Cabeza de Vaca came to the New World as part of a Spanish expedition to conquer the region north of the Gulf of Mexico. Lost, the expedition landed near Tampa Bay, Florida in 1528. Most of the expedition succumbed to disease, starvation, exposure, and the attacks of Southeast Native American tribes. Cabeza de Vaca and three other survivors wandered for eight years among the American Indians, becoming traders and healers. They gathered a large following of natives who accompanied them in their journey toward Mexico, and to a final confrontation with Spanish conquistadores. (Cafe Mundo)

In addition to being one of the great true adventure stories of all time, Cabeza de Vaca's account of their travels is an unparalleled source of firsthand information on the pre-European Southwest--the variety of its climate, its flora and fauna, the customs of its natives. They were the first to see the opossum and the buffalo, the Mississippi and the Pecos, pine-nut mash and mesquite-bean flour. This book contains the first description in literature of a West Indies Hurricane. (Amazon)

"Cabeza de Vaca was not only a physical trailblazer: he was also a literary pioneer, and he deserves the distinction of being called the Southwest's first writer.... (His book), while not fiction, possesses most of the attributes of a good novel." (William T. Pilkington)

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