Regardless, the plethora of “Indian” symbols in U.S. society can never completely hide the truth. How interesting that modern-day white Americans detach themselves from history by practicing selective amnesia. They even blame the “Native” Americans themselves for living in deplorable conditions in reservations hastily built by their Anglo ancestors, far away from the first Americans’ ancestral lands.
As if to mask the deplorable actions by their English-speaking white ancestors, many mainstream American historians spread the myth of the Black Legend, a deliberate indictment of Spain’s colonization of America. They do so to deflect attention from the hideous English invasion. That ploy no longer works. The truth is slowly beginning to re-emerge. Regardless, the absolute and shameful destruction of the natives’ lives represents Manifest Destiny at its best. It’s a calamity of holocaust proportions that happened right here in the country called the land of the free; the U.S.A.
Appendix 4
“Early Pioneers of Tejas”
(Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo, Dorantes, and Estevanico)
In 1519, Alonso Álvarez de Piñeda sailed along the gulf coast. On his chart book he sketched the earliest known map of the Texas shoreline. Piñeda and his fellow intrepid Spanish explorers found the coastline somewhat foreboding. Indeed, the dark strip of vibrant greenish vegetation in the horizon made it look impenetrable in some places. At some points, there appeared to be natural harbors; at others, shallow wetlands dominated the area.
With its many islets and large islands, it was to be sure a place of contrasts. It was a rather uneven, long continuous shoreline that to the east, it originated hundreds of miles in the present state of Florida; it continued south to the port of Veracruz in Mexico. In his log, Captain Piñeda describes in some detail a river that some historians believe to be the Rio Grande. Of course, the land that Piñeda sketched on paper was not yet called Texas. It was part of a coastline the Spanish were just beginning to map.
In a very real sense, the territory was generally considered at that time as part of an indefinite vast expanse of Spanish claims that continued around the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The naming as “Tejas” (Texas), still many years in the future, will forever pay tribute to its original inhabitants, the Caddos.
It is perhaps appropriate here to discuss why there were so many Spanish explorers ready to take the challenges that the future mysterious new world offered them. They were a cadre of fearless supermen, eager to face any enemy in this dangerous place. What made them so brave and ready? In truth, few Europeans top the proven bravery of the Spaniards. Their long history of war glory goes back to the days when they defeated and killed the great Carthaginian General Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal in battle in 228 B.C.
More specifically to this discussion, the answer lies in Spain’s 800-year history before 1492. After succumbing to the onslaught of the Moorish hordes in 711 A.D., the Spanish were pushed back to their northernmost border of the mountainous territory of Asturias. They literally had their backs to the sea. Ironically, it was here that a most extraordinary event in the world’s history took place. At precisely the exact time frame it seemed that they were going to lose their entire country to the Moors, the Spanish were planning to take it back. It was here that the Spanish swore to attack the invading Moorish army with a fervor that became their sword and shield.
So began the Reconquista or re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, called Al Andalus by its Moorish conquerors. The quest will take an incredible seven hundred and eighty years. Theirs is an inspiring story of grit and perseverance. For all of those centuries, Spanish citizens of all walks of life contributed to the military effort in one form or another. It is a testimony of their will that as a people, the Spanish never lost sight of their goal and vowed, often with their blood, to reach it. Such was their affirmed desire to rid Spain of the Moors.
Of noble mention is, of course, El Cid Campeador, wielding Tizona, his sword, and riding his white steed, Babieca, in the retaking of Valencia in the year 1090. It was the will of the Spanish people to reclaim their homeland and led by such inspiring leaders that completed the Reconquista. Spain finally defeated the invaders in Granada in 1492, thus bringing the Reconquista to a resounding conclusion.
The everlasting tenacity of a people to ward off invaders who had taken up nearly 90% of their land cannot be overemphasized. The task that took almost 800 years to do was now complete and it was truly a herculean undertaking of resolve. Indeed, one can only conclude that quite possibly, the entire European Continent would have become Muslim had not the Spanish people possessed the fortitude to stand up to and defeat the invading Moors.
