Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1490-c.1559) was an early Spanish explorer of the New World and remembered as a protoanthropological author.
A factor in the notorious Narváez expedition, he was one of four survivors of shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico, and later enslaved by a native tribe of the upper Gulf coast.
Traveling mostly in this small group, he explored what is now Texas, New Mexico and Arizona on foot from coastal Louisiana to Sinaloa, Mexico over roughly six years.
During his travels Vaca developed sympathies for the indigenous population unusual among the conquistadors. Eventually, after reaching New Spain, he went on to Mexico City and soon returned to Europe, where he wrote about his experiences in a work called La relación (the tale). A major motivation for the 1542 publication of this work was Cabeza de Vaca's desire to succeed Narváez as governor of Florida.
Instead, in 1540 he was appointed governor of La Plata, in what is now Argentina and surroundings. Political intrigue against him caused his arrest and return to Spain in chains, circa 1545. He was eventually exonerated and wrote another book, Comentarios (commentary) about this experience.
External links
PBS website for Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/cabezadevaca.htm)
Cabeza de Vaca's Journey to the Southwest (http://www.english.swt.edu/CSS/Vacaindex.HTML)
Cabeza de Vaca's La Relación (http://www.library.txstate.edu/swwc/cdv/about/index.html) contains hi-res photography of the 1555 edition of la Relación.
CabezadeVaca was born into the Spanish nobility in 1490.
As CabezadeVaca remembered, his countrymen were "dumbfounded at the sight of me, strangely dressed and in company with Indians.
Appalled by the Spanish treatment of Indians, in 1537 CabezadeVaca returned to Spain to publish an account of his experiences and to urge a more generous policy upon the crown.
CabezadeVaca means "Cow's Head" and this surname was granted to his family in the 13th century, when his ancestor aided a Christian army attacking Spanish Moors by pointing out a secret pass through the mountains by leaving a cow's head there.
CabezadeVaca desired to succeed Pánfilo de Narváez (whose ineptitude had caused the deaths of most of the party) as governor of Florida and return there, but Charles V had already appointed De Soto to lead the next expedition.
Alvar Nunez CabezaDeVaca: The Narrative of CabezaDeVaca.
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