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Why Did Cabeza De Vaca Survive?

544 Words3 Pages

Imagine that the year is 1527, you are sailing along the Atlantic Ocean and suddenly you are told to get off the boat, and you’re left stranded near present-day Tampa-Bay, Florida. Believe it or not, this happened to a man named Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. He was part of an expedition led by a spanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narvaez, Narvaez wanted to settle the gulf coast. After an accidental landfall, Narvaez, de Vaca, and many others march inland in search of treasure ; they found nothing, and they were stranded there and forced to survive. This leads us to the question, how did Cabeza de Vaca survive? Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his wilderness skills, his success as a healer, and the respect he held for the Native Americans. The main reason Cabeza de Vaca survived was because of his wilderness skills. He made good use of all of his resources, this is shown where it says, “Cabeza drank water from hollowed out horse legs… Cabeza ate what was available, including berries, mollusks, rats, roots, lizards, snakes, and spiders” (Document B). The castaway always took what was available, and used to the best of his abilities. He even thought of digging a hole and placing for fires in the shape of a cross to prevent mosquitos and the cold from getting to him. One of the reasons why de Vaca survived …show more content…

It is shown that the respect for the Native Americans helped Cabeza, because he writes,“We were people of ill fortune and no worth...The indians were… not at all convinced… we cured the sick… (the spaniards) killed those who were well”(Document D). The Native Americans respected Cabeza, because he showed them respect. If he hadn’t shown any respect, he would have been taken as a slave or killed. The Native Americans thought the spaniards were bad people, so they would have thought the same if Cabeza had acted the

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