A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 1,432 ratings

Price: 17.46

Last update: 01-06-2025


About this item

In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival.

Of the 300 men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived - three Spaniards and an African slave. This tiny band endured a horrific march through Florida, a harrowing raft passage across the Louisiana coast, and years of enslavement in the American Southwest. They journeyed for almost 10 years in search of the Pacific Ocean that would guide them home, and they were forever changed by their experience. The men lived with a variety of nomadic Indians and learned several indigenous languages. They saw lands, peoples, plants, and animals that no outsider had ever seen before.

In this enthralling tale of four castaways wandering in an unknown land, Andres Resndez brings to life the vast, dynamic world of North America just a few years before European settlers would transform it forever.


Top reviews from the United States

  • James
    5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating
    Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2024
    Wow, this book was great! Easy read and hard to put down! Highly recommend for history and non-fiction buffs.
  • Richard A. Leveille
    4.0 out of 5 stars More than just a survival story
    Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2016
    This book is Resendez’ gloss on what is, in my opinion, the most amazing survival story I know of, and I’ve read a lot of them! It’s not just amazing because three shipwrecked Spaniards and a Moorish slave (Estevan) managed to make it from the Florida panhandle to the Gulf coast of Texas to the Pacific Coast of Mexico in a staggering eight year odyssey, but because of the unique way they did it, and the consequences for the Americas and the Spanish Empire.

    Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions were the only survivors of the disastrous Narvaez expedition, which left Spain with 5 ships, 600 men and a license to conquer Florida in 1527 and ended up castaway on the barrier islands of South Texas in 1528. They did not see another "Christian" (European) until they ran into the advance guard of the brutal Nuno de Guzman's conquering army near the Pacific coast of Mexico, in Sinaloa, in 1536. In the interim, they went from being guests, then slaves of Indian tribes on the Texas coast, to faith healers and famous “Children of the Sun”. It was a mutually beneficial, but rather bizarre, ritualistic exchange, of their services for goods, apparently orchestrated by their Indian hosts, that really what got them across the continent safe and sound. It went like this: after performing their healings in a village, its inhabitants would take them to the next village along their route where their hosts would trade them for everything owned by its occupants. They would heal the sick of this village, who would then take them on to the next one and repeat the process…so that the miraculous strangers flowed northwest and goods flowed back to the southeast and everybody left happy.

    The repercussions of the four castaways miraculous re-appearance were almost immediate. They recounted their tale to Viceroy Mendoza in Mexico City, including reports they had gotten from their Indian hosts of multi-storied dwellings with abundant crops and, possibly, metals and gems, located to the north of their route. This second-hand story, compounded with the Aztec’s tale of a homeland called Aztlan, somewhere to the north or northwest of Mexico, accelerated Spain’s push in that direction. Mendoza commissioned Fray Marcos de Niza to follow up on their tale, and gave him Estevan as his guide. Estevan and Fray Marcos' “discovery” of Cibola/Zuni, where Estevan was killed in 1539, and Marcos’ wildly exaggerated description of the same, led almost immediately to the Vazquez de Coronado expedition of 1540, of which Mendoza was a heavy financial backer. All of this is quite ironic, given that the only “wealth” they actually saw with their own eyes on their journey consisted of a copper bell, 3 arrowheads made of “emerald” (more likely malachite) and some beads described variously as of silver, coral or pearls! Quite a transfiguration from these meager things into the magnificent “Seven Cities of Cibola”!

    Cabeza de Vaca began arguing for decent treatment of the Indians immediately upon being reunited with his countrymen in Sinaloa and continued to do so for the rest of his career. Conflicts with fellow colonists over just this issue ultimately landed him back in Spain in chains after a brief stint as governor of what is now Paraguay. I think he ranks up with Bernardo de las Casas as one of the most enlightened and humane Spaniards of the epoch.

    Resendez adds some interesting commentary on Cabeza de Vaca’s chronicle, giving updated anthropological, ethnological and route information, plus background on the castaways, historical context and so forth, but by far the most powerful part of the book are the words of Cabeza de Vaca himself. If fact, the latter's "Naufragos" should really be read along with Resendez’ book to get the full impact of this remarkable journey.
  • James Kohl
    5.0 out of 5 stars A good book, well researched
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2022
    I read this with “Chronicle of the Narváez expedition / Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; translated by Fanny Bandelier; revised and annotated by Harold Augenbraum”, going back and forth, more or less chronologically, and I recommend that. This is an excellent book, extremely well researched and written. (One idiosyncrasy of mine, which arose from the cross comparison, was that I found myself disbelieving the author’s suggestion that by Cabeza de Vaca’s use of the Spanish word “barca” in the Chronicle, he meant the Spanish equivalent of “raft”.) I would recommend reading “No Settlement, No Conquest; A History of the Coronado Entrada” by Richard Flint for that author’s thoughts on, first, the unique specific motivations of the Spanish participants in the explorations/conquests of the New World, and especially how it contributed to their actions in certain adversities, and, second, the motivations and communications amongst the Native Americans, and the roles those played in interacting with those from the Old World, Estebanico’s killing being a case in point. But do not let these quibbles deter you. This is a book that is well worth reading, from its excellent background to its concluding epilogue.
  • Tracy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Background Information
    Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2024
    Resendez gives the reader a detailed history of events prior to the shipwreck on the coast of Florida. Great descriptions of all the characters and their motives for participating in this incredible adventure. Highly recommended!
  • Alex Kastner
    5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated and way under appreciated
    Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2024
    One of the best adventure books about the new world. A look into the highs and lows of exploration and conquering and refreshing look into how some men attempted it
  • Craig Gordon
    4.0 out of 5 stars Cool book
    Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2024
    Great book. Awesome story
  • R. M. Peterson
    3.0 out of 5 stars Decent history, but it could have been so much better
    Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2008
    Cabeza de Vaca gets most of the credit in history, but he actually had three companions who also survived an amazing eight-year ordeal in the New World. They were part of a 600-person expedition that in 1528 sailed from Havana with the objective of landing on the coast of eastern Mexico about 150 miles below the Rio Grande. Due to the power of the Gulf Stream and incredible errors in navigation, they ended up in Florida, near Tampa Bay. Three hundred men set out to explore the interior, were cut off from the ships, and ultimately stranded. Most eventually made it to the Texas Gulf Coast on rafts, but within a short time their number was down to about twenty and a little later only four -- Cabeza and the other three. The four were enslaved by Indians for about six years and then, after achieving an exalted status as trading intermediaries and medicine men, they spent two more years wandering around southern Texas and northern Mexico before re-uniting with Spanish conquistadors (ironically, a group of Spanish on a mission to round up and enslave Native Americans). The four ended up having one of the most unusual and trying experiences in history.

    In A LAND SO STRANGE, Andres Resendez tells the above story. I suspect the book is sound history. To judge from the 53 pages of footnotes at the back of the book, it certainly appears that A LAND SO STRANGE is well-, probably exhaustively, researched. If only the writing reflected something close to the same amount of time and effort as was devoted to the research, we might have a classic work of history. But, instead, the material seems to be hurriedly or indifferently organized and presented and the writing itself frequently lapses into the cliched and formulaic, and even sappy. There also are a number of type-setting errors and at least one glaring error in word use. On the plus side, there are about thirty useful illustrations and maps. Three-and-a-half stars rounded down.

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