This book combines a new English translation of La Relacion ("The Account") by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca with the translator's analysis and commentary. La Relacion is Cabeza de Vaca's first-hand account of the Narvaez Expedition - Spain's failed attempt to colonize Florida in 1528. It tells the story of the first non-indigenous people to visit a large part of the present-day United States and Mexico and documents their first contacts with a number of pre-Columbian native American tribes. It describes the series of disasters and calamities that reduced Narvaez's army of 300 men down to four, including skirmishes with naked, bow-wielding natives, getting lost at sea, becoming shipwrecked, and being captured and forced to live as slaves of people who tortured them for their own amusement. It further describes how, after the four survivors were at their lowest, with nothing but their faith in God to keep them going, their fortunes turned, enabling them to emerge triumphantly from the wilderness, after eight years of being lost, surrounded by hundreds of adoring natives who believed them to be Children of the Sun. The heart of this book is David Carson's accurate, literal translation of Cabeza de Vaca's account. Not content with the typical approach of loosely paraphrasing the original text so as to get the basic idea across, Carson painstakingly chooses each English word so as to best replicate the author's words and voice. The result is the closest thing there is to reading La Relacion in Spanish. Next, Carson takes on the roles of editor, analyst, and commentator. Through his hundreds of annotations to the text, Carson tracks the Narvaez Expedition members' movements across Florida, the Gulf coast, Texas, and northern Mexico to an impressive level of detail and with insights that should settle several long-standing controversies about where the castaways went, and when they were there. He then goes even deeper, analyzing the castaways' motives in light of the culture of Spanish exploration in the Age of Discovery and pointing out the author's occasional contradictions and exaggerations. To bolster his analysis, Carson brings in relevant material from other 16th-century records, including Gonzalo de Oviedo's paraphrased version of the "Joint Report," which Cabeza de Vaca also co-authored. All of Carson's annotations are set off as footnotes, meaning one can make full use of them if desired, or simply skip them and read only the basic translation. Maps, a chronology, a glossary, a prologue, and an epilogue complete the book. If you have not read Cabeza de Vaca before, prepare for a fascinating story that will show you a side of American history you never knew about. If you consider yourself a well-read student of the Narvaez Expedition, this edition of "The Account" will surely become your ultimate reference book on the subject.
This enthralling story of survival is the first major narrative of the exploration of North America by Europeans (1528-36). The author of Castaways (Naufragios), Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition to claim for Spain a vast area that includes today's Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. A shipwreck forced him and a handful of men to make the long westward journey on foot to meet up with Hernán Cortés. In order to survive, Cabeza de Vaca joined native peoples along the way, learning their languages and practices and serving them as a slave and later as a physician. When after eight years he finally reached the West, he was not recognized by his compatriots. In his writing Cabeza de Vaca displays great interest in the cultures of the native peoples he encountered on his odyssey. As he forged intimate bonds with some of them, sharing their brutal living conditions and curing their sick, he found himself on a voyage of self-discovery that was to make his reunion with his fellow Spaniards less joyful than expected. Cabeza de Vaca's gripping narrative is a trove of ethnographic information, with descriptions and interpretations of native cultures that make it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology. Frances M. López-Morillas's translation beautifully captures the sixteenth-century original. Based as it is on Enrique Pupo-Walker's definitive critical edition, it promises to become the authoritative English translation. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1993. This enthralling story of survival is the first major narrative of the exploration of North America by Europeans (1528-36). The author of Castaways (Naufragios), Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking nobleman and the treasurer of
This edition of ?lvar N£_ez Cabeza de Vaca?s Relaci¢n offers readers Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz's celebrated translation of Cabeza de Vaca?s account of the 1527 P¾nfilo de Narv¾ez expedition to North America. The dramatic narrative tells the story of some of the first Europeans and the first-known African to encounter the North American wilderness and its Native inhabitants. It is a fascinating tale of survival against the highest odds, and it highlights Native Americans and their interactions with the newcomers in a manner seldom seen in writings of the period. ø In this English-language edition, reproduced from their award-winning three-volume set, Adorno and Pautz supplement the engrossing account with a general introduction that orients the reader to Cabeza de Vaca?s world. They also provide explanatory notes, which resolve many of the narrative?s most perplexing questions. This highly readable translation fires the imagination and illuminates the enduring appeal of Cabeza de Vaca?s experience for a modern audience.
