Preview

Cabeza De Vaca Persuasive Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
561 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cabeza De Vaca Persuasive Essay
Do you pray before every meal? Do you ever wonder why you pray before every meal? Well if you didn’t know, you pray before every meal because you show God that you’re thankful for the food you eat everyday. Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca prayed before every meal, but he didn’t always have good food to eat. Infact, most of the things he had weren’t very good at all. Here’s some brief background of whom Cabeza de Vaca is. Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish soldier, but he was also on an expedition to the New World for Spain. Things didn’t go too well for him, as his ship wrecked in Tampa (they were supposed to be in present day Texas). The captain ordered 5 groups of 10 people to go on a raft. In a year of sailing Cabeza and 3 other people were only left. Overnight, Cabeza was separated from the other 3, and washed up on an island he …show more content…

Cabeza learned 4 languages, including Charuccos, plus sign language from 1530-1535. He also learned more languages with every new tribe he met. And, he was trusted more if he could speak the tribe’s language (Doc B). This helped Cabeza by allowing him to speak to and negotiate with other tribes, and to gain trust. Also, he could write translations back to Spain for new explorers to read and learn the languages.

The final thing that I think helped Cabeza survive was his wilderness skills. He lit a branch in the dying flames to keep warm. Each night, he got in a hole that he made as a shelter. Also, he knew what to eat and what not to eat (Doc B). If Cabeza didn’t know how to make a shelter, he probably would have died of being too cold, too exposed to the elements, and died of food poisoning.

The three most significant things that helped Cabeza de Vaca survive were: Wilderness skills, him being a surgeon/doctor, and being able to learn other languages. Sure, he had some hard times, but he still achieved his goal, (to get to New Spain alive) and that’s all that


You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nature’s force played a powerful and unforeseen role that decimated the Native’s population. The Spaniards brought deadly diseases such as smallpox and measles that the Natives have never encountered before. The Natives were not immune to these new diseases and that lead to the deaths of thousands of Indians, closing the gap between the number of men under Cortes’ control and the Indians. The surviving warriors were unable to fight at their full potential due to the sickness. The Spaniards, who were immune to these diseases, were able to at their full strength. Without this natural factor, the chances of the Mexicans beating Cortes with sheer number increases.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World. Cabeza de Vaca was the second in command of Panfilo de Narvaez’s five-ship, 600-man expedition to Florida. In my opinion Cabeza de Vaca was an acceptable leader.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Imagine it’s 1527, you’re in the wilderness with hostile indian tribes all around you with no supplies or materials. This is exactly what Cabeza de Vaca went through. The exploration started with 400 members and went down to 4. Cabeza de Vaca was one of the men within these 4.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cabeza De Vaca started out on a adventure and ended up on a doomed journey. De Vaca was a explorer on a Spanish expedition to the “New World” in the 1520’s. He was one of the only survivors. Cabeza lived through many circumstances for three reasons: his healing abilities, survival skills, and ability to befriend natives. These three reasons are what gave him the will to survive.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One main reason Cabeza De Vaca survived his trip are his wilderness skills. He was smart, educated, and clever with what supplies the environment provided him. For example, he was smart when he used the technique of digging a hole, placing fires around it, and sleeping in the hole. (document b) Another example of his skills are how he hollowed out horse legs and used them as containers to store water. (document b).If it weren’t for the fire, animals may have hurt him, and if it wasn't for the water, he may have been so dehydrated he could've died. (doc B) Both these examples are just some of the ways Cabeza survived using his great wilderness skills.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They brought him with them when they returned home to the mainland in the spring. He traveled inland and crossed many various groups of Indians before settling with a group that showed him great kindness. It was here that he found out that 3 other men had survived the shipwreck. When they were finally united, they hatched a plan to escape. After a year of planning, they decided their best option was to walk to Mexico, over 1000 miles south. During all of their travels Cabeza De Vaca learned many skills from the Indians, most importantly, how to heal. This made many tribes that would’ve been hostile to them, worship them instead. Although not written in any records, many believe that he had relations with women; witch would’ve been the first English blood introduced into the new…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona on foot from coastal Louisiana to Sinaloa, Mexico, over a period of roughly six years, during which time he lived in conditions of abject poverty and, occasionally, in slavery. During his travels he developed sympathies for the indigenous population. Among the natives, he lived as a slave, passing from tribe to tribe. He eventually became a trader, which allowed him freedom from his enslavement and to travel among the tribes. Eventually, after returning to the colonized reaches of New Spain and encountering a group of fellow Spaniards in the vicinity of modern-day Culiacán, he went on to Mexico City and returned to Europe in 1537. Cabeza de Vaca wrote about his experiences in a report for Emperor Charles V. It was later published in 1542, under the title La Relación (The Report). Cabeza de Vaca desired to succeed Pánfilo de Narváez (whose ineptitude had caused the deaths of most of the party) as governor of Florida and return there, but Charles V had already appointed De Soto to lead the next expedition. He declined to travel with the expedition as second in command and jealously refused to give his countrymen any details of the country that might prepare them for the hardships they would surely…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One way that Cabeza de Vaca survived was wilderness skills, but what did Cabeza do for skills? So when Cabeza de Vaca washed ashore he killed his horses and used it for food and used the horse legs as a canister for water. But soon all of the horses are gone, so Cabeza de Vaca ate berries, mollusks, rats, roots, lizards, snakes, and spiders.Also…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cabeza, a veteran conquistador is part of a failed journey that was meant to find areas on the Gulf of Mexico to settle and to find mythical structures, these are the reason why he survived to tell the tale. Cabeza being a veteran conquistador has built a knowledge in survival. Cabeza also knows several languages, allowing him to communicate with ease. Cabeza also has knowledge in the medical field, making him a valuable asset. Overall, Cabeza was able to survive because he had survival skills, he knew several languages, and he had medical skills.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He became a trader, which allowed him freedom to travel among the tribes. Cabeza de Vaca comprehended his survival and journey in religious terms, in that he claimed to have been guided by God to learn to heal the sick. He gained such notoriety as a faith healer that he and his companions gathered a large following of natives who regarded them as "children of the sun", endowed with the power to both heal and destroy. Many natives accompanied the men across what is now the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.…

