Compare Cabeza De Vaca's Letter To Christopher Columbus

Columbus used religion, exaggeration, and flattery in his letter. His purpose was to sell them on America so he could profit and possibly return there. He used religion at the beginning and end of his letter. He starts out with “Since I know that you will be pleased at the great victory with which Our Lord has crowned my voyage,” (pg. 67). Towards the end he says, “This is enough. And the eternal God, Our Lord, Who gives to all those who walk in His way, triumph over things which appear to impossible, and this was notably one,” (pg. 72). He is saying that God has funded his voyage, but he never mentioned God anywhere else in the letter. He used exaggeration when he said there was “gold incalculable” (pg. 68) in an island that was larger than

“Cabeza de Vaca underwent one of the most remarkable and transformative experiences in the early annals of European exploration of the Americas…..During these years among native peoples, Cabeza de Vaca experienced considerable change in his worldview,” (pg. 74). He originally was like Columbus, wanting to just colonize what he found. After his separation from Narvaez, he saw the natives in another perspective. He let them accompany him and his remaining companions on his way to Mexico. He saw the natives as people, while many other explorers saw them as tradeable property. He encountered slave hunters that wanted to see them and he wanted them to stay free. He was later accused of corruption for trying to protect natives being free in a country that Spanish colonists had settled because they planned to exploit the natives

He was inviting the audience to come and take over their land. He said in the letter that he already took possession of an area. He made it sound like the natives were too trusting and that they did not deserve to live on the good land. He said they did not refuse anything and gave a lot for a little. “They are content with whatever trifle of whatever kind it may be that is given to them, whether it be of value or valueless. I forbade that they should be given things so worthless…..although when they were able to get them, they fancied that they possessed the best jewel in the world. So it was found that…and others received much more for other things which were worth less,” (pg. 69). In his literature, Cabeza de Vaca showed that he was for the natives. He negatively described the effects of taking slaves and how he felt seeing people have to work as slaves. He took on a “for the natives attitude” and became an advocate for them. He tried to insist on their freedom and got involved in conflicts just to see them free. He was arrested and banished from reentering the New World because he got involved in one of these conflicts with colonists. Other people, especially those for slavery, probably viewed him in a negative way. However, he continued to advocate for the