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Compare And Contrast Cabeza De Vaca And Olaudah Equiano

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Informational Essay Numerous men packed together to set off on a new adventure. Some survived but some did not. Two men who survived are Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, and Olaudah Equiano. Both men wrote stories of their long and hard adventures such as, “La Relacion” and “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”. Even though the two stories can be found similar, they are also filled with many differences as well. The two stories have certain things in common, the passages came from two majorly different points of views. With one point of view from a slave and another from an explorer.
One key similarity of the two stories is that both men feared they would be eaten and sacrificed. Cabeza de Vaca heard that the Indians sacrificed …show more content…

Cabeza de Vaca was an explorer, and Equiano was a slave. Cabeza de Vaca came from a family of conquistadors. He set off to claim new land for spain. Equiano was born in the Ibo tribe but soon after was sold into slavery. He was forced to make the miserable journey to the Americas, known as the Middle Passage. The background of Cabeza de Vaca’s story states, “In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors took to the seas to claim new land for Spain. Seeking gold and silver, they explored unfamiliar territory and encountered Native American cultures they did not understand” (Cabeza de Vaca 70). In the text it shows what their intentions were on this trip as conquistadors. On the other hand, Equiano was a slave. In the background of Equiano's story it says, “When Olaudah Equiano was 11 year old, he and his sister were kidnapped while the adults in his village were working in the fields. After being forced to travel for several days, Equiano and his sister were separated. For the next six or seven months, Equiano was sold several times to African masters in different countries. He was eventually taken to the west coast of Africa and carried aboard a slave ship bound for the West Indies” (Equiano 84). This text proves that Equiano in fact was forced to take thus journey as a slave and was seperated from all of his family. Both of these men took a similar journey to the new world, but they see it very

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He is writing a letter to the King and explaining their hardships across unknown geographic areas and how some survived the expedition and others did not. Nunez Cabeza De Vaca and his people came across Indians throughout their trip whom they did not get along with because of

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332 Words | 2 Pages

When cabeza de vaca was healed as a healer for the Charrucos, that was the only way he survived and was kept as the healer for the Charrucos. Cabeza de vaca survived because of his wilderness skills.” Cabeza de vaca faced many obstacles along his way to mexico city, he had to got through mountains, desert, the rio grande, and unfriendly indians along the path.” (Document A). this describes that he had to go through tough times but he survived using his wilderness skills.

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These stories are quite different; Equiano was sold, Smith was adopted, and Equino was aboard the ship throughout the story, Smiths story went everywhere he went in the new world and a small portion of his voyage there. Even though both stories are their first hand-experiences,

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354 Words | 2 Pages

In the readings of Martha Menchaca it is similar and an in-depth history we have learned thus far in lecture. When we talked about the entradas we discussed some of the conquistadores and explorers that went through Mexico and parts now known to be the United States like Cabeza de Vaca, and Juan de Onate. Menchaca mentions these in her text as well, when she gives a short summary of Cabeza de Vaca which’s journey was a beginning to many other explorers to follow. Which is an important mark because this goes along with her narrative of these people’s actions, she is not defending them nor denying them acknowledge that they took part of our history not like other’s that fail to mention this part of history.

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1517 Words | 7 Pages

In this paper, the epic journey and expedition of Cabeza de Vaca would be discussed that why is his tale significant to understand the Spanish invasion of the Americas, what communication difficulties did he faced and what were the main aspects of his journey and our learning’s about native societies. 1. Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1490-c.1560) was born in Jeréz de la Frontera, Spain, to a respectable family; his initial profession was in the military. It was from San Lúcar de Barrameda that Cabeza de Vaca was to start his first venture in 1527 and, he was delegated second in charge of an expedition headed up by Panfilo de Narváez, who needed to assert the domain from Florida to Mexico for Spain. . Cabeza de Vaca's family had a long history of renowned support of Spanish eminence.

