One of the more interesting, but often overlooked, Spanish conquistador stories is that of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. He and his men landed in Florida (Tampa Bay), wandered throughout Texas and eventually found fellow Spaniards years later in Mexico. All the while, their numbers dwindled from disease and the harsh conditions.
Read this article, this article and watch this video to get a more complete picture of this story. In the comments section, pretend you are De Vaca after finally finding fellow Spaniards after years of wandering. Write a letter home to your family describing the "New World" and your adventures. Be sure to use actual details from his story.
Dear family I am doing very well in my voyage the new world has many interesting things like on the way there our fleet was battered by a hurricane off the shore of Cuba. The expedition secured a new boat on the way to Florida. I had a lot of great adventures in the new world I was the first historian of Texas. I a minor participant in the conqest of Mexico departed Spain in June 1527 with five ships. I was assigned a contract from the holy Roman emperor Charles v. I will see y'all real soon sincerely cabeza de vaca alvar Nunez.
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ReplyDeleteDear Family:
ReplyDeleteI want you to know that I am doing well. It has been very hard here in the New World. I got taken up in a hurricane and am thankful to be alive. I am now living with the native people here and am a friend to them and am trading goods with them for things that they have. My friends that came to the New World with me have gone down as only 3 of them have made it through sickness. I met more Spanish people in the New World in our new home called Mexico. I think they are not sure what to think about me since I am friends with the natives. I am able to help the natives and want to keep helping them. I hope to write soon.
Your dearest son,
Alvar
139 words
ReplyDeleteDear family,
ReplyDeleteOur voyage is a disaster. Sailing is defiantly different than what I thought. Before we could even get to Cuba, we encountered a hurricane. Our ship was battered up, so we ended up just getting a new one. We then split our group into two sections, which was a horrible mistake. My group stayed with the Indians, but we kidnapped their leader and they didn't really like that, so we were forced to build a raft to flee. Our goal was to get to Cuba, but another hurricane took us. By then, only 80 of us were left, as the rest of our crew had died from disease and hunger. We wandered a bit until we found some Spanish. We only had three then, but it was a strange sight. We ended up staring at each other for a long time. We are now coming home with them. Hope to see you soon.
Alvar Nunze Cabeza De Vaca
Word count- -161
ReplyDeleteDear Family, it's been a rough journey. Sailing is a lot different than I thought it would be. My men and I have gone through many difficulties. Before we could even make it to Cuba, we got caught in a crazy hurricane. I'm very glad I am still alive. Because of being in a hurricane, our ship got so beaten up we had to get a new boat, and we have reached the tip of Florida, because of it. Thought the journey, I only have 3 men left, but we are making peace here. The natives and I are tight. I was also the first historian to make it to Texas. Even though the Natives, I and the rest of my men, were close, we did capture their leader. They were not so thrilled. We are alright though. I have missed seeing you guys, and I hope to be home shortly, and tell you even more.
ReplyDeleteYours sincerely, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
163 words
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteI am doing very well and the new world is great. I am enjoying the new world and it has many new things for me. Before we made it to Cuba we came into a disastrous hurricane which set us back a few weeks. It messed up our ship and so we had to build a new one. Everyone on the boat was split up and so I stayed with the group with the Indians and we kidnapped their leader. On our was to Cuba another hurricane attacked us and so there is only eighty of us left because of disease and other hunger.
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
Word count- 111
Dear Family,
ReplyDeleteIt has been a rough journey but the new world is great. It really is great here and I ame doing well. Althoug we got hit by a hurricane we our fine unfortunately some of are crew is gone . We are now living with a group of natives here. We have traded goods with them too. We are building a raft now. Now We are in very few numbers. Only three men from the crew have survived. We are in Mexico now. Now we were wandering for a bit but we found some spainards. They seemed befuddled at the sight of me with the natives though. I will continue to help the Natives and I will write soon.
With love, Alvar
Word Count: 123
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteIt has been a rough journey that lies behind us all, but the new world is great and wonderful.It is magnificent here I love it so much. It was hard to get here but we made it. A group of natives let us stay with them. While we trade goods with them for a place to stay. The men from the trip have pretty much all died off. (67) There are only three men left. The main reason they died was because of the hurricane we where hit by. I can't wait to see you all it might be a while but we will see each other very soon. Please pray for me during this trip and if we do not see each other ever again because I die, please know that I wish well for you all and love you all.
With love, Alvar
Word count: 153
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteThe journey has been hard but some how I've seem to make it. The new world is great it's so beautiful and amazing. I love being here it's so much space and land its magnificent it's a you have to be here moment. We have met some Indians they are very nice. We have traded goods and I can't wait for you to see them. There is only three of us here the rest of the men have seemed to died off. They died off from the hurricane that hit us but some how I seemed to survive. I can't wait to see you just to tell you about the voyage and how scary and amazing it was. Please pray for me during this time if we don't see each other again just know that I love you all dearly.
With much love,
Alvar
Word count 146
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteMy journey so far has been awful. I was on the verge of dying and most people thought that I did die. I ran into multiple Indian groups and most were very violent. I have been honored for healing Indians by breathing in them and preying I get them. I made a big mistake by leaving about 40 horses and 300 men in Florida not knowing how many miles it was. Because of that insistent, I was separated from my ships permanently and I have very little food. As time went on, most of my men either died of starvation or disease or were killed. After a while there were only 14 of my men left. Out of all of the 12 went down the coast. The two that stayed behind ex stayed because they could not swim. By the type they were done traveling the coast there were only 3 men were still alive. If I could come back home I would in a heart beat. This tortuous journey is not worth loosing you guys.
Love,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
Word Count:184
Dear Family,
ReplyDeleteSo far it's been very hard there was a hurricane and it was very bad I'm very lucky to be alive. Other than that the new world has been amazing and can't wait to see other things in store. When the hurricane happen it kinda messed everything up. It made a ship messed up a lot so we needed to get a new one so that's what we did. after that everyone on the boat somehow split up I was with the Indians we ended up man napping the leader. Now there is only 80 of us left because of disease and hunger. I'll keep in touch.
Love Always,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
(116)
Dear Family,
ReplyDeleteTraveling over seas was not as I expected. We ran into a horrific hurricane as we were sailing, and me, and the men that I have left are lucky to be alive! Now that we have landed here in the New World, I can't wait for you come and see it for yourselves! But, I have o warn you about the Indians. We have captured their leader, which we should not have done, and the Indians are angered! Right now, we are building some sort of transportation to get back home. I shouldn't have split into groups, how selfish of me to think of the more ground to cover than the lives of my men. Sadly, many have died either by murder or disease, and counting all together, I only have 14 men with me, but all I'm thinking of is my men, and how I might get home to you, my family.
Sincerely,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca.
(161)
Dear family and Friends,
ReplyDeleteThe journey is going somewhat okay. It was hard getting over here with all the storms and hurricane, but we made it. We have lost a lot of men though. Right now we are in the process of build crude rafts so we can just leave here by sea. We ended up landing around three-hundred men and about forty horses. It is taking us a little while to build all of these crude rafts because we only have one carpenter, but we plan to leave for Rio De Las Palmas on September twenty second nineteen fifty five.
I believe and according to our map it will only be thirty to forty five miles away. I do not know if I will make it back though and if this is the last time I speak to you I want you to know I love you, and thank you for supporting me through this journey.
Love,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca.
(163)
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteEver since I left home around 1527 i have been looking for other people. Later after our arrival there was a hurricane that hit our felt in Cuba, but later we got a new boat. And after we got a new boat we left Cub and headed for Florida. We hit Florida sometime in 1528. We landed their our expedition was a disaster. We stayed for a while with the Appalachia Indians of Northern Tampa. We took their leader hostage and the band us for their home. Some of the people in our group were killed by disease and harsh weather. The rest of us had to live off of our horses. More harsh weather and another hurricane came and hit us as we tried to make boats and head back to Cuba and that took the group down to around 80 people. The hurricane left us near the Gulf of Mexico.We were welcomed by the people there at first but, but I remembered that the Natives had died from disease and blamed us for it. For the next 4 years we lived with the Natives their and I changed form being a Conquistador into a trader and a healer. BY 1532 only 3 of thee original survivors including me were left. I miss you all back home.
