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44. Cabeza de Vaca's Journey
Gay Marriage's 
American History Started in Spanish

By Miguel Pérez

​
January 28, 2014 - The word, as originally written in Spanish, was "diablura," which has been translated to English in at least two ways: "wicked" or "devilish." But it was the way Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca described an issue that is very contentious in society today: same-sex marriage.

Perhaps he was being a bit judgmental. But what he said is not as important as when he said it. His observations were made almost 500 years ago. Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish conquistador, and he was describing gay marriages among Native Americans.

"During the time I spent with these people I saw one devilish thing, and that was a man married to another man," Cabeza de Vaca wrote in his 1542 book, "La Relación" ("The Account"). "These are impotent, effeminate men and they go about covered like women and they perform the tasks of women, and they shoot with a bow, and they carry very great loads."

Long before the British colonists arrived, Cabeza de Vaca trekked across North America — from present-day Florida to Arizona — and same-sex marriage was just one of the many fascinating images he gave to a 16th-century Europe hungry for knowledge about the lives of the natives of the New World.

Nowadays, if you search the Internet for the history of gay marriage in North America, you are likely to find someone quoting Cabeza de Vaca. Yet most Americans know very little of his amazing feats — if they know of him at all.

Some people know him only as the shipwrecked conquistador who ended up living with the natives, first as their slave and later as their witch doctor, but not much more. He is part of America's hidden Hispanic heritage.

Some background: Cabeza de Vaca was one of the officers — the treasurer — on the 1527-1528 Panfilo de Narváez expediton sent to the New World by King Charles I of Spain to establish a permanent settlement in Florida. After stops in Hispaniola and Cuba, and landing near Tampa Bay in April of 1528, Narváez led some 300 men on an overland expedition that was nearly extinguished by tropical storms, diseases and attacks from the natives of Florida.

Having lost contact with their own ships, the 252 marooned and starving survivors ate their horses, built five boats and sailed west along the Gulf Coast, where many more, including Narváez, drowned in storms along the way.
By September 1528, when they were swept onto and stranded on the place they named "The Island of Misfortune" (Galveston Island, Texas), only a few dozen survivors remained. And by the time they got off this island and trekked on foot for several years across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, only Cabeza de Vaca and three others had survived.

Among the four survivors who managed to hook up with Spanish forces in present-day Mexico was Estevanico, an enslaved black man, born in Morocco, believed to be one of the first Africans to step ashore on what is now the continental United States.

The story of these four survivors, the first Old World explorers to cross the North American wilderness, is relatively unknown to most Americans, who tend to be more familiar with the expedition of Lewis and Clark, which happened some 276 years later.

Their attempts to coexist with the many native groups they encountered in the American Southwest created the captive narrative adventures that made Cabeza de Vaca's book a hit in Europe a few years later. Many of his shipmates were killed or enslaved by the natives of the Texas Gulf Coast; he survived by becoming a medicine man and trader, moving from tribe to tribe.
A deeply religious man who believed he had the power of healing, Cabeza de Vaca isn't known by most people for becoming America's first evangelical preacher. Long before the Pilgrims and the Puritans brought religion to New England, Cabeza de Vaca had prayed and preached throughout the Southwest.

Most Americans don't know that although he was among the very first of the conquistadors to make contact with Native Americans, he also was one of the most conscientious and respectful of human rights.

He was the first European-American historian. The first American history book — covering the time he spent living among various groups of Native Americans between 1528 and 1536 — was Cabeza de Vaca's "La Relación" ("The Account"). It was written in Spanish and published in Spain in 1542. It was republished later as "Naufragios" ("Shipwrecks").

Some American historians would tell you that "History of Plymouth Plantation," written from 1630 to 1651 by William Bradford, is the first American history book. Some even call Bradford, who arrived in America on the Mayflower in 1620, "The Father of American History." But they are the ones who begin counting American history in the 17th century and see it only from a British perspective.

Cabeza de Vaca's account of almost eight years traveling across North America, originally written as a report to the king of Spain, preceded Bradford's 21-year depiction of Plymouth by 109 years!

In fact, other American history books were written in Spanish long before the Mayflower dropped an anchor off Plymouth Rock, including Pedro de Castañeda's "Relación de la Jornada de Cibola," an eyewitness account of the Francisco Vázquez de Coronado expedition from New Spain (Mexico) through the territory that now covers Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas from 1540 to 1542, and Garcilaso de la Vega's "La Florida del Inca o Historia de Adelantado Hernando de Soto" ("The Florida of the Inca or the History of Commander Hernando de Soto"), which was based on firsthand accounts by members of the 1539-1543 de Soto expedition through today's Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

It may be mostly hidden from American history, but there is no way of denying that 16th-century North American literature was written by Spanish explorers who returned to Spain and published their journals. And while most Americans may not be aware of this today, some prominent Americans didn't forget it.

"The ancient part of American history is written chiefly in Spanish," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1787, as he tried to make another argument that would be contentious today: He believed that Americans should learn how to speak Spanish!

"With respect to modern languages," Jefferson wrote, "French, as I have before observed, is indispensible. Next to this the Spanish is most important to an American. Our connection with Spain is already important, and will become daily more so."

Those prophetic words are not among Jefferson's best-known quotations. Unfortunately, they are part of America's hidden Hispanic heritage — just like the descriptions of homosexuality written by Cabeza de Vaca and other Spanish explorers and missionaries during that "ancient part of American history" that was "written chiefly in Spanish" and mostly ignored by American historians.

And although the Native American concepts of gender and sexuality were treated with contempt in that early Spanish-American literature, although homosexuality was seen as abhorrent based on the Spanish/Christian mores of the 16th century, evidence of its existence has been diminished by historians who choose to ignore the history of pre-British America.

Nevertheless, Cabeza de Vaca's descriptions of how same-sex marriages functioned in North America almost 500 years ago are certainly noteworthy at a time when some segments of society still have difficulties accepting them.

Similarly noteworthy are his many accounts of the first contacts between Europeans and Native Americans. His vivid descriptions of the peoples, and flora and fauna of pre-Columbian North America are truly fascinating.

When he explains the division of labor between men and women in the America of the 1530s, Cabeza de Vaca notes that men did all the hunting, while the women literally carried the workload of nomad groups who were constantly relocating. And since gay men performed the tasks of women, they were considered a valuable asset when helping the women carry heavy loads.

"And among these, we saw many of them, thus unmanly as I say, and they are more muscular than other men and taller," Cabeza de Vaca noted. "They suffer very large loads."

Written almost like an adventure novel instead of the