The First Captivity Narrative:
THE FIRST CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE: ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA’S 1542 LA RELACION
Ramón Sánchez
University of Washington, Bothell
In this paper, I will discuss the development of one type of Western captivity narrative, a Spanish one that in the context of expanding Western conquest brought (1) the need for the European conqueror to defend himself from the accusation of cultural betrayal and (2) the need to redeem a failed conqueror. For this I focus on Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 La Relacion. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca was a survivor of the failed Narvaez expedition that attempted to conquer part of the mainland of North America in 1527. The Spanish crown had authorized Governor Pamfilo Narvaez to take the territory from the cape of Florida to the Rio de las Palmas (which is now known as the Rio Grande in Texas). Part of the expedition, a force of around 300 men, entered into the interior of Florida, but only four survived the ordeals and eventually reconnected to Spanish civilization in 1536 near the Sinaloa River. These survivors [Cabeza de Vaca, Andres Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo, and the slave Estevanico] had trekked, mostly on foot, from Florida to almost to the Pacific ocean, near Culiacan. Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relacion presents the tale of the failed Narvaez Expedition, which set out on 17 June 1527 to conquer another Tenochtitlan, another golden city -a city they never doubted existed. For just as the English and later the Anglo-Americans imposed their “ virgin land” perspective on the Americas, so to the Spanish conquerors fitted the Americas into a narrative grid that made the land and its inhabitants known;
Proceedings of the II Conference of SEDERI: 1992: 247-260
The First Captivity Narrative
for the Spanish conqueror, the Americas were set in the conceptual mold of the story of the “ golden city.” This particular expedition sought the golden city in the region known as Apalachen -but failed. In the Americas, the early Spanish conqueror
Ramón Sánchez
University of Washington, Bothell
In this paper, I will discuss the development of one type of Western captivity narrative, a Spanish one that in the context of expanding Western conquest brought (1) the need for the European conqueror to defend himself from the accusation of cultural betrayal and (2) the need to redeem a failed conqueror. For this I focus on Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 La Relacion. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca was a survivor of the failed Narvaez expedition that attempted to conquer part of the mainland of North America in 1527. The Spanish crown had authorized Governor Pamfilo Narvaez to take the territory from the cape of Florida to the Rio de las Palmas (which is now known as the Rio Grande in Texas). Part of the expedition, a force of around 300 men, entered into the interior of Florida, but only four survived the ordeals and eventually reconnected to Spanish civilization in 1536 near the Sinaloa River. These survivors [Cabeza de Vaca, Andres Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo, and the slave Estevanico] had trekked, mostly on foot, from Florida to almost to the Pacific ocean, near Culiacan. Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relacion presents the tale of the failed Narvaez Expedition, which set out on 17 June 1527 to conquer another Tenochtitlan, another golden city -a city they never doubted existed. For just as the English and later the Anglo-Americans imposed their “ virgin land” perspective on the Americas, so to the Spanish conquerors fitted the Americas into a narrative grid that made the land and its inhabitants known;
Proceedings of the II Conference of SEDERI: 1992: 247-260
The First Captivity Narrative
for the Spanish conqueror, the Americas were set in the conceptual mold of the story of the “ golden city.” This particular expedition sought the golden city in the region known as Apalachen -but failed. In the Americas, the early Spanish conqueror
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