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One of the most amazing features of exploration in America was by a man known as Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca was born in to the Spanish nobility in the 1490's ,and although most of his life is not known and the only thing known is that he had a career in the military. In the 1570's he left from Spain on an expedition to the mainland in the North America. They only went to Florida after there boat was hit by a hurricane and they got a new boat. They landed in Tampa bay, Florida around March in 1528, the leader then claimed the area for the Spanish empire.(115)
ReplyDeleteYou were supposed to "'write a letter home to your family, letting them know about how difficult your journey has been." Please follow the directions.
DeleteDear Family,
ReplyDeleteHow's it going? I'm doing okay, maybe. the voyage I've been doing did not go as planned. It's been terrible, well its not that bad, i guess. Okay, yeah no its pretty bad. The first thing that happened is that we ran into a disastrous hurricane. Which, made me lose some men and then some more died of diseases. Now with the people i have with me made it to the new world. Its not that bad. Lucky us, we ran into some Indians. They weren't nice to us, at all. I thought it was over for us. Man, did i panic, but it was okay. I was kind of prepared. I still lost some men. I later was okay and survived. I started to come down with an illness. People thought i had died. Later in the years i got better and became a merchant and healer. Someone also told me that there was also three other survivors. Once i heard the news i let to meet them. After we meet things started happening and i got in trouble. But its okay you don't need to worry. The trouble should be getting fixed by now. I know that i don't have long left to live. I wanted to tell all the thing that have happened before i left you. I'll be honest i missed you guys, but I'm also glad that i went on this journey. Actually, I don't know. But i do know that i would rather be home with all of you. Since, this is my goodbye, I want you all to live your lives with no regrets.
Yours Truly,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca.
280 words
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteI would like to let you know that I am still alive at this moment, however, things aren’t going very well. I have just made it to Tampa Bay, and food is very limited. I am currently eating horse flesh to stay alive. I plan to sail over to cuba, and I hopefully won’t run into Texas or anything like that. In Texas, the Native’s there have a bowels disease that could possibly kill me. I wanted to let you know that I am still alive, though not in very good condition.
Yours truly,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
101 words
Dear family, I have been on a voyage and trip for the longest time now. I have finally found some other spaniards and kind people. I have been at it for a while, and I miss you guys so much. Since, I have made my career and passion in the military I will be gone for a quite longer then expected. Lots of the indians have gotten very sick and even some had died, and they have blamed it on us. This happening makes things complicated. However, we have it under coontrol for now and I am trying to stay safe for my loved family. I hope to see you soon, and if I can not, remember I tried.
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Dear family,
ReplyDeleteThe voyage hasn't gone exactly how I would have liked it to.First,we ran into a hurricane and I'm sure you can imagine how that went for us.Soon after that,we got a new boat and I thought things were looking up for the expedition.We got to land and decided to split up,one group on land and the other still on the ship.Unfortunatly,we never met up with the ship.We were pursued by some of the natives.After that,it all went downhill.We wandered the land,through storms,hunger,disease,and starvation until we cameacross some more natives who were initially kind.This didn't last though,because many natives were dying of a disease that they blamed on us.We wandered the land again until by chance,we ran into Spainiards.At first they were surprised to see us but now that we are in better company,I plan to head back soon. (162)
The adventure of Alvar de Vaca was an amazing feat to the great exploration to the Americas. de Vaca was born into the Spanish nobility in 1490. Very little of his childhood was known. In early 1527 de Vaca left Spain as a part of a royal expedition that was intended to occupy the mainland of North America. After the royal expedition was severely battered by a large hurricane off the shores of Cuba, the royal expedition scored a new ship and departed immediately for Flordia. They all eventually landed in March of 1528 near modern day Tampa Bay. After they landed in Tampa Bay the expeditions leader de Naravaez, claimed the land as lawful possession of the Spanish empire. Now, skipping ahead by 1538 only three members of the original royal expedition crew was still alive. They later tried to make it to heir outpost in Mexico, though their route was not clear. A little later when they had arrived they found out how other spaniards treated African Americans and were appalled. In 1537 he returned to Spain and published an account of his experiences. (179)
DeleteYou were supposed to "write a letter home to your family describing your experiences in the New World." Please follow the instructions.