Unfortunately, the gallant Reconquista has forever been overshadowed by another unfortunate event in Spanish history, the Inquisition that will shortly follow in Spain’s history. Much more has been written about that unfortunate event than the more redeeming Reconquista. From every aspect, the Reconquista was a “job well done” that will forever live in the history of the world. Without question, all other European nations owe a great debt of gratitude to Spain and our Spanish ancestors for stopping the Moorish conquest of the rest of the European Continent.
Coincidentally, 1492 was the year that Columbus informed his benefactors, the King and Queen of Spain that their trust in him had paid off grandly. He had made a great land discovery. Luckily for the king and queen, they sent as explorers the many intrepid military servants of the crown. Having just finished defeating the Moors, most were ready, willing, and able to explore the unknown in the New World. Not wanting to keep these restless men loose in Spain with no invaders to fight in their realm, the monarchs were only too willing to keep this loyal, but restless labor pool busy far away from home.
The first serious exploration of Texas in 1628 was quite by accident. Due to poor planning and gross miscalculation, Explorer Pánfilo de Narváez terribly mishandled a Spanish government-directed expedition. Sailing from Cuba on a royal-sanctioned expedition to the Rio de Las Palmas in the midriff of the Mexican coast, he ended up in Florida. History has been too unkind to the red-bearded, one-eyed Capitán. He must have been bold and adventurous – qualities possessed by most notable men of history. Imbued with a great amount of ambition and pride, he did the best he could under the circumstances as described in the paragraphs below. Even though he had hired a seemingly top-notch and experienced pilot, Mother Nature was in charge of the expedition.
At the time, no one was aware of the Gulf Stream, the strongest ocean current in the world. It enters the Gulf of Mexico at the Yucatán Peninsula through one of the two funnels created by the unique position of Cuba at the mouth of the gulf. In reality, Cuba acts as the gatekeeper into the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Stream enters the gulf like a lion, churns up the entire gulf current and in a counterclockwise fashion exits like a terrifying bear through the other funnel-like pass way between Cuba and the southern coast of Florida.
Pánfilo Narváez and the pilot did what they were trained to do. They sailed west from the Cuban coast with their rudder pointing towards Mexico and Rio de Las Palmas. They must have relaxed as the voyage became the usual mundane experience. Within the sight of land, the crew and masters of the convoy were overjoyed. The cramped on-ship spaces have been turned into suites of luxury by Hollywood movie directors, who don’t let the truth get in the way of grossly embellishing stories just to get people to the theater. The truth is that there was absolutely no privacy whatsoever. On average, each person was assigned a space about two yards square or less. Because they were expected not get in the way of the busy crew members, passengers weren’t allowed to freely walk the deck, unless it was within their immediate area.
Other than a nook or cranny for the ship’s captain, there were usually no private rooms below deck. Most every square inch was filled to capacity with provisions, animals, gear, and the like. Passengers had to make do on the upper deck which, as mentioned above, is wher
e they spent most of the time during the voyage. Everyone shared during mealtimes huddled on the deck itself in small groups. Passengers comingled with and competed with the crew for the meager food, which was often rotten in the rat-infested storage holds. The stowaway critters were not necessarily looked at with horror by the crew or passengers. To a hungry person, even a rat is food. Personal hygiene was non-existent as were latrine facilities. The reeking, nauseating odor both below deck and above must have tested the will of the passengers. So, it was with unrestrained glee that the passengers and crew welcomed the sight of land in the horizon.
Somehow, things didn’t seem quite right. Something was very wrong. Why did the sun set over the sea and not the land? Where was the bay leading to Rio de Las Palmas? Narvaez thought that the river mouth was very near. As if to allay his own fear, the idea may have even occurred to him that they had landed on the western side of an uncharted island close to the river. Using his best judgment, the captain made a dreadful decision. The men would stay with him and explore (walk) to civilization the “ninety” miles he estimated the trip would take. The women would stay on-board the ships, that would follow the coastline. Neither group would ever see each other again.
The reality was sobering. Instead of being separated from their destination by 90 miles, they were 1,500 miles away in the area now known as Tampa Bay, Florida. In sailing headstrong to the west, the powerful Gulf Stream had maneuvered the expedition a full 90-degree to the North!
Realizing his mistake and being misled first by his instincts and second by natives who wanted him to leave their land, Narváez led the construction of five crude rafts, hoping to catch up with the rest of his force. Narváez and his motley crew limped successfully for weeks thinking that Veracruz was just a few miles down the coast. They hugged the coastline until they met with misfortune in the guise of a vicious, violent storm. Although most of the men died as a result of the terrible storm, including their leader, there were about 60 to 80 survivors.
Pánfilo de Narváez’ crew did not include anyone resembling Marco Polo, but it did include a very resourceful individual possessing the same desire to learn from other societies. Among the survivors was the Royal Treasurer on board. His name was Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. The few survivors swam ashore to an island that they appropriately named, Isla de Malhado (Isle of Misfortune). That place is now known as Galveston Island. There, they tried to repair their raft, but upon putting to sea, it over-turned and so they were back on shore. By this time, a group of Karankawa natives who lived on the island offered to help by bringing food and fresh water to drink. Cabeza de Vaca records that the natives were a caring and gregarious sort and it was due largely to their help that he was able to survive.
Far from being wild men, it was the Karankawas that cried in revulsion when they learned that a group of desperate Spanish castaways had cannibalized the bodies of their dead compatriots. Dozens of other survivors succumbed to injuries, the cold waters of the gulf, or were killed by hostile natives on the mainland. A few, like Cabeza de Vaca, managed to safely run into the wilderness. Soon, he meets three fellow mariners who had also survived; Del Castillo, Dorantes, and Estevanico. Known as the Four Ragged Castaways, they will later fill the imagination of people in Europe who cannot get enough of the astonishing New World descriptions in Cabeza de Vaca’s first-hand account of their travels; his now famous, Relación.
Separated from his fellow shipmates shortly after reaching land, Cabeza de Vaca’s composure helped him go it alone in the wild terrain. Making his way to the mainland, he immediately noticed that in addition to the Karankawas he had already met, there were a number of distinct native tribes, some friendlier than others. Throughout his eight-year ordeal, he will study each group and use the knowledge to his advantage.
Cabeza de Vaca is the father of firsts in Texas. He soon becomes a mediator among unfriendly tribes who use Cabeza de Vaca as a go-between trader of goods. At great peril to his very life, he becomes the first merchant, collecting sea shells along the coastline. He then took them to the interior where he traded his goods for buffalo and other animal skins, plus other things of value. To complete the trading circle, he returned to the coast with the new items and swapped them for food with other tribes. Relying on these effective skills, he will survive for eight long years living among Texas natives where every turn in the trail is a surprise and every event is a new experience. No one should underestimate this man’s bravery and will to survive.
As a matter of fact, he is the first person to write about the now famous Texas blue norther phenomena where the warm temperature plummets to freezing in a very short time. He is the first to write about the sustaining nature of the nueces (pecan) trees and the tunales (cacti fields) on the survival of the many tribes and clans that populated South Texas. Unfortunately, his biological, botanical, and social studies were done in the most grueling of circumstances. For over half of his time as a castaway, he was a slave of various indigenous groups.
For a moment, try to imagine that you are Cabeza de Vaca. Naked most of the time and threatened every moment of your life not only by the many indigenous tribes, but a number of wild animals, snakes, spiders, poisonous vines and bushes, flash floods, and the unpredictable weather.
