Cabeza de Vaca was part of a Spanish expedition that was meant to go to Northern Mexico but ended up in Florida by mistake. Lost in Florida, Cabeza de Vaca travelled with a few surviving fellow explorers throughout the sourthern United States and Northern Mexico. During his eight years traversing these regions, the lost explorers experienced many first encounters with native societies. In this review you will provide an analysis of the lost expedition considering:

1. The importance of the life story of Cabeza de vaca to understand the Spanish “conquest” of the Americas,

2. The description that Cabeza de Vaca provided of the difficulties of inter-cultural communication, and

3. You will discuss what we can learn about native societies after reading this book.

Topics you should address: A. Organization of the expedition /// B. Conflicts among the Spanish in the context of pursuing a colonial enterprise /// C. Analysis of Seville and Spain on the eve of the expedition’s departure /// D. Description of the main characteristics of travelling by the sea during this period /// E. Explain why the expedition ends up in Florida instead of Mexico and what are the causes and consequences of such mistake /// F. Provide a detailed description of the challenges the lost explorers faced while in Florida, on the rafts, and while they were enslaved. What kind of societies inhabited the Southern United States and Northern Mexico? /// G. Discuss the reasons why the explorers were enslaved and how they finally escaped /// H. Stipulate the importance of religion in the worldview of Cabeza de Vaca and how it helped him become a healer.

Grading Criteria

Wrong length and format: less than 5 pages according to the stated format can make you lose up to 12 points out of 25; more than 5 and a half pages can make you lose up to 5 points out of 25. Remember that the amount of pages will be calculated with Times New Roman 12 and 1 inch margins. If you chose another format, I will convert it to the right format and consider the actual length that way.

Writing problems: you can lose up to 10 points for writing problems, even if the contents are correct. This is a list of writing problems that can affect your grade:

Lack of transition = your writing jumps to a new paragraph or topic without providing an explanation of how it relates to what you claimed before.
Rephrase= your writing is unclear; you should rewrite this section to make it understandable for a general educated audience. I use this in cases where I am able to understand what you are saying, but it is confusing enough for anyone who does not now the topic. Remember that the goal of an essay not to tell the contents to the professor who already knows about it, but to present an explanation to an audience that is not familiar with the issue.
No introduction. You start your paper without providing an overview of the topics you will discuss throughout your essay.
No conclusion. Your essay ends suddenly after you refer to the last topic, without providing any concluding remarks.
Format problems= your format violates the essay guidelines instructions regarding length, spacing, margins, or font.

Chronology problems:
Wrong Date
Revise chronology = the sequence of historical events is not presented in the right order.
Lack of chronology= you fail to provide dates for the events you are describing.

Content problems: you can lose 3 points for every absent topic. I will mark the specific letter you missed or did not fully develop.

Off topic.
Wrong = what you wrote is not substantiated by either lectures, the readings or any valid scholarly resource.
Topic not fully developed. You may find a letter between parenthesis after this rubric. For instance: TNFD (A). This means you failed to fully refer to a topic listed under that letter in the essay guidelines.
Provide citation= you should have provided a citation or a page number from one of the readings.