How Did Cabeza De Vaca View Of The Natives

At the beginning of his accounts, Cabeza de Vaca thought of the Natives not better than animals, but by the end of the book, he thought of them as people with a lot of potential and was opposed to making them slaves. What set him apart from all the explorers that came to the newly discovered land? How did this Spanish explorer who was raised in the nobility come to think this about the Natives? Was he simply a man with extremely high morals by nature or did circumstances landed him there? Given the symbiotic role the Natives played for Cabeza de Vaca to survive by the end of the book, De Vaca changed his indifferent perspective about Natives to people who deserved respect.

First, let’s assume that De Vaca’s accounts were as close to the reality

This is not saying he didn’t have morals but, the way he expressed about Indians suggested his moral did not include treating not Christians with the same respect and appreciation as Christians. At the beginning, De Vaca seemed to be very indifferent of the Natives and sometimes, his accounts suggested they were in the way or just there to support his purposes. It was not as easy to discern De Vaca’s point of view about the Natives in the beginning because he barely talked about them. It was after he was taken as a captive that he started to observe the Natives and dedicate whole chapters to exclusively talk about it. He barely talked about the Natives in the beginning because he admitted in the afterword that the main purpose of the expedition was to “subdue the countries and bring them… [to the] true Lord” (26). Taking this as a reason to explore the Americas is safe to assume that emphasizing the Native life before their conversion to Christianity was not as important as to tell Charles the V the potential of their new discovered land. For example, at the beginning, he merely took the Natives as guides and way of sustenance. In that way, we could consider the process De Vaca until he started respecting the Natives. When they encountered the Natives for the first time, it took a few menacing signs before they “fell upon them” and took 5 or 6 as guides to get food (36). Later,

De Vaca and his men were stranded and were discovered by the Natives. Instead of killing them or making them go away, the natives let the Spaniards live and provided them with food (56). It was after De Vaca and his men unsuccessfully tried to leave the island and lose a few men, when De Vaca saw a new side of the Natives besides “wild, untaught savages” (57). He acknowledged the Natives as people who were empathetic of others