A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca

by Andrés Reséndez
USA, 2007
ISBN 978-0-465-06840-1

"For sheer drama and excitement, the journey of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions remains unrivaled, even by the adventurous standards of the Age of Exploration. Out of 300 men who set out to colonize Florida in 1528, only four survived: Cabeza de Vaca, two other Spaniards, and Estebanico. They became stranded. And to reenter European-controlled territory, they were forced into a harrowing passage on makeshift rafts across the Gulf of Mexico, years of captivity in what is now Texas, and a momentous walk across the continent all the way to the Pacific coast.

This small band of men thus became the first outsiders to behold what would become the American Southwest and northern Mexico, the first non-natives to describe this enormous land and its peoples. Conversely, innumerable natives living in the interior of the continent experienced the passage of the three Spaniards and the African as an extraordinary portent, a first brush with the world beyond America. The natives called the four travelers 'the children of the sun' because they seemed to have come from such unimaginably remote lands." (Reséndez, 2-3)

For our latest installment in the Back to History Challenge, I'm pleased to note that Andrés Reséndez, a professor of history at UC Davis who hails from Mexico City, has written an outstanding companion piece to Naufragios called A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca. Although I chose the quote above to start with in part because it does such an effective job of selling Cabeza de Vaca's story, I also like it because Reséndez' sensitivity in considering both sides' reactions to this early New World encounter is typical of his style. As a result, his book, accurately described as "the extraordinary tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard who walked across America in the sixteenth century," is just a delight. What's more, reading this text side by side with Cabeza de Vaca's own version of events will probably only increase your appreciation of the original.

Where Naufragios basically begins in media res, for example, Reséndez thankfully backtracks to provide biographical information on ill-starred expedition leader Pánfilo de Narváez and a wealth of background info on Spain's maritime activities in the 16th century. Moving ahead to the even juicier parts of Cabeza de Vaca's narrative, Reséndez' history is equally adept at filling in the various lacunae that are either glossed over or left unaddressed in that early chronicle. An epilogue concerning what happened to the four survivors after they returned to "civilization" is particularly moving. All in all, this is an extremely engaging and eye-opening account that should be of interest whether or not you've ever read Naufragios in the first place. In addition, there are a host of carefully-chosen maps and images and a full 18 pages worth of suggestions for further reading for those who want to know more about the world of the four survivors--Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo, Dorantes, and the slave Estebanico--"who were European and African by birth...but becoming American by experience" (10). A superb read.

• Reséndez, Andrés. A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca. New York: Basic Books, 2007.

Bonus: Click here for a nice interview with Professor Reséndez where he talks about his book.

Naufragios

Naufragios (libro de bolsillo, 2003)
por Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
España, 1542 y 1555
ISBN 84-376-0851-1

"Los indios, de ver el desastre que nos había venido y el desastre en que estábamos, con tanta desventura y miseria, se sentaron entre nosotros, y con el gran dolor y lástima que hubieron de vernos en tanta fortuna, comenzaron todos a llorar recio, y tan de verdad, que lejos de allí, se podía oír, y esto les duró más de media hora. Cierto ver que estos hombres tan sin razón y tan crudos, a manera de brutos, se dolían tanto de nosotros, hizo que en mí y en otros de la compañía creciese más la pasión y la consideración de nuestra desdicha". (Cabeza de Vaca, 121)

Este libro fue un verdadero encanto. Un clásico de la literatura hispanoamericana colonial, la obra es la relación en primera persona de Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, el tesorero de la expedición de Pánfilo de Narváez a conquistar la Florida en 1527 para el entonces rey Carlos V de España. Después de una serie de desventuras e un errabundeo de nueve años en las tierras que ahora pertenecen a los Estados Unidos y México, Cabeza de Vaca reapareció al lado opuesto del continente en 1536 como uno de sólo cuatro sobrevivientes (tres españoles e un esclavo de Marruecos) del proyecto. Seis años más tarde, escribió este testimonio para compartir con su rey todo lo que pasó durante los años "que por muchas y muy extrañas tierras que anduve perdido y en cueros" (76).

No tengo ganas de entrar en el debate sobre la veracidad de Cabeza de Vaca como narrador aquí (si quiere saber más, veáse los comentarios agudos del editor Juan Francisco Maura en su introducción a esta edición), pero hasta un simple resumen de los "ingredientes" de su historia incluiría asuntos como huracanes, ataques dirigidos a o sufridos por parte de varios grupos de indígenas, episodios de hambre e incluso del canibalismo, un periodo de esclavitud para los españoles, otros periodos de vivir en paz con los "indios", varios ahogos, etcétera. ¿Increíble o sencillamente difícil creer? Cada uno tendrá su propria respuesta, pero a lo largo de su narración Cabeza de Vaca nunca deja sorpresarnos. Además, muchas de las escenas narradas parecen proceder de experiencias auténticas como la de los indios en la cita arriba. La nota: ¡totalmente divertido: cinco estrellas de cinco estrellas!

*****

"The Indians, upon seeing the disaster that had befallen us and the disastrous circumstances which we were in with so much misfortune and misery, sat down among us. And with the great grief and pity that they had in seeing us in such straits, they all began to cry so loudly and so earnestly that the wailing could be heard very far away from there. They did this for more than half an hour. To be sure, seeing that these men so lacking in reason and so primitive, in the manner of beasts, were so grief-stricken over us, only increased the agony and the reflections about our wretched situation in me and others in my company." (Cabeza de Vaca, 121)

This book was a sheer pleasure. A classic of Spanish-American colonial literature, the work is the first-person account of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, the treasurer on Pánfilo de Nárvaez' expedition to conquer Florida in 1527 for the then king Carlos V of Spain. After a series of misfortunes and nine years spent wandering in lands that now belong to the United States and Mexico, Cabeza de Vaca reappeared on the other side of the continent in 1536 as one of only four survivors (three Spaniards and one slave from Morocco) of the mission. Six years later, he wrote this testimonial for his king to convey everything that had happened during the years when he passed "through the many and very strange lands where I wandered lost and in animal hides" (76).

I don't want to enter into the debate about the truthfulness of Cabeza de Vaca as a narrator here (those wanting to know more should see editor Juan Francisco's Maura's trenchant comments in his introduction to this edition), but even a simple summary of the "ingredients" of his story would include matters like hurricanes, attacks directed at or received from various indigenous groups, portrayals of starvation and even of cannibalism, a period of enslavement for the Spaniards, other periods of living in peace with the "Indians," various drownings, etc. An incredible story or just difficult to believe? Everybody will have their own response to that, but Cabeza de Vaca never once fails to surprise us throughout the length of his narrative. In addition, many of the narrated scenes seem to come from authentic experiences such as the one about the Indians in the quote above. Grade: totally entertaining--five out of five stars!

• Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez. Naufragios (edición de Juan Francisco Maura). Madrid: Cátedra, 2003. (http://www.catedra.com/)