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

by Andrés Reséndez

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 four hundred men who had embarked on the voyage, 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 ten 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 before seen. In this enthralling tale of four castaways wandering in an unknown land, Andrés Reséndez brings to life the vast, dynamic world of North America just a few years before European settlers would transform it forever.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Adventure, American History, Travel, Audiobook

336 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2007

About the author

I grew up in Mexico City where I worked in various capacities--the best job I ever had was as a historical consultant for telenovelas (soap operas). After getting a PhD in history at the University of Chicago, I taught at Yale, the University of Helsinki, and UC Davis. I have written about the history of border regions (Changing National Identities at the Frontier--Cambridge University Press, 2005), early European exploration (A Land So Strange--Basic Books, 2007), and the enslavement of Native Americans (The Other Slavery--Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016). More recently, I have focused on the "Columbian moment" in the Pacific, beginning with the first expedition that went from America to Asia and back (1564-1565), instantly transforming the Pacific into a vital space of contact and exchange (Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery--Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021). These days I am researching the fallout from that venture. Just as Columbus's voyages triggered a major transfer of plants, animals, and germs across the Atlantic, so did the opening of the Pacific created a biological corridor across the largest ocean on Earth with very significant but little-understood consequences for the world.

Reviews

[Breck Baumann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historian Andrés Reséndez has delivered a fantastic and gripping chronicle of the harrowing journey of Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions plight through the ocean and land, in which these weary men struggled to survive in multiple roles through the dangers of the New World. Starting out as explorers, they find themselves castaways in the then-unknown Florida territory, in which their party of about 300 diminishes to just Cabeza de Vaca, two of his Spanish crewmembers, and an African slave named Estebanico.

Reséndez has created a stunning portrayal of their adventures and experiences, and follows their rise from explorers to castaways. Here they become captives who then fall to the class of slaves, are honored as medicine men and demigods, and miraculously find themselves again becoming explorers and monumental figures to each of the tribes that they meet. It’s fascinating to see how Cabeza de Vaca changes positions as a renowned royal treasurer to the Spanish government, to a self-styled journeyman, healing shaman, castaway, and at various times fugitive to certain Native tribes.

The tribes that they meet along the way are astonished by these fascinating white and black men—at times abusing them—yet they do come across certain sects that treat them with honor and compassion for their predicament. In one instance, when some of the men are so famished and distraught that they have to resort to cannibalism, Reséndez captures the irony of the “savage” Natives and the “civilized” Whites:

When the Indians learned what had happened, they became very upset. “The scandal among them was such that they would have killed the men had they seen them at the start; and all of us would have been in grave danger.” Ironically, in later centuries Europeans accused the native peoples of coastal Texas of cannibalism. Little did they know that in the sixteenth century the Europeans themselves had been the cannibals, and the Indians the ones appalled by such behavior.

The four companions and the unfortunate castaways who perish travel from Florida to the Texas Gulf Coast via ingenious and highly intricate rafts, though their resourcefulness fails them as they make their way down to present day Mexico and the Pacific Coast. As their journeys come to a conclusion, it is also interesting to note that the Natives revere the black slave Estebanico, in which they treat him with respect and dignity. In contrast, the Spaniards that eventually save him place him back in his slave capacity, in which sadly his three fellow companions don’t even bat an eye at this injustice.