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Cabeza’s resourcefulness helped him survive by allowing him to survive the cold and darkness with the torch. His ability to learn languages helped him survive by allowing him to communicate with the Natives Americans that he came

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108 Words | 1 Pages

Cabeza de Vaca attitude towards the new world was that of suffering and starvation. During his travels, he ate very little, mostly deer-tallow and at one point powdered straw. They did not eat during the day and ate very little at night. Cabeza de Vaca and his men grew very tired and hungry, but could not let the Native Americans see this suffering because they were upholding their authority over them. Cabeza de Vaca’s description of the terrain in some parts differed greatly from that of Columbus in that Columbus stated that the terrain he saw was rich lush lands with warm air and year round green

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While Equiano's narrative shows the terrible conditions that he and his fellow Africans had to endure on the ship, Columbus’s journal has a very different cover. As opposed to Equiano's picture, Columbus’s journal shows he and his crew landing on an island in the Caribbean claiming land for spain triumphantly. This obviously shows two very different objectives in the stories. Emotion can be effected with the words we use as well, in Equiano's narrative there is an

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1405 Words | 6 Pages

17.1 Captivity and Enslavement, Olaudah Equiano, the interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano written by himself 1. What are Equiano’s impressions of the white men on the ship and their treatment of the slaves? How does this treatment reflect the slave traders’ primary concerns? Equiano’s first impression of these white men is a feeling of uncertainty and sorrow for the future. As his story goes on Equiano is afraid of these white men, but also he is wishing to end it all because of the conditions and treatment of the slaves.

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Equiano narrated, “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood.” (Baym, 677) Unlike Rowlandson, Equiano was not held for ransom, after being captured he was sold into the American slave trade. Both Rowlandson and Equiano were separated from their families, and moved numerous times during their captivity. Remarkably enough, during the times they were relocated, they both were reunited with a family member for a period of time. Rowlandson was reunited with her daughter, while Equiano was reunited with his

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231 Words | 1 Pages

Moreover, in 1537, another Spanish explorer known as Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, wrote a book titled La Relación, where he explained the obstacles him and his crew had to face during the Narvaez expedition in 1527 to the Spanish King, Charles I. In connection to all the men who sailed “from Cuba to Tampa Bay in present-day Florida” only “Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three other men survived the expedition, but only after enduring a nine-year, six-hundred-mile trek across Texas and Mexico and enslavement by Indians…….” In my opinion, this letter gives the reader a much clearer understanding of the things that Cabeza de Vaca saw during his journey because he writes his letters using words like “my”, “I”, and “me” which makes it clear to us

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800 Words | 4 Pages

Cabeza de Vaca still shared a mission with Spain, to bring Christianity to the New World, be he no longer would do it as a Conquistador. He returned to Spain not the conqueror he once imagined, full of fame and wealth, but as a man changed by his unfortunate circumstances to see things in a new light. He returned to Spain as somewhat of a celebrity due to surviving a shipwreck and the adventures he had in the New World. He wrote of his travels and shared his new findings to the King of Spain. Later in 1850 the issue, “Do the Indians have Human rights?” would be asked and debated, but de Vaca needed no thought to his answer.

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148 Words | 1 Pages

I have decided to complete my second paper on Olaudah Equiano because I find his narrative and life to be very powerful. The idea that he lived in Africa, but was actually born in South Carolina and the creativity that he had with the stories, makes him out to be a very interesting person. In this article, Sylvester Johnson, explains Equiano’s influence on colonialism as he examines the significance of his biblical commentary about Africa. Johnson also explains how the Christianization of the world were partly influenced from Equiano’s narratives. The reference of biblical legends in his writings often represents the underside to Equiano’s conversation.

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102 Words | 1 Pages

According to Wiltz, it 's a definite legendary unknown. An unknown that is, concerning a fellow of letters, one who shook up the people back in 1789. British readers were fascinated by his first-hand account of being abducted and imprisoned at age 11 and hauled from Nigeria to the New World in a horror-filled captivity vessel. Equiano 's story has long been seen as the conclusive version of the notorious “middle passage”, one of the very first captivity tales, a detailed account that gave the inexpert abolitionist crusade a ringing ethical authority.

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392 Words | 2 Pages

“They have other strange customs, but I have told the principal and most remarkable of them.” This shows that Cabeza de Vaca was stranded and thought that the Native Americans were strange and had a completely different culture than his people. While thinking this, he also

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