ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA
(1490-1558)
· witnessed Columbus’ disgrace in chains through Cadiz, 1498
· father = village alderman
· grandfather = conqueror of the Grand Canary Island’s Guanache people
· mother’s side = hero of the Moor Wars
o “Cabeza de Vaca” = “cow’s head”
o used cow skull to map route through unguarded mt. pass
· Nunez: off to war in Italy, fought in Spain
· 1527:
o joined Panfilo de Narvaez Florida expedition
o 25% desert on landing
o 2 of 6 ships lost
o stranded
o eat the horses
o “every man for himself”
o Nunez & others wreck on Galveston Island (Nov. 1528)
§ 2 Spaniards (Castillo, Dorantes) & 1 Moroccan/Moorish slave (Estéban)
§ prisoner & slave of Han& Capoque clans
§ other clans…with power
· merchant, healer
§ found by Spanish slave hunters
· 1537:
o back to Spain (8 yrs. later after wreck) & entreated Charles 5
· 1545:
o his own South America expedition
o tried to make it enlightened
o but
o Rio de la Platte colonists rebelled, forcibly removed him from office, sent him back to Spain in Chains
· 1551: exiled to Algeria, forbidden to return to Americas
from The Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
· dedicated to & addressed to Emperor Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand & Isabella
· “The Malhado Way of Life”
· Galveston, the “Island of Doom”
· as a slave
· Indians with piercings
· “These people love their offspring more than any other in he world & treat them very mildly.” (45)
o death of son/brother: whole village weeps
§ parents wail all day, for 1 full year
§ no food for 3 months (brought by village) à great hunger
§ funeral rites
o all = buried
o old = buried w/no weeping (no regrets)
o medicine man = cremated, ashes = drunk
o one wife (medicine man has 2+)
o dowry: hunting & fishing to daughter’s father
o after marriage, neither parents-in-law nor son-in-law may enter each other’s homes
o (though the wife can enter her in-law’s house)
· food = oysters
· water = fetid
· mosquitoes
· scarce wood
· *hunger
· generosity
· no chief
· naked
o women w/a type of loin cloth
o female children w/deerskin dress
· “Our Life among the Avares & Arbadaos”
· inland Texas
· time
o no sense of time by sun/moon, so daily or monthly
o season of fruits, fish
o position of the stars
· *hunger
o ½ year spent in hunger
o no corn, pecans, acorns
o worse than Hans & Capoque
o swollen w/hunger
· naked
o cuts, sores, bruises
o felt like Christ with Crown of Thorns
· barter system
o combs, bows, arrows, nets
· “Pushing On”
· eating dogs
· as gods
o brought them their sick
· forewent their food to give to their guests
· “Customs of that Region”
· no sex for 2 years
o once woman = pregnant
o suckled until 12 yrs. old (no food!)
· sons & brothers = not left to die (women were)
· “divorce”
o childless men can leave their wives & take up w/whomever they want
o men w/children “never abandon their wives”
· fights, disputes
o fist fights
o no weapons
o no judges, attorneys
o live off afterward until they cool off, friends afterward
· “The First Confrontation”
· with “Christian slavers” (50)
· March 1536
· “The Falling-Out with our Countrymen”
· 600 natives w/the 3 of them
· followed, like an entourage (gods)
· Indians shared whatever they could, even at their own expense
· argument:
o Spanish wanted to make Indian entourage their slaves
o Nunez tried to get the Indians to go home
§ the Indians felt “obligated” to stay with them until they got home
§ couldn’t see that Spanish & Nunez were of the same race
§ see Nunez+ as gods
· HOLY PEOPLE (from Creation Myths)
· C/C:
· “We had come from the sunrise, they from the sunset; we healed the sick, they killed the sound; we came naked and barefoot, they clothed, horsed, and lanced; we coveted nothing but gave whatever we were given, while they robbed whomever they found and bestowed nothing on anyone.” (50)
· ***
· Description of the Land:
o Eden-like
o “the most prolific land in all these Indies” (51)
o crops, fruit trees, rivers & springs, gold & silver
o people treat us as their friends w/great good will
o “This land […] lacks nothing to be regarded as blest.” (51)
· convinced Indians to return home
· Nunez = arrested
· Indians = enslaved
o “the Christians were poising to pounce”
· INDIANS:
o simple
o hungry
o kind, selfless, unselfish
o live off the land
§ Christian way of living
· respect the dead
· marriage
· live off the land
o even slaves & prisoners = well-treated
· NEW WORLD:
o like a new Eden
o perfect world
§ not for colonization but for diplomacy
·