Reséndez has drafted an epic tale of endurance and remarkable human feats, in a style that is highly engaging and keeps the reader focused and astonished by the scenery and descriptions of New World exploration. Maps and illustrations are scattered throughout the chapters, as well as a unique section for “Further Reading” which is full of books and materials related to New Spain, Cabeza de Vaca, and early colonization and exploration of North and Central America.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrés Reséndez’s A Land So Strange reads more like an adventure novel than a dry history text, along the lines of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild or some of the classic survival tales of polar exploration. In large part, Reséndez is able to accomplish this by the use of endnotes. By moving most of the scholarly debate to the end of the text, the controversies don’t disrupt the flow of the narrative. As a historian, I read the endnotes as they were referred to in the text, being more interested in research than flow. But by using this method, Reséndez made the story of the Narváez expedition accessible to a much wider range of readers. This is important, because Reséndez did such a remarkable job of synthesizing the latest research that it would be unfortunate if the casual reader were excluded.
Structurally, Reséndez presents the expedition in chronological order, but extends the time frame back to Columbus’ second voyage. This earlier period is used to put the Narváez expedition into context within the Age of Exploration. This choice is very productive, since most popular accounts of Cabeza de Vaca do not explain the feud between Hernán Cortés and almost every other major player in New Spain. The feud is relevant because it affects the behavior of expedition leader Pánfilo de Narváez and patron Diego Velázquez at the beginning of the journey, as well as Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and Governor Nuño de Guzmán at the end.
The nature, quality, and use of sources is where Reséndez’s work stands out. He begins with the two essential primary sources, the Joint Report and Vaca’s Narrative. For Vaca’s work, Reséndez uses the recent Adorno and Pautz translation, which includes two additional volumes of useful notes. Beyond the standards, Reséndez also adds in recent scholarly articles and especially recent archaeology. Nearly twenty pages of ‘Further Reading’ at the end of the text are a gold mine for any researchers “wishing to venture deeper into the Florida expedition”, and on the many subjects that provided context for the book (p229). This section is essentially an annotated bibliography of works in English and Spanish housed across three continents and organized by subject.
Because of Reséndez’s extensive research on the subject, he is able to sift through all of the scholarly debates and make thoughtful decisions on their validity. He clearly explains his logic when choosing one line of evidence over the other. His inclusion of archaeological evidence is also a huge factor here, primarily because there is so much recent work in that arena, especially along the Texas coast. All of this lends credibility to his interpretation of events. In the few cases where controversy has not been settled, Reséndez makes a point of stating all sides of the issue and weighing in, while still acknowledging the lack of certainty.
Another aspect of his academic honesty surfaces in language translations. I don’t speak 16th-century Spanish well enough to evaluate the translations that he personally makes, but his inclusion of the original language is an honest approach that would allow me to if I so chose.

[John Caviglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the strangest and most fascinating failures in the annals of the Spanish exploration of the New World….

After Hernán Cortés beat him out to the conquest of Mexico, Pánfilo de Narváez convinced Carlos V to grant him the right to explore and colonize land between more northern latitudes (which included northern Mexico and Florida). He put together a large expedition and sailed from Cuba intending to land in Río de las Palmas, Mexico. Instead (in what must be one of the worst navigational gaffes in history) his pilot lands him in Florida, by Tampa Bay. This first mistake is not the last by any means, as the expedition sets out walking (having lost track of their ships) for the Mexico they suppose to be near…. After years of travel—on foot, and also in crude rafts along the Gulf of Mexico—no material Spanish thing is left to the Spanish, and the naked survivors end up enslaved by Indians who decide that these strangers are hopeless dolts, unable to do anything—can’t fish, shoot a bow, forage for edibles…. So, with wonderful irony, they put these village idiots to work doing the most menial tasks.

Eventually the Spanish extricate themselves from slavery by convincing the natives, and themselves, that they are healers—which they do by praying over the sick and breathing on them. Thereafter they travel from village to village, surrounded by adoring Indians, in a kind of carnival of healing … and in this way finally make it back to Spanish Mexico, having been the first Europeans to set foot on a huge part of North America. As a concluding irony, by learning their languages and coming to know Indians, Cabeza de Vaca becomes convinced that North America can be peacefully colonized without killing or enslaving native people. Sadly, and predictably, he fails in this.

Beginning as a tragedy of errors, A Land so Strange ends up being an accumulation of ironies, the greatest of which being that, here, Spanish failure led to the erasure of technological and cultural differences to the point that Europeans and “Indians” co-existed as human beings. Contrast this to the epic “triumph” of Cortés and Pizarro, who with no more men than Pánfilo de Narváez conquered empires, and in the process killed and enslaved more human beings than history will ever count.

Highly recommended for those interested in the European invasion of the Americas.

P.S. There’s a film on Cabeza de Vaca that I have a library hold on, but haven’t seen: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cabez...

