Showing results by author "Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca" in All Categories

This edition of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's Relación offers readers Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz's celebrated translation of Cabeza de Vaca's account of the 1527 Pánfilo de Narváez expedition to North America. The dramatic narrative tells the story of some of the first Europeans and the first-known African to encounter the North American wilderness and its Native inhabitants.

Cabeza de Vaca was part of a 1527 Spanish expedition to explore the region north of the Gulf of Mexico. His group lost contact with their ships, and traveled on foot across Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico for the next eight years. This work, written in 1542 as an official report to the king of Spain, is a rich source of information on the ancient Southwest: the indigenous people, the climate, and the flora and fauna.

Der spanische Edelmann Cabeza de Vaca möchte, wie so viele in seiner Zeit, sein Glück in der Neuen Welt machen und schließt sich im Jahre 1527 der Expedition von Pamphilo de Narvaez an. Die Spanier verirren sich schon bei der Ankunft, lassen ihre Schiffe im Stich und marschieren durch unbekanntes Gebiet. Fast alle der dreihundert Männer verhungern, ertrinken oder werden von Indianern getötet.