The shipwrecks of the Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

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The shipwrecks of the Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ( Spanish Naufragio de Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ) is an eyewitness account from 1538 . The book was published in Zamora in 1542 and in Valladolid in 1555 . The original Spanish title was: Relación que dio Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca de lo acaescido en las Indias en la armada donde iba por Gobernador Pánfilo de Narvaez.

content

The book describes the Narváez campaign from Cuba to Florida in 1528. In graphic language, the author tells of the failure of the conquistadors and their subsequent flight from Florida. On their way through the North American continent, the few survivors had to spend many years as slaves of Indian collector tribes in misery and hunger before they finally managed to escape to New Spain ( Mexico ). The reader experiences the change that the conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca went through on the eight-year journey from conqueror to philanthropist.

meaning

The descriptions of the Indians and the nature of the North American continent almost 500 years ago are of the greatest historical value. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions were the first Europeans to cross the southern part of what is now the United States and the north of what is now Mexico on foot. This book is the first historical document in which a European describes the North American continent, its natives and the American bison . Even today, the book influenced the research on the life and customs of the pre-Columbian people in North America, because many of the Indian tribes described are now extinct. It is still published in many languages ​​today and has inspired many authors. Nicolás Echevarría filmed the experiences of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca described here.

consequences

Almost 10 years after the beginning of the Narváez campaign, Cabeza de Vaca arrived in Spain on August 9, 1537 and wrote the book Naufragio de Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca there in 1538 . His report sparked the Coronado campaign.

Movie

  • The adventures of the Cabeza de Vaca . Mexico 1990 (Spanish original title: Cabeza de Vaca ). Director: Nicolás Echevarría. The film was shown in the competition at the Berlinale in 1991 .

literature

  • Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Shipwrecks: Report on the misfortune of the Narváez expedition to the south coast of North America 1527–1536. 2., completely reworked. Ed., Renner, Haar near Munich 1963.
  • Haniel Long: The shipwrecks of the Cabeza de Vaca: Report on the migration and life of the Spanish nobleman Cabeza de Vaca among the Indians of the New World in the years 1528 to 1536. Tanner and Staehlin, Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-85931-045- 3 .
  • Alfredo Rodriguez: Plus Ultra: Life and Times of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca . iUniverse, Lincoln NE, 2001; ISBN 0-595-19009-X
  • Rolena Adorno & Patrick Charles Pautz: Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. His Account, His Life, and the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Neb. a.] 1999. ISBN 0-8032-1454-5 .
  • Nancy Parrott Hickerson: How Cabeza de Vaca lived with, worked among, and finally left the Indians of Texas . In: Journal of anthropological research . Albuquerque 1998, vol. 54.
  • Andreas Skrziepietz: Shipwrecks: Report by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca about what happened to the governor Panfilo de Narvaez's fleet in the West Indies. ISBN 978-3-7375-7820-2

Web links

Wikisource: Naufragios  - 2nd edition of 1555 (Spanish)