[Char Lee Sea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the book takes place before the actual journey across the continent occurs, which i thought was a bummer. I expected a little more adventure. Although it was very informative and full of historical events regarding Spain's colonization of Cuba and Hispaniola, it just wasn't the survival, adventure story I thought it would be.

[Hayden Goodman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cabeza de vaca isn’t like the OTHER conquistadors. He definitely had nothing to do with any kind of atrocities committed against indigenous peoples and in fact they all loved him. You can totally trust his first hand accounts of all his magnificent deeds because he documented it all himself and he would never lie!! Because he’s that great!!!! Wow what a totally accurate and believable book about such a great guy.

[David Canford · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account of Cabeza de Vaca’s trek from Florida to Mexico in the 1500s which lasted for several years. An epic of endurance - he and others survived all sorts of horrors including being enslaved. His plea for a more tolerant approach towards the native population when he at last reached ‘civilisation’ in western Mexico fell on deaf ears and the Spanish continued their brutal suppression of the original inhabitants, already decimated by the diseases the Europeans brought with them. A good read though not as compelling as I’d expected it to be.

[Elan Garfias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stranger than fiction indeed. The Cabez de Vaca story is so mind-bogglingly bizarre at every turn that I wonder how it isn't more well-known. From 300 expeditionaries down just four, the journey was beset by calamity from the very beginning, from storms as soon as they set out to navigational failures, landing on the wrong side of Florida before advancing overland on a wild goose chase for another El Dorado. Yet rather than discovering a new empire to be plundered, conquistador Narvaez's greed proved his undoing as his party headed through terra incognita in search of gold, finding only death in the process. Lacking their ships, the still-large group painstakingly MADE their own rafts out of shirts, recently logged timber, horsehair from the dwindling cavalry supply, and tools made of metal somehow melted down from crossbows and horseshoes and forged in makeshift bellows. Even more miraculously, all of the rafts made it to shore, though some unfortunate parties were immediately massacred by hostile natives. The full spectrum of behavior is on display here and throughout the book, as we encounter the traditional image of friendly, innocent Indians with a hot meal and a helping hand, as well as vindictive slavers seemingly reveling in the Spaniards' misery. Resendez does a great job portraying the conquistadors' gradual abandonment of everything that gave them their edge, from their abandonment of the horses to the melting of the weapons and brestplates, to their eventual loss of even the clothes on their back (lost in a swelling tide). The final survivors were thus disgorged on a savage coast quite literally naked and starving, where their native hosts wept on masse at the wretched sight. Enslaved for years among various indigenous groups, Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo, and Estebanico spent the better part of a decade getting separated and always finding each other once again before making their escape together and becoming traveling healers, feted wherever they went, replete with a massive entourage and something like a manager. When they eventually reencountered other Spaniards, they made a genuine attempt to halt the devastating slave raids in the area perpetrated by their countrymen, to no avail. As they try in vain to plead with their followers to leave, the Indians reply that the slavers on horseback and the healing men cannot possibly be from the same country, as the former come only to take and destroy whereas the latter give only succor. Though perhaps utopian in hindsight, Cabeza de Vaca put forward a peaceful alternative to conquest, based on trade and coexistence as he himself had experienced. Though his fellow explorers reestablished themselves in the colonial hierarchy sooner or later (one hopes they acted somewhat more benevolently toward their conquered subjects), Cabeza de Vaca proved a man apart, returning to the New World years later and at least attempting his own brand of soft proselytization, walking ahead of his soldiers armed only with a cross rather than leading with guns and lances. This proved to slow, and he was removed from his command and persecuted back in Spain before eventually clearing his name and retiring in his native Andalusia. This whole crazy story is a page turner out of the sheer improbability of everything that transpired, but also a sweeping panoply of the coastal tribes of the southwest and the vast array of human natures they demonstrated. The will to survive is indeed remarkable, as well as to adapt to the strange and savage vicissitudes of exploration. Above all it demonstrates one man's remarkable moral transformation, from a shock trooper of the empire to something very different indeed. He may not have abandoned the colonial idea as a whole, and it would have made little difference if he had. But he left his own sojourn with America's inhabitants convinced of their humanity and determined to approach them peacefully, bringing them into the fold only by showing he could help them. Definitely not what the Spanish colonization process proved to be by a long shot, but his genuine positive impact on and adoration by the natives sketches a tantalizing vision of what could have been.

