles in both Italy and Spain before sailing on an expedition led by Panfilo de Navárez, which was to Florida in 1527.  
• On this expedition, Cabeza de Vaca served as provost marshal and treasurer.
• Cabeza de Vaca and his fellows experienced extreme disaster on their expedition because Navárez was a poor leader; they wound up stranded at Sarasota Bay, Fl where the local Native Americans were hostile towards them.
• In order to escape from Sarasota, the men built barges, but shortly after initiating escape, Navárez declared an 'every man for himself' situation and he and others fled to sea never to be seen or heard from again.  Cabeza de Vaca and three others were the only survivors who continued on after wrecking their barge on Galvaston Island.
• From this point, Cabeza de Vaca kept a detailed itinerary of his North American exploration.
•  His adventure is as follows:
• spent 2 years as a prisoner/slave to the Han and Capoque clans of the Karankawa tribe
• progressed North and attained both status and power with the Caddos, Atakapas, and Coahuiltecans who revered him as a healer and a merchant
•  1535 - encountered the Jumanas and the Conchos in New Mexico, then headed into Mexico with a host/following of Pima and Opata peoples
•  Once in Mexico, Cabeza de Vaca encountered Spanish slavers who ultimately arrest him and seized six-hundred of his followers for slaves.
• From Mexico, he returned to Spain in order to speak out against the cruel and illegal slaving practices in the New World.  This occurred in 1537.
• Cabeza de Vaca returned to South America with the intent to create better policy for relations between the Spanish and the Native Americans, but he was sent back to Spain in chains in 1545 before ultimately being exiled to Algeria in 1551.
• Cabeza de Vaca's text recounts his sufferings and brushes with death in an understated way, but it also explores his feelings towards the Native Americans and about the Spanish treatment of them.