Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 1490-1559 - Soldier, Slave, Faith Healer & Advocate for Native Americans & Texas

Orphaned as a youngster, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c 1490–c 1559) joined the Spanish army as a young adult & fought with distinction at the 1512 battle of Ravenna in Italy. His military service to the Spanish crown won him appointment as treasurer & 1st lieutenant in the 1527–28 expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez (1478-1528), a Spanish conquistador in the Americas who 1st sailed for Jamaica in 1510. Pánfilo de Narváez departed Spain again with Cabeza de Vaca in June 1527 with 5 ships. He bore a contract from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) permitting him to colonize the region between Florida & the Río de las Palmas, Mexico. The expedition wintered in Cuba & landed on the Florida coast near Tampa Bay on April 15, 1528.

On the Florida coast, Narváez unfortunately decided to land 300 men & about 40 horses from his support vessels to reconnoiter lands to the north in search of rumored gold. Narváez believed the Río de las Palmas to be only 30 to 45 miles distant, when the actual distance via the coast was approximately 1,500 miles. Permanently separated from his ships & short of food, the land contingent trekked & fought its way to the Florida peninsula over the course of 4 months. By then, Narváez’s command numbered fewer than 250 men.

Two ships with about 40 survivors each, including Cabeza de Vaca, wrecked on or near Galveston Island (now part of Texas). Out of the 80 or so survivors, only 15 lived past that winter. They tried to repair the rafts, using what remained of their own clothes as oakum to plug holes, but lost the rafts.  As the number of survivors dwindled rapidly, they were enslaved for a few years by various American Indian tribes of the upper Gulf Coast. The tribes to which Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved included the Hans & the Capoques, & tribes later called the Karankawa & Coahuiltecan. After escaping, only 4 men, Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, & an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Esteban survived to reach Mexico City.

Traveling mostly with this small group, Cabeza de Vaca explored what is now the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the northeastern Mexican states & possibly smaller portions of New Mexico & Arizona. He traveled on foot through the then-colonized territories of Texas & the coast. He continued through Coahuila & Nueva Vizcaya; then down the Gulf of California coast to what is now Sinaloa, Mexico, over a period of roughly 8 years. Throughout those years, Cabeza de Vaca & the other men adapted to the lives of the indigenous people they stayed with, whom he later described as Roots People, the Fish & Blackberry People, or the Fig People, depending on their principal foods.

During his wanderings, passing from tribe to tribe, Cabeza de Vaca developed sympathies for the indigenous peoples. He became a trader & a healer. His healing of the sick gained him a reputation as a faith healer. As Cabeza de Vaca finally decided to try to reach the Spanish colony in Mexico. Many natives were said to accompany the explorers on their journey across what is now known as the American Southwest & northern Mexico.  After reaching the colonized lands of New Spain, where he encountered fellow Spaniards, Cabeza de Vaca & the 3 other men reached Mexico City. From there he sailed back to Europe in 1537.  

There he detailed his journey to America & those he came to know along the way in Relación, the account of his experiences with the Narvaez expedition & those after being wrecked on Galveston Island in November 1528. His narratives of his adventure were published in 1542 in Spain. They are now known as The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. His detailed account describes the lives of numerous tribes of Native Americans. Cabeza de Vaca showed compassion & respect for America's native peoples, which, together with the great detail of the land he recorded, distinguishes his narrative from others of the period.

Trekking, however, was far from over for Cabeza de Vaca. In the early 1540s, he again served the Spanish crown as governor in present-day Paraguay. To reach his seat of government at Asunción, he led some 200 settlers on a 1,200 mile march from the coast of Brazil. To inspire his followers, he took off his shoes & walked every step of the way, even though horses were available. During his experiences in Texas, he had become a lay champion of Native American rights, despite years spent as a slave. In Paraguay, he attempted to implement policies to the benefit of the Guaraní Native Americans & was removed from office by disgruntled settlers bent on exploiting the Native Americans, sent to Spain in chains, & convicted there on trumped-up charges of mistreating Indians.

Found guilty in Spain on 32 specific charges of transgressions at Asunción, Cabeza de Vaca was banished in perpetuity from Spanish possessions in the Americas & sentenced to 5 years’ service in North Africa. After a series of appeals, his sentence was commuted in August 1552. Cabeza remained in Spain until he died about 1559. The path for Cabeza de Vaca in becoming a defender of Native Americans is almost as remarkable as his journeys in Texas.  Cabeza de Vaca’s adventures in Texas, he was a merchant, doctor, ethnologist, historian, recorder of plants & animals, & advocate for Native Americans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rolena Adorno & Patrick C. Pautz, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: His Account, His Life, & the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez (3 vols.; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999). 

Donald E. Chipman, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: The Great Pedestrian of North & South America (Denton: Texas State Historical Association, 2012). 

Donald E. Chipman, “In Search of Cabeza de Vaca’s Route Across Texas: An Historiographical Survey,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 91 (October 1987). 

David A. Howard, Conquistador in Chains: Cabeza de Vaca & the Native Americans of the Americas (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997). 

Alex D. Krieger, We Came Naked & Barefoot: The Journey of Cabez de Vaca across North America (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002). 

Andrés Reséndez, A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca (New York: Perseus Books Group, 2007). 

Jesse E. Thompson, “Sagittectomy—First Recorded Surgical Procedure in the American Southwest, 1535: The Journey & Ministrations of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca,” New England Journal of Medicine 289 (December 27, 1973).