[Brandon Rayas · Rating 5 out of 5]

When looking at the history of the American continent during first contact between europeans and indigenous people, more often than not we picture conquistadors, Hernon Cortez, Christopher Columbus, and especially grand images of a vast quick conquest of the indigenous people. A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, written by historian Andre Resendez, gives us another take on this complex time period. Through his research on the 16th century Florida expedition and the disasters that occurred, Resendez uncovers precious insight through Cabeza de Vaca and three other survivors of the failed expedition and their eight-year-long journey through the North American continent before Europeans were ubiquitous in the region. He argues that not all tales of first contacts are equal but differ and in the case of Cabeza de Vaca we get a more human side to this narrative. In their journey for survival, they were forced to face America on her own terms. Now left without superior weapons nor knowledge of the land, they learn to interact with the inhabitants and adapt to their cultures to survive. This journey is not only physical, but becomes spiritual in the process. He came to the realization that the Natives, as different as they were to him, were human; at a time when Spain was having a debate on whether they were deemed subhuman. He would later advocate for a different kind of conquest, one that did not involve so much violence.

Resendez structures the book in an easy to follow chronological order. He creates his argument through the thousands of miles of the long and treacherous journey the survivors had to undertake. Resendez begins the story with the two Captains of the expedition and their greedy desires for glory and plunder in the New World, but Hernon Cortez comes out victorious in staking his claim on Mesoamerica and all the resources and wealth that comes from it. After a sense of failure, one of the captains has an opportunity for redemption. Cabeza de vaca joins this expedition of approximately 300 people. Their mission was to head to Cuba and eventually to Rio de Las Palmas, just north of Cortez's territory. A relentless sea, an unfamiliar land, and an incompetent ship pilot did not allow them to reach their destination and landed in Florida. They walk through Florida encountering many indigenous people. They meet resistance and are forced adrift on rafts. The survivors eventually split while adrift and land in Texas; many are killed off and the few left become enslaved. De vaca and three others eventually become the only survivors and escape enslavement, learning languages and the ways of the natives. They even reach high status as medicine men or shamans performing many miracles. By the time they reach their final destination and are discovered by fellow europeans, they are completely Americanized.

[Linda Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very inspired by this book about Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's unplanned journey through North America from Florida to Mexico City, from 1528 through 1536. He came to this continent from Spain as part of a settlement/exploration expedition headed by conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez. Cabeza de Vaca was the king's treasurer.

When they got to Florida he became part of a large group of about 300 explorers who separated from the ships and walked inland, north, in search of tribes with gold. The gold was never found however there were unfriendly tribes and many perished. When they returned to the Gulf of Mexico they realized their ships had sailed off without them.

The rest of the book tells about Cabeza de Vaca's life and travels in North America. Most of the 300 men involved died from attack or starvation, so his survival was a miracle. When he returned to Spain he wrote about what had happened and left us an amazing history of the tribes he contacted during his journey.

The first few chapters of this book felt very "slow" as we had to learn about the explorers of the time, such as Cortez. It felt like a boring history book. It was a while before Cabeza de Vaca was introduced into the story. Once he started his journey, trials, tribulations, and attempts to survive, the book came to life and I ended up with a great appreciation of the man and of the book that brought his story to my attention.

I think his life was worth living, and this book was worth reading.

