The Account and Commentaries of Governor Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

What it is

This is Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's own account, written in 1542, telling the story of the disastrous Narváez expedition to Florida and the years he then spent surviving among Native peoples on his way across the Gulf Coast and into northern Mexico.

Why it matters

It is considered the earliest European description of the peoples and lands of what is now Texas and the American Southwest. Unlike most conquest accounts, it is written by a man who lost power and status and had to depend on Indigenous people to survive, which gives the narrative an unusual perspective for its time.

Look closer

• Why might Cabeza de Vaca have wanted to publish this story after returning to Spain?
• How might living among Native peoples for years have changed what he chose to write about them?
• What parts of the story can we only hear from his point of view?