conquistador, part of the second wave of Spanish conquest in the the mid Atlantic world, 35 years old when he left for Florida.
Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, which planned to settle some 600 men(and 10 women) in Florida June 1527:
600-200 hurricane in Cuba
400 off to Florida!
300 Easter 1528 crash landing
Last horse dies Sept 22
48 or 49 x 4(approx 200)
after 30 days on the raft, 2 sink
December 1529 2 rafts(30?) 2 land in Texas
then 4 men wandering 7 years : Cabeza de Vaca, Andres Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado(Spanish) and Estevanico(Morrocan, enslaved by Dorantes)
March 1536 encounter with Spanish, enslaved 600 of Cabeza de Vaca’s followers
La Relacion presented to the king 1537
"published" 1542
The first 200 people were lost to a hurricane in Cuba, which was already far off course from their intended destination. Then 400 men, 80 horses, 4 ships took off for Florida, and after a month of storms and difficulty, crash landed near Tampa Bay on Easter Sunday 1528 with 42 horses and about 300 men remaining.
Narváez decides to give up on Florida,“so poor a land,” and orders the remaining men to build makeshift rafts of 10 meters each, tied together with palmetto leaves and horsehair, hoping to get back to Cuba.
The last horse died on 22 September. Its legs were made into water carafes. The four rafts take off with 48 or 49 men on each. They named the place, now near Apalachee Bay, Florida(aka, the armpit of Florida) — the Bay of Horses.
Cabeza De Vaca led another expedition to South America in 1540, this time he got lost in the Amazon, then became governor of a small colony. Arrested 1545 for protesting Native enslavement(again) he was sent into exile in Algeria in 1551. re-published relaciones in 1555(to set the record straight?) This is the standard text base for translations.
“I have written this report with such certain knowledge that, even though some readers may find the great novelties it contains very difficult to believe, they may believe them without any doubt, and may fully believe that I have shortened rather than enlarged upon everything, proof of which is the fact that I have offered it to Your Majesty as such. For which I entreat you to receive it by way of service: for this and only this is what a man who escaped naked was able to bring away with him.”
Today’s Opening Exercise
Collaborative question:
+ Key Detail: Locate a great novelty in these passages about Cabeza de Vaca’s experiences that seems hard to believe or worth further investigation; aim for the smallest possible unit. Craft a question that will help us to think more deeply about this detail.
What is the purpose and significance of weeping? does it change due to situation?
A marriage can dissolve in divorce — was this a bombshell ? does it change because not in the church?
Medicine men are cremated, eaten. What is this purpose?
Rafts for 30 days - survival?
new mammals, i.e. possum. How does this contribute to belief, disbelief? `
Drink the powdered bones after physician’s bones have been cremated and waited a year? Why?
Sick-- do a cross over them, and sad when they left — who did they think that the Spanish men were, that they would be sad to see them go? healer?
When mourning sons and brothers, the parents do not collect food for 3 months. Why only sons and brothers, and why this period of time, mourning in this way?
Collaborative question: