Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. The survivors lived among the natives of the region for four years, and Cabeza de Vaca carved out roles as a trader and a healer in the community. In 1532 he and the other three surviving members of his original party set out for Mexico, where they hoped to connect with other representatives of the Spanish empire. They traveled through Texas, and possibly what are now New Mexico and Arizona, before arriving in northern Mexico in 1536, where they met up with fellow Spaniards, who were in the region to capture slaves. Cabeza de Vaca deplored the Spanish explorers' treatment of Indians, and when he returned home in 1537 he advocated for changes in Spain's policy. After a brief term as governor of a province in Mexico, he became a judge in Seville, Spain, a position he occupied for the remainder of his life.
Future Explorations:
Cabeza de Vaca’s stories concerning the cities of Cíbola caused much excitement in New Spain and the rush to find gold in New Mexico was precipitated by his statement that the Indians at one point in his journey (in the upper Sonora Valley) told him that in the mountain country to the north were some “towns with big houses and many people” with whom they traded parrot feathers for turquoise. These towns were the group of six Zuni pueblos in western New Mexico. The Indians pointed the way to the pueblos and it was thought at the time that these pueblos were in the area of the large buffalo herds of which the Spaniards had vague information.
His stories of gold in New Mexico caused a rush of people to go to New Mexico, which then caused future explorations (influenced new explorations).
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