Primary sourceBook1535-1555 (edition undated)

The Conquest of the River Plate

Ulrich Schmidel and Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca · 1535-1555 (edition undated)

An English edition pairing Ulrich Schmidel's account of the River Plate voyage with commentaries by Cabeza de Vaca himself.

This book includes Cabeza de Vaca's own commentaries on the River Plate region, which he later governed.

Ask Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca about this source View the original

Front cover of a blue cloth-bound book with blind-embossed decorative corner ornaments and a gold-stamped engraving of a three-masted sailing ship with sails and flags at the center. — The Conquest of the River Plate, ed. Luis L. Dominguez, with accounts by Ulrich Schmidel and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.

About this source

What it is

This is a bound English edition combining Ulrich Schmidel's firsthand account of a voyage to the River Plate region with commentaries by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, edited by Luis L. Dominguez. The book's subjects include Pedro de Mendoza and the Indigenous peoples of South America.

Why it matters

This source brings together two eyewitness perspectives on early Spanish colonization in South America: Schmidel, a German soldier who took part in the Mendoza expedition, and Cabeza de Vaca, who later served as a royal official in the region. Together they offer primary testimony about the conquest and its impact on Indigenous peoples.

Look closer

Why might publishers combine accounts from two different participants in the same conquest?
What biases might Schmidel or Cabeza de Vaca bring to their descriptions of Indigenous peoples?
What is missing from this book because it only presents the Spanish and German point of view?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.