[Andrew Tollemache · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting recounting of the journey of Cabeza de Vaca who started out as part of a 600 man Spanish expedition to explore and conquer the northern Mexican Gulf Coast and instead got blown off course landing near modern day Tampa Bay...oops. The expedition turned into a disaster and after months of wondering around Florida and fighting starvation and attacks by the natives, the few hundred survivors hatched a plan to build rafts and try to float across the Gulf of Mexico to Spanish Mexico.
Needless to say that too was a disaster and all the rafts wrecked along the Texas coast with Cabeze de Vaca landing just south of Galveston Island. He and 3 other survivors would spend the next years enslaved by the locals and slowly moving down the Texas coast past the Rio Grande.
They by then had become healers in the eyes of the natives and with better status moved north along the Rio Grande till deep in the Mexican interior they headed south along the Sea of Cortez.
One morning a crew of Spanish conquistadores looking for new slaves encountered four naked men, with brown skin and hair & beards down to their waists. The horsemen were shocked that these men did not run from them as the other natives did but ran towards them and started speaking perfect Castillian Spanish with the most amazing tale

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably one of the most interesting of the explorer narratives. Cabeza de Vaca is interesting b/c he underwent a profound change of heart due to his experiences. He gained a great tenderness and empathy for the Indians after living with them for so long. Starting off as a conquistador, he was actually enslaved by Indians for about six years. He also became a famous healer/miracle worker among them.

[Debbie Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A harrowing journey that makes for suspenseful reading and fascinating history. The suspense never lets up. Reads better than a novel.

[Medeea Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride! My god. This book read more like an adventure book rather than a historical one. Devoured it. Andrés Reséndez deserves so much more recognition; not only for the exhaustive research but for his formidable writing style. I can easily put him in the same category as Stefan Zweig.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember the name “Cabeza de Vaca” from Texas history in grade school, but had no idea the breadth of his journeying. A fascinating man with an amazing story that we don’t talk about enough in context of the Spanish conquest of the new world.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the story of Cabeza de Vaca.

Hey, don't you start with that! No yawning with boredom here.

Yes, I know you talked about Cabeza de Vaca (remember the jokes..."Head of a Cow" and all that?) in seventh grade. But this is Cabeza de Vaca like you never knew him.

You will feel the clouds of mosquitoes on your face, hear your stomach rumble with impending starvation, question the arrival of Native Americans (will they or won't they help the Spaniards?)

And, if you are like me and live on the Texas Gulf Coast, you will see the place you live in a completely new way. This. This is where these people floated up on a raft. This is where they dug for roots. This place. A Land So Strange.

[Jesse Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the epic tale of a party of Spanish conquistadors lost in the wilds of what is today Florida, who managed to wander back to the coast, build five rafts that could hold five tons each, 250 men total, and ride the rafts over the Gulf of Mexico to Texas, where all of the men but four eventually died of starvation or in captivity. The remaining four continued their adventure, more bizarre than anything in the Odyssey or the Aeneid, as they were enslaved by natives, then hailed and welcomed, first as traders and next as medicine men, spiritual healers. In this last capacity, they walked down the sandy coast of south Texas, into Mexico and over the Sierra Madres, all the way to the Pacific coast, where they eventually met Spanish compatriots and so returned to their original civilization, or at least its new colonies in Mexico.

The thesis of Andre Resendez here is simple but compelling: Cabeza de Vaca’s careful account of this incredible journey was an important early bridge between cultures. The conquistadors were incredibly vicious slavers, but when one crew of them had to eat their horses, and beat their swords and crossbows into raft-building axes, they were forced to reckon with the natives face to face, learning many languages, taking on new and unexpected roles, and, at least in Cabeza de Vaca’s case, learning that slavery and mass exploitation of the Indians was wrong.

There are so many memorable scenes evoked in the book. South Texas, where I’m from, was once home to thousands of diverse peoples who collected at spots like the “river of nuts,” a vast expanse of pecan trees that produced fruit every two years. Some pre-contact peoples fished and foraged in small groups, never far from starvation; others grew maize, held market days, and flourished, and warred with one another. They were mostly taller and healthier than the scraggly Spanish, yet the armed armored Europeans murdered whole villages and took thousands captive to work in silver mines, where they essentially all died in misery.

The great moral wrong of the conquest boggles the mind. Other than Friar Las Casas and Cabeza de Vaca himself, no other characters covered here seem to protest the inhumanity of this inter-human encounter. And in this instance, we envision what could have been: learning aboriginal languages, acquiring new ways of being. For Esteban the slave turned group leader and survivor, returned to slavery, and killed trying to cajole aborigines into captivity, the game of humanity must have appeared strange, indeed, all smiles masks, all violence, truth. The moral wrecking ball of imperialism is the muse driving this epic journey, and its hero figure was enlightened without changing the course of his world.