    • 1981 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cabeza De Vaca Dbq

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    He also used his healing capabilities to survive the long trek. Cabeza de Vaca saved many mens’ life. One example is when he performed an operation to take out an arrowhead that was located near the man’s heart. All he used was a knife and a deer bone for stitches (Doc. C). He was a healer, or shaman, to them. This caused the Native Americans to respect him because they now did not see him as a killer, like they saw the Spaniards, but they saw him as a healer. This gave him a great reputation throughout the…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cabeza De Vaca Survival

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Page

    The way that Cabeza de Vaca survived that he used his ways of thinking like his way to heal people and his wilderness skills and his respect for native americans to help him get back home.…

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is Santiago A Hero Essay

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Santiago is a very strong individual. Throughout the course of the story, Hemmingway demonstrates his strength through is endurance. For example, when the younger fishermen continually taunt Santiago, he is able to ignore it because he does not care what others think of him. Another example is when Santiago starts to feel cramps and injuries in his hand, but he bares through it and is able to survive. He even tells himself, while attempting to catch the fish, “You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man” (Hemmingway 84). Santiago’s strength and endurance allows him to survive long periods of time out at sea.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo, and Estebanico heard word of more Europeans farther south along the pacific coast, which began the end of their journey. After he met with the Spanish, Cabeza de Vaca used his knowledge of the Natives and his influence with officials, to speak on behalf of the Natives and propose that the Spanish work with them and not enslave them. Unintentionally the Natives used Cabeza de Vaca as an advantage to stop the unnecessary enslavement of their…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    English persuasive essay

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people” by Eleanor Roosevelt. Many average people have an extraordinary ability to change the future, and mark history through daily actions. Throughout the years average people have formed groups impacting the course of history significantly, through the Civil War and influencing speeches, steering the future into a new direction every single day.…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays