Reséndez gives vivid lecture on doomed 16th-century expedition
Galveston College students and community members filled the college’s Abe and Annie Seibel Wing on Feb. 9 and were treated to an engaging history lesson by visiting UC-Davis History Professor, Andrés Reséndez, about a 16th-century expedition across the U.S. Southwest that went incredibly wrong.
“When I first arrived and saw the size of this room (Seibel Wing), I thought it would never be filled, but it was amazing to see all these people coming in,” said Reséndez. “It is always a treat to talk about a book that literally unfolded around here. We don’t know exactly where, but around here. I talk about the subject in many places in the United States and around the world, but this is special because it is where it actually took place and where that history means something. It is local history.”
Dr. Reséndez recounted the footsteps of the doomed 1527 Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, which included Galveston Island, and began with a hurricane and a fatal navigational miscalculation that left the expedition of 400-plus souls more than one thousand miles away from their destination at a Spanish stronghold on the East Coast of Mexico.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was one of only four survivors and it is through his accounts of the tragic tale of the expedition and their discoveries that Reséndez wrote his scholarly book, “A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca – the Extraordinary Tale of a Shipwrecked Spaniard Who Walked Across America in the Sixteenth Century.”
Reséndez gave a lively presentation which included maps detailing the expedition’s route along the gulf coast, beginning in Cuba and Florida, vivid descriptions of their trek and photos of some of the explorers.
“I really liked how he went into detail about the tribes they ran into, and I didn’t know about Nuño de Guzmán,” said 20-year-old Galveston College student Brian Hernandez. “It was incredible to learn about their error and how they thought they were somewhere else, when in reality they were very far away from where they thought they had landed.”
Cabeza de Vaca and the remainder of the expedition encountered many different indigenous tribes, were enslaved for a period of time and met up with Guzmán, who was the stern governor of what is now the Mexican state of Sonora, and his troops raiding native villages for slaves in 1536.
“It was interesting to learn about the different tribes they encountered and the struggles they faced along the expedition,” said 20-year-old Galveston College student Elizabeth Salinas. “I really enjoyed the lecture and I want to share this information since we weren’t really aware of it. It’s a big impact on history.”
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Galveston College was founded in 1967 and is a comprehensive community college providing the residents of Galveston Island and the surrounding region with academic, workforce development, continuing education and community service programs.