This is the story of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, the Spanish explorer and first European ever to set foot in some parts of the American Southwest. He and a handful of survivors of a doomed mission to explore Florida washed ashore on an island off the Texas coast in 1528. For eight years he wandered through what is now Texas, Mexico, and perhaps parts of Arizona and New Mexico before finding fellow Spaniards near the Pacific coast of Mexico in 1536. When he finally returned to Spain, he wrote a report of his travels, including observations of the different Native American tribes with which he became familiar.
Young readers will relish de Vaca's tale of danger, suspense, hardship, ingenuity, and perseverance. He deserves a larger role in the history of the discovery and exploration of the New World, if for no other reason than he survive eight years in the desert Southwest and lived to tell the tale.
Young readers will relish de Vaca's tale of danger, suspense, hardship, ingenuity, and perseverance. He deserves a larger role in the history of the discovery and exploration of the New World, if for no other reason than he survive eight years in the desert Southwest and lived to tell the tale.
