Imagine that you get stranded on an uncharted island. Twice! It is 1527, a soldier by the name of Cabeza de Vaca took charge. His leader, Panfilo de Narvaez, and many of his crew drowned on a ship set for New Spain. While shipwrecked on an uncharted island, he and his remaining crew built 4 rafts. Only Cabeza’s raft made it to shore on yet another uncharted island. Cabeza, along with a small portion of the remaining crew were captured by Natives and made slaves. Soon, Cabeza was the only person left. He gained their trust, and escaped. This was the beginning of his miraculous journey across deserts to Mexico City, it lasted for 2 whole years. How did Cabeza survive his captivity? How did he make it to Mexico City? Overall, Cabeza’s respect and trust from the Natives, his wilderness skills, and his communication skills helped him survive and get to Mexico City.
First of all, the trust and …show more content…
About at the Rio Grande River, he heard about rumors of unfriendly tribes, and he turned to a different route instead (Doc A). With his knowledge of the languages, he was able to translate and negotiate with the Natives and Spanish Conquistadors (Doc D). If Cabeza never listened to the Natives telling him about the unfriendly tribe, he might have gone straight in and got himself killed. If he didn’t know the languages of both people, he would never be able to negotiate with the Spaniards and the Natives, and he might have a major battle on his hands.
Cabeza de Vaca had an impossible task, he survived it because of his respect/trust from the natives, his communication skills, and because of his wilderness skills as well. Cabeza might have had some major luck along the way, but without these skills, he would be dead, and we would never know he existed. Cabeza not only survived the journey, but by writing a book he inspired other explorers to come to the Americas and