Simone Sutton

8/27/09

AP English III

“Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca”

If someone were comparing Cabeza de Vaca to Christopher Columbus it would seem that de Vaca was more heroic than Columbus. De Vaca was descendant from a long ling oh heroes, which is where his strange name “cows head” comes from.

Even though he is kind of unknown by the general population and even though he didn’t discover anything, de Vaca’s adventures were greater than and not as much of a train wreck as Columbus’s. He is also a fighter, as well as an adventurer so he was much tougher than Columbus. He fought in wars as stuff. His journey to the new world was an expedition with a man named Narvaez.

That expedition was a total disaster though. Narvaez was a bad leader and he had a lot of bad luck during the adventure, like having his ships destroyed in a hurricane. After bouts with Native Americans some really bad decisions Narvaez left and disappeared from the adventure leaving de Vaca and three other stranded. At that point his adventures can be described as an odyssey

He encountered many groups. He witnessed cruel slavers and opposed them even though they were in a greater position than he was, and even though they came from the same country. Eventually though he found his way back to his home counter and tried to change the things he witnessed. All that accomplished for him was getting banished from Algeria and America.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca then wrote down the story of his adventures and had the published. He seemingly downplayed his experiences even thought he had many near death experiences. As if he didn’t want to brag about the numerous times that he almost died but somehow found a way out of his predicament.