Delete
ReplyDeleteDear Friends,
I am alive. Many have died from disease, drowning, and by the native attacks. Even our own leader, Narváez, has died. I am one of few that have made it. For a while I was pretty much a slave, but then I used my talents in the medical field to heal some Natives so now I am considered a healer. I stayed with them from 1529 to 1534. Them in 1534, Alfonso de Castillo, Andres Dorantes, and Esteván and I traveled west looking for Spanish people. A lot of Natives assisted us along the way. Then in April,1536, I found a the Spanish trying to take all these natives as slaves! I was furious and still am. In 1537, I shall return to Spain and speak on behalf of the Natives. There treatment must get better! I love and miss you all. See you soon.
Sincerely,
Cabeza de Vaca
151 words
Dear Family ,
ReplyDeleteI hope that you are doing okay. I'm doing alright i guess. My men and I had gotten hit by a hurricane, but we are okay. Storms, Thirst, Starvation, and Diseases are our main problems. I can't wait to see all of you when I get back home. When we got to land, we had decided to split up into 2 groups. 1 group stayed on the ship , and the other was on land. The only thing keeping me alive is horse flesh. Hopefully we won't run into Texas because of the horrible diseases there. I am thankful I'm still alive at this moment. I can't wait to return home and be with my family once again.
Love ,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca
(125 words)
Dear friends,
ReplyDeleteMy journey so far has been very interesting. We have found a lot of new land. We have had lots of obstacles that prevented us from having a safe trip. We arrived at our destination not too long ago and we had mixed feelings about it at first. Many of the Indians were dying and the population of the land was decreasing by the hour. We are currently headed back to Cuba and the storm as are awful. We are having bad luck with navagating where we are right now. I'm scared and I know that the other guys are too. There are only 3 of us still alive and we are scared and lost. The other men either got attacked by Indians, got lost, or died from diseases. If we don't return, know that I love y'all and I lived a happy life. Thank you for being such an inspiration.
Love,
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca.
Word count: 166
Dear family,
ReplyDeleteThese past few years have been pretty rough for my crew and me. For one, a few months after I left Spain, a massive storm hit us, and we accidentally sailed way off course. Then, we hit land a few weeks after that, and we were marooned in the New World.
After a while, we started to starve, do we decided to start eating our horses to survive. Since we didn't even have horses anymore, and we didn't have a ship to sail anymore, we made a make-shift furnace and melted all of our horse equipment, like bits, bridles, stirrups, and the rest of that stuff. With our new supply of otherwise useless metal, we fashioned a few swords and axes, and cut down some trees to make into rafts and boats.
Once we had our rafts, we began to sail to where we thought our fellow men had camped. However, when we were still in the sea, another storm hit, and my men and I were separated.
When we finally found land again, we were greeted by some friendly Indians. We traded the white beads of the sea for some furs and things, and we initially thought that things were finally looking up, but the world seems to hate me, so of course something went wrong. The Indians began to become sick, and they blamed the illness on us, the Spaniards! So we ran for our lives, hoping to not be followed and killed.
Now, for the last few years, I've been trading with the Indians in Mexico, and I've actually been pretty successful.
Just in the last few days, I was going along my usual route to trade, when I became very lost. I went to the South, and I came upon none other than other Spaniards! I had finally found my people.
Because I am now with my fellow men, I am boarding the next ship to Europe.
See you soon!
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
332 words
DeleteDear, my wonderful beautiful family
ReplyDelete¡te echo de menos todo muy caro! ( I miss you all dearly ) I can not wait much longer to see you guys . I want you to know that I love and miss you but I will be back shortly. My voyage started off excellent ! It was great . We where sailing swiftly , until a large storm hit . It knocked a few men off board we tried to save some but we where not successful! We found land and we split up into groups? That was not a ver good life choice on our part beacause the Indians ended up attacking the group that stayed we never found each other but we are on our way back , there are lots of diseases spreading the men are dropping like flys ! Your prayers are appreciated! We're getting closer and closer to seeing each other but hasta la próxima ( until next time ) I love you !
con todo mi amor ( with all my love ) Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Word count (187)