The Account: çlvar Nœ–ez Cabeza de VacaÕs Relaci—n, edited and translated by JosŽ Fern‡ndez and Martin Favata, is a new and improved translation of Spanish explorer çlvar Nœ–ez Cabeza de VacaÕs chronicle of his amazing journey across a large portion of what is now the United States. The Account is one of the earliest chronicles of Spanish penetration into North America. His journey (1528-1536) of hardship and misfortune is one of the most remarkable in the history of the New World and contains many first descriptions of the lands and their inhabitants. The Account, first published in Zamora, Spain, in 1542, is of inestimable value for students of history and literature, ethnographers, anthropologists and the general reader. It is also one of the most remarkable literary documents for the style, clarity and sense of drama in the narratorÕs extraordinary effort to comprehend a totally new and marvelous world.
The New World story of the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in his own words This riveting true story is the first major narrative detailing the exploration of North America by Spanish conquistadors (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain a vast area of today's southern United States. In simple, straightforward prose, Cabeza de Vaca chronicles the nine-year odyssey endured by the men after a shipwreck forced them to make a westward journey on foot from present-day Florida through Louisiana and Texas into California. In thirty-eight brief chapters, Cabeza de Vaca describes the scores of natural and human obstacles they encountered as they made their way across an unknown land. Cabeza de Vaca's gripping account offers a trove of ethnographic information, including descriptions and interpretations of native cultures, making it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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In 1526 Carlos I of Spain granted Pánfilo de Narváez a license to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States. Pánfilo de Narváez set sail in 1527 to conquer and settle present day Florida. Setting out with a crew of approximately 600 members ultimately only four members would survive the ill-fated expedition. The journey would take these four survivors from Spain to Hispaniola and Cuba and then onto Florida. Sailing through a hurricane and other storms the expedition would finally land near Tampa Bay. Suffering from Indian attacks and the effects of poor food and disease, the crew, of which there was now only eighty, decided to sail from Florida to Mexico. In 1536, the four survivors--Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and his enslaved Moor Estevanico--finally managed to rejoin Spanish countrymen in present-day Mexico City. Upon returning to Spain Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca would receive considerable notoriety for his published account of the ordeal. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.
The Account: çlvar Nœ–ez Cabeza de VacaÕs Relaci—n, edited and translated by JosŽ Fern‡ndez and Martin Favata, is a new and improved translation of Spanish explorer çlvar Nœ–ez Cabeza de VacaÕs chronicle of his amazing journey across a large portion of what is now the United States. The Account is one of the earliest chronicles of Spanish penetration into North America. His journey (1528-1536) of hardship and misfortune is one of the most remarkable in the history of the New World and contains many first descriptions of the lands and their inhabitants. The Account, first published in Zamora, Spain, in 1542, is of inestimable value for students of history and literature, ethnographers, anthropologists and the general reader. It is also one of the most remarkable literary documents for the style, clarity and sense of drama in the narratorÕs extraordinary effort to comprehend a totally new and marvelous world.
This edition of ?lvar N£_ez Cabeza de Vaca?s Relaci¢n offers readers Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz's celebrated translation of Cabeza de Vaca?s account of the 1527 P¾nfilo de Narv¾ez expedition to North America. The dramatic narrative tells the story of some of the first Europeans and the first-known African to encounter the North American wilderness and its Native inhabitants. It is a fascinating tale of survival against the highest odds, and it highlights Native Americans and their interactions with the newcomers in a manner seldom seen in writings of the period. ø In this English-language edition, reproduced from their award-winning three-volume set, Adorno and Pautz supplement the engrossing account with a general introduction that orients the reader to Cabeza de Vaca?s world. They also provide explanatory notes, which resolve many of the narrative?s most perplexing questions. This highly readable translation fires the imagination and illuminates the enduring appeal of Cabeza de Vaca?s experience for a modern audience.
The New World story of the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in his own words This riveting true story is the first major narrative detailing the exploration of North America by Spanish conquistadors (1528-1536). The author, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, was a fortune-seeking Spanish nobleman and the treasurer of an expedition sent to claim for Spain a vast area of today's southern United States. In simple, straightforward prose, Cabeza de Vaca chronicles the nine-year odyssey endured by the men after a shipwreck forced them to make a westward journey on foot from present-day Florida through Louisiana and Texas into California. In thirty-eight brief chapters, Cabeza de Vaca describes the scores of natural and human obstacles they encountered as they made their way across an unknown land. Cabeza de Vaca's gripping account offers a trove of ethnographic information, including descriptions and interpretations of native cultures, making it a powerful precursor to modern anthropology. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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