Andrés Dorantes

Andrés Dorantes de Carranza (* in Gibraleón , Castile; † around 1550) was a Spanish officer of the 16th century.

Dorantes was the son of Pablo Dorantes from Béjar . He took part in the failed Narváez expedition from Cuba to Florida in 1528. On this expedition he was accompanied by his Moorish slave Estevanico , who later played an important role in the conquest of the pueblos .

expedition

On April 12, 1528 Andrés Dorantes landed with the Narváez expedition on the west coast of Florida. There the Spaniards failed miserably because they allowed the Indians to tell fairy tales about the riches of the city of Apalache . They went to all lengths to get to Apalache. There they hoped that their dreams would come true. But the dreams burst when they reached the place. Because Apalache was just a village with a few huts made of grass and palm fronds. There was no gold here, and the Indians were unwilling to share the corn from their fields with the Spaniards. Because the Spaniards had been starving for several days, they had no choice. They took the food supplies by force. But these Indians were not so easily robbed. They shot arrows at the conquistadors . These arrows were incredibly powerful. Despite their good armor, many Spaniards were killed on their retreat to the sea. The Indians pursued the Spaniards for several days and did not let go of them. They always stayed under cover.

From Florida to Texas

Andrés Dorantes boarded one of five self-built ships on September 22, 1528 together with all the other survivors of the Narváez expedition. The ships were far too small and built with the poorest means, without the right tools. The withdrawal of the Spaniards from Florida turned into an escape from the Indian attacks. When they left, a total of 242 men were on board the 5 ships. They drove west to reach the coast of New Spain . They fought storms, hunger and thirst with incredible difficulty. Many men died along the way.

The "Island of Bad Fate"

When they were washed up by the waves of the sea on the beach of the "Isle of Bad Fate" ( Galveston , Texas ), they could not go any further. Their ships were no longer seaworthy and their strength was exhausted. Local Indians took pity on them and fed them. Nevertheless, many men died on this island, because it was winter and the Indians could not care for so many people. This even led to cannibalism among the Spaniards . When the Indians contracted European diseases and many of them died, the friendly mood changed. They killed many of the stranded men and enslaved the rest. Only a few survived the first winter as slaves. For years, Andrés Dorantes and his friend Alonso del Castillo Maldonado were themselves a slave, just like Estevanico the Moor.

Escape from Slavery

After several years, Andrés Dorantes, Estevanico and Alonso del Castillo met their old friend Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca . He had been the treasurer of the expedition and was also stranded on this island. Cabeza de Vaca had led the life of a trader and healer among the Indians. He knew the area around and spoke several Indian languages. The Maure Estevanico could also communicate very well and on top of that had learned the sign language of the North American Indians. Together they dared to escape from their miserable existence as slaves of the Indians.

America on foot

During one of the first encounters with foreign Indians, they were asked to cast a “healing spell”. Since they actually managed to cure a few people of their illnesses, they were soon accompanied by Indians and worshiped like holy men. When Cabeza de Vaca resuscitated a man believed dead, there was no stopping him. Their reputation as miraculous men preceded them. More and more Indians accompanied them. Often there were more than 4,000 people who accompanied them on their way. The distance they covered is roughly the distance from Gibraltar to Stockholm .

Somewhere near today's border between the United States and Mexico, the Indians told them about a trading center. It should be north of their way. As proof, they give Andrés Dorantes a copper bell. This bell convinced the Spaniards that the peoples north of New Spain could also process metal. But this assumption was wrong and turned out to be very fatal for the Pueblo Indians. The bell had reached the cities of the Pueblo Indians as a commodity from central Mexico.

Archaeologists have shown that the Pueblo Indians traded well with the cities in the south.

The four men met Spanish slave hunters near the Gulf of California, north of Culiacan . Andrés Dorantes and his friends worked to ensure that the slave hunters did not put their many Indian companions in chains and sell them in the silver mines. They sent the Indians back to their homeland and went to Mexico City to report to Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza about their trip. They arrived there on July 24, 1536 and were celebrated like heroes.

The viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, wanted to recruit Andrés Dorantes immediately to send him north as a scout. He should definitely find the mysterious cities.

Estevanico becomes a slave again

But Andrés Dorantes had enough of the wandering. He wanted to return to Spain. But before he left, he granted the viceroy a great wish and sold him his slave, Estevanico. With this man Antonio de Mendoza had a knowledgeable guide to the mysterious cities in the north. The attempt to return to Spain failed. Bad weather forced Andrés Dorantes' ship to return to New Spain. He stayed in the country and married the widow of Francisco de Valdés , María de la Torre . After María's death, he married Paula, the widow of Antonio Gómez de Corona . He fathered more than fourteen children in New Spain and died in the 1550s.

literature

• Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca The shipwrecks of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca Report on the misfortune of the Narváez expedition to the south coast of North America 1527–1536, Stuttgart 1925

Movie

• The adventures of Cabeza de Vaca / Spanish, Mexican film 1990, directed by Nicolás Echevarría .

Web links

• Brief Biography Texas State Historical Association