Cabeza de Vaca helped shift official Spanish policy away from unregulated conquest toward a greater emphasis on winning a measure of native consent. The Spanish continued, ultimately, to rely on their military might for expansion, but the crown insisted that commanders minimize Indian casualties and avoid enslaving natives. The monarchy also paid for missionary friars to accompany and advise the conquistadores. This shift in emphasis from conquest to “pacification,” however, was slow and incomplete, especially in the expeditions immediately inspired by Cabeza de Vaca’s return.