[Natalia Muñoz-Casayús · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very interesting read, as it updates the telling of the story by Cabeza de Vaca himself with geographical info and some hindsight in the importance of his discoveries.
However, I cannot rate this book positively. It falls into the same Black Legend trap most history books in English do, with the added insult that Resendez is of Hispanic origin and has decided to cater to our present day’s indigenista and woke cancellation cultures. Cancellation of balanced history, that is.
With all the bibliographical references the book boasts of, I find it unbelievable that Resendez has deliberately decided to omit that Hernan Cortes and a handful of Spaniards did not bring down Mexico-Tenochtitlan by their superior weaponry, as he must know Cortes led an alliance of ninety thousand indigenous soldiers (mainly Txacaltecas) that wanted to end the reign of terror of the Aztecs. Spanish weapons of the time took ages to load and were of little use in the face of a shower of swift arrows. Cortes conquered and ruled through cooperation with the natives, not by brute force.
Towards the end of the book, he talks of latter expeditions of conquest to the north of Mexico, implying the disappearance of native cultures in present day US southwest is owed to Spanish slavers, and completely fails to mention how Fray Junipero Serra and other missionaries led peaceful and friendly expeditions that bettered the lives of many nomadic tribes, and that all this was lost when the US Thirteen Colonies decided to push towards the Pacific, invade half of Mexico’s territory and clear the land of natives through extermination and displacement into tiny reservations.
Charles Lummis recorded the last remnants of this dying Spanish/Native culture in the Southwest and his testimony, with few adjustments, will stand the test of time. Resendez’s book, on the other hand, will stand until the woke indigenista culture fades away, when his prejudices and omissions will be seen for what they are, nothing but Black Legend Anglo propaganda.

[Forrest · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably wasted an audible credit on this one.... the book starts out really slow at first indulging at length in the political drama that occurred between Hernan Cortez and Diego Velazquez before advancing to the expected story.

The author also applies a lot of his own speculations to the point that I was often left wondering what information was taken from the original manuscripts and what was the author's own narrative. 

I'm reading this right on the heels of Kevin Siepel's 2nd volume of Conqistador Voices which I really enjoyed and which includes the story of the Cabeza de Vaca's adventures, "in their own words" among the Native Peoples of North America with the ill-fated Narvaez Expedition. Siepel's style of relying on raw narrative extracted directly from the source with added context set the standard in my view, so admittedly my criticism of this one is borne of bias.  Even though this whole book is dedicated to Cabeza de Vaca and the Narvaez expedition, to me it doesn't offer more useful original substance to the story than Siepel's own smaller account of the same.  Maybe even less. 

[Mesut Bostancı · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming little book. I can't believe this actually really ever happened. Such a nice window into the Pre-Columbian World I call home. Texas sure is a hard scrapple place, I can't imagine living on nothing more than pecans and prickly pears. I read a little bit of Cabeza de Vaca's original journal to see how much Resendez had to go off of and I really respect his assumptions and the narrative liberties that he took.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straighforward narrative of the disasterous expedition to Florida and the Gulf Coast in the 1520s, in which only 4 people out of 300 survived. It is based largely on the accounts made by survivors. Also tells of the Spanish-American politics surounding Cortez' invasion of Mexico. An easy read.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1528, an expedition set sail from Spain with the goal to explore and colonize an area of Florida. However, the ships encountered a hurricane and eventually, through a massive navigation error, the group ended up landing hundreds of miles from their intended destination. In a tragically poor decision, 300 men set out into the interior, leaving the ships and attempting to make their way to Spanish territory on foot, unaware that they were hundreds of miles from any Spanish settlement. In the end only four men, three Spaniards and an African, walked around the Gulf of Mexico, through a brief detour into the mountains and eventually into Spanish territory in what is now Mexico. Over the course of their trek, the survivors depended on Native American groups. At some points treated as slaves and later developing a reputation as healers.
As the survivor of highest rank, Cabeza de Vaca, representative of the Royal Treasury, developed a vision of cooperation between Native Americans and Spaniards that could result in prosperity and trade between the groups. His written descriptions of his experiences are a unique record of early contact between the two peoples.
Resendez' retelling is gripping. Cabez de Vaca's incredible story of survival and cultural contact held my attention from start to finish. The ending is poignant with lost opportunities and knowledge of the tragic future that followed on the rejection of Cabez de Vaca's vision.