You have no rights and many of your captors seem to enjoy beating you for no reason at all. If you manage to escape, you are constantly on the run. Ironically, there is no place to hide in the wide open spaces and wilderness. Exhausted, you are captured again by another tribe and the sequence starts all over again. You do not understand what is being said to you. You are pushed around by the adults and the children poke you with sticks and throw stones at you. You do not know if you are going to survive the day, and feel very lucky to see another morning. You are hungry all the time. You are so hungry that you will eat anything that looks edible. Often, your stomach reacts so violently after you consume the suspect roots, plants, worms, and lizards that you think you are going to die. It is doubtful that most people would have survived one week, let alone eight long years, in this hostile environment. His is a truly remarkable story; an incredible will to survive.
oOo
With basic rudimentary folk medical know-how, he became the first European-descent doctor in Texas. He and his companions regularly tended to the sick among the natives. Their treatments usually consisted of praying, chanting, and cleaning the injuries with water and herbs. However, the holistic approach usually worked most probably due to the expectations of the sick that these white men from far away had special powers to heal. There is at least one documented case where Cabeza de Vaca successfully performed surgery on a wounded man. Thus, his reputation grew as a healer.
During his long perilous journey, he was forever thinking of escape. Taking advantage of his dire circumstances, he studied each of the groups that he lived with and later wrote extensively about each of them. He noted, for instance, that weaker tribes were in fear of their lives due to the incessant persecution of other stronger tribes. In that manner, he surmises that in trying to subjugate one another, Native Americans were just like other groups of humans who have both good and bad qualities. Thus, he becomes the first anthropologist in Texas and will be known later as the first defender of Native Americans in the modern-day U.S. and South America.
Unfortunately, his advocacy on the side of the natives contributed to his fall from grace in Spain.
After years of persecution as a friend of the Indios, both in the U.S. and as an adelantado (governor) in South America, he lost most of his wealth when he was falsely accused by greedy landowners and arrested. Only the personal intervention of the king of Spain averted further punishment. He lived quietly for the rest of his life on a pension approved by the king. Unfortunately, no one knows when he died or where he is buried. In a very real sense, Cabeza de Vaca’s experiences offer a unique saga of courage, determination, hope, and vision in the New World.
His Relación, a h
ighly detailed account of his life as a castaway in the New World, is still highly respected among present-day historians. Most probably because it doesn’t fit the chronology of Anglo-Saxon American history, his story is considered “foreign” history and has thus not received the patronage and coverage it merits in U.S. historical writings.
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado is another of the famous early Spanish explorer of significance to Texans. After Cabeza de Vaca’s return to Mexico City, his tales occupied much of the Spanish leaders’ imagination and planning efforts in the New World, especially in the mysterious parts of New Spain’s northern border areas. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was appointed to lead an expedition to discover these great cities of great power and wealth. During his travels from the west, his expedition was the first to admire the Llano Estacado territory in the Texas panhandle. He travelled all the way into present-day Kansas. Led by local guides, he wrote about encountering a tribe of Plains natives called the Querechos, whose lives depended entirely on the migrating buffalo herds he had read about in Cabeza de Vaca’s Relacion.
Unfortunately, the stories he was told proved to be mythical in nature. He did not discover any rich cities of gold. He lost much of his own wealth. In the end, he was denounced by his fellow investors and treated as a scapegoat for what they considered a failed expedition. Of course, the importance of the first exploration and mapping of the heart of the future U.S.A. is lost on the criticism of his failed expedition to find wealth.
Coronado was not the only one to venture into Texas in search of Cibola at about the same time. Another intrepid explorer by the name of Hernando de Soto arrived on the coast of Florida in 1539 with an approval from the Crown to explore inland during an extended period of four years. In a wide pincer-type approach, both expeditions moved toward each other, but unfortunately never met. With the help of a Narvaez expedition survivor who had lived among the Florida Indians for over 10 years, de Soto and his expedition traversed the region of the area now known as Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Unfortunately, he died of a fever somewhere in what is now known as Louisiana after three years into his expedition. His successor, Luis de Moscoso Alvarado, continued westward further into New Spain.
Friendly Betrayal Page 22