Cabeza De Vaca Dbq Analysis

It is quite surreal that one can survive for two years in the wilderness. On the rafts that drifted from Panfilo de Narvaez’s ship, there were many people who did not survive. Those people became weak and they lost their minds. The amount of people remaining was four in a year, and one of the four was Cabeza de Vaca. Then that leads to the question: How did Cabeza de Vaca survive? Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his success as a healer, his wilderness skills, and most importantly his respect for Native Americans. Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his success as a healer. According to Cabeza, the Native Americans “brought him a man, and they told him that a long time ago he had been wounded through the right shoulder with an arrow, and the

As a slave, “he befriended his captors and was therefore allowed to serve as a trader”(Document B). The Spanish conquistador met four Indian groups along his journey, which were the Charrucos, Mariames, Yguases, and Quevenes(Document A). Also, when the Spaniards, also known as the “Christians”, contacted “Cabeza, his fellow survivors, and the Indians following him”(Document D). When the Spaniards tried to convince the Indians that Cabeza was a person they should distrust, they were “not at all convinced, saying that the Spaniards were lying”(Document D). Because Cabeza respected the Indians, they grew trust in him so they helped the Spanish soldier to survive.
Cabeza de Vaca survived because of his success as a healer, his wilderness skills, and his respect for the Indians. As a soldier, Cabeza knew the main skills of survival. As a healer, he became a friend of the Indians. In my opinion, survival in the wilderness for two years is quite the accomplishment. Real world people might use the wilderness skills used by Cabeza to survive when lost. In conclusion, in order to survive you need certain characteristics and Cabeza de Vaca certainly had those