[Stuart Endick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Land So Strange is a classic that is essential and rewarding reading for anyone interested in American history, including the early Spanish exploration and colonization in North America. In wake of Cortez’s conquest of the Aztec empire of central Mexico, a powerful rival, Panfilo de Narvaez, was granted a charter by the Spanish crown to a vast territory extending from present day Florida through the Southwest and into northern Mexico. The ill fated Narvaez expedition with hundreds of would be conquistadors and colonists through navigational error and the misjudgment of its leader almost entirely perished. One of the few survivors was Cabeza de Vaca, the expedition’s second in command, who with three companions (including an enslaved African) over a period of nine years treked from Florida to the Spanish settlements in Mexico living among the indigenous peoples at times as slaves and finally as revered shamans. The author adeptly uses Cabeza de Vaca’s own narrative, the joint accounts of the Narvaez survivors, and other historical sources to convey this epic tale. The book is both a page turning and insightful read that avoids didacticism while conveying the important message of the missed opportunity that was afforded by Cabeza de Vaca.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was truly an amazing book. I knew nothing about the subject and boy, was it fascinating! I hadn't thought of conquistadores as having family histories, or regular jobs (de Vaca's was as some kind of bookkeeper), nor had I realized that women and children were included in missions of conquest/settlement.

Cabeza de Vaca and a North African slave were the only survivors of an attempt to colonize Florida from Cuba. They wandered through the Gulf States back to Mexico on a picaresque journey that included skirmishes with natives, enslavement, partnership, and a stint as snake-oil salesmen.

I like reading fantasy fiction and this was pretty much the same kind of read. Wow.

[Yash Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4/16 Update][Audiobook] Very interesting listen! My knowledge of the conquistadors pretty much began and ended w/ Cortes and Pizarro. Beyond knowing Cabeza de Vaca's name, I really knew nothing about him. It was interesting to see to hear more particulars about the expedition itself and all the harrowing ordeals he and his crew struggled through for the small subset of them who survived to do so. Definite recommend for anyone interested in knowing more about this period without getting bogged down w/ tons of details.

[Molly Steur · Rating 4 out of 5]

One point off because I’m not entirely sold on some of the middling historiography BUT that’s an epic if I’ve ever read one. Vividly told, absolutely fantastic. Gruesome, though, so if you have a weak stomach about cannibalism or eating horses or drowning or basically anything icky or violent that you can imagine happening, don’t read this because it all happens and nothing is downplayed in awfulness.

[Catherine]

Having already read The Moor's Account, a lovely fictionalized account of this doomed expedition, this felt like a dryer rehashing of the same material. (To give Andrés Reséndez full credit, this book predates the novel by seven years.)

[Bob Prol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was unfamiliar with this story until we visited the Big Bend area of Texas. I picked this book up at a bookstore in Terlingua. It was a great read. Probably 1/3 of the story set the stage, and the last 2/3 covered the 10 years of traveling that took an exploration of 300 people down to 4.

This was well-written, and kept me engaged throughout.

[Fartass Wolfgangus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The americas around the time of the columbian exchange must have felt like an alien world to any Spaniard. It even feels alien to me as a current day American. I think it is for this reason that this book felt more sci-fi to me. The research is well done but I would take the accounts with a grain of salt, the story still makes for an excellent adventure and that is how it should be enjoyed.

[John Schachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, easy and relatively fun read. I didn’t know anything about this story and enjoyed reading and learning about it. The characters were interesting and their adventures almost unbelievable.

[Giselle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was super interesting! I've never heard this story before and I think it was an interesting book to read, I don't know if I would read it again though.