HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 121

abandoned him in 1808 to enter the service
of the French-appointed usurper J OSEPH I,
who made him minister of the treasury.
This decision led to his repudiation by
Jovellanos and other patriotic leaders.

responding to the present-day P ARAGUAY in
South America, embarked for the La Plata
estuary in 1541, and traveled into the inte-
rior of South America. After further adven-
tures, including clashes with hostile Indians
and a penetration of the unexplored Chaco
region, Cabeza de Vaca was deposed from
his governorship by hostile residents of
Asunción. Sent back to Spain to answer
charges of exceeding his authority, he was
sentenced to detention in a fortress in North
Africa. Following several years in the city of
Oran, the sentence was revoked, and
Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain, occupy-
ing a judgeship in S EVILLE until his death.
In many respects Cabeza de Vaca was the
quintessential Spanish adventurer. While
less aggressive than many conquistadores
and certainly not as spectacularly success-
ful, he exhibited remarkable endurance
combined with bold initiative and restless
curiosity. An intelligent, observant individ-
ual, he was the author of Naufragios (Ship-
wrecks) and Comentarios (Commentaries),
which describe, respectively, his experi-
ences in 1528-36 and 1541-44 and are
filled with geographical data and ethno-
graphic information. His sojourns in four
continents represent the peculiarly Spanish
dimension of the Renaissance, which was
as much a reconnaissance of the world as it
was an intellectual phenomenon.

Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez
(1500-1557)
Spanish explorer, colonial official, and
chronicler
After serving as an officer in the I TALIAN
W ARS , Cabeza de Vaca was appointed trea-
surer to the expedition under P ÁNFILO DE
N ARVÁEZ that sailed to F LORIDA in 1528 to
establish Spanish rule in that region. A
series of disasters culminated in the ship-
wreck of the last remnants of the expedi-
tion on the coast of what is now Texas.
Cabeza de Vaca, prisoner of various Indian
tribes, survived by a combination of impro-
visations as a faith healer and wandering
across Texas as a peddler. After encounter-
ing three other survivors of his expedition
he led them along the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico, experiencing many hardships but
always pushing westward in the direction
of presumed Spanish settlements. As the
wanderers crossed from Texas into what is
now the American Southwest, Cabeza de
Vaca noted the distinctive characteristics of
the various native bands and made the first
sighting of bison (which he described as a
“hump-backed cow”). Finally, after eight
years, during which he had achieved the
first transcontinental crossing of North
America, Cabeza de Vaca and his comrades
reached Spanish outposts near the Pacific.
Following a festive reception in Mexico
City, Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain in
1537. Far from settling down at home he
sought the governorship of a territory cor-

Cabral, Pedro Álvares (1457-1520)
Portuguese navigator
Recommended for the second Portuguese
expedition to India by his friend V ASCO DA
G AMA and briefed by him on the best sailing
route, Cabral, an officer and member of the
minor nobility, was dispatched by M ANUEL
I in 1500 with 13 ships and 1,000 men to