Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition

by de Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza; Bandelier, Fanny; Augenbraun, Harold; Stavans, Ilan

• ISBN13: 9780142437070
• ISBN10: 0142437077
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-06-25
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

This riveting true story is the first major narrative detailing the exploration of North America by Spanish conquistadors (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain a vast area of today's southern United States. In simple, straightforward prose, Cabeza de Vaca chronicles the nine-year odyssey endured by the men after a shipwreck forced them to make a westward journey on foot from present-day Florida through Louisiana and Texas into California. In thirty-eight brief chapters, Cabeza de Vaca describes the scores of natural and human obstacles they encountered as they made their way across an unknown land. Cabeza de Vaca's gripping account offers a trove of ethnographic information, including descriptions and interpretations of native cultures, making it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology. With an introduction by Ilan Stavans.

Author Biography

Ilan Stavans is the author of the memoir On Borrowed Words. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Latino Literature Prize.

Harold Augenbraum is director of the Mercantile Library of New York and its Center for World Literature. His most recent book is U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Ilan Stavans
Suggested Further Reading	xxxiii
Chronology	xxxvii
Illustrations: Facsimile of the Title Page of the 1542 Edition	xxxix
The Route of Cabeza de Vaca	xl
A Note on the Text	xli
Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition	1	(2)
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
Prologue	3	(2)
When the Fleet Left Spain and the Men Who Went with it	5	(3)
How the Governor Came to Xagua and Brought a Pilot with Him	8	(1)
How We Arrived in Florida	9	(1)
How We Went to the Interior	10	(4)
How the Governor Left the Ships	14	(3)
How We Got to Apalache	17	(1)
The Lay of the Land	18	(4)
How We Left Aute	22	(3)
How We Left the Bay of Horses	25	(3)
On the Skirmish We Had with the Indians	28	(3)
What Happened to Lope de Oviedo with Some Indians	31	(1)
How the Indians Brought Us Food	32	(3)
How We Learned About Other Christians	35	(2)
How Four Christians Departed	37	(3)
What Happened to Us on the Isle of Misfortune	40	(2)
How the Christians Left the Island	42	(3)
How the Indians Arrived with Andres Dorantes and Castillo and Estevanico	45	(4)
Esquivel's Account, Related by Figueroa	49	(4)
How the Indians Separated Us	53	(2)
How We Fled	55	(2)
How We Cured Several Sick People	57	(2)
How the Following Day They Brought Other Sick People	59	(5)
How We Departed After Eating the Dogs	64	(2)
The Customs of the Indians of That Land	66	(2)
How Ready the Indians Are with Weapons	68	(2)
On Nations and Languages	70	(2)
How We Moved and Were Received	72	(3)
On Another New Custom	75	(3)
How They Steal from One Another	78	(3)
How the Manner of Reception Changed	81	(5)
How We Followed the Corn Trail	86	(3)
How They Gave Us Hearts of Deer	89	(4)
How We Saw Traces of Christians	93	(2)
How I Sent for the Christians	95	(3)
How Well the Chief Magistrate Received Us on the Night of Our Arrival	98	(3)
How We Had Churches Built in That Land	101	(2)
What Occurred When I Wished to Return	103	(3)
What Happened to the Others Who Went to the Indies	106	(3)
Colophon	109	(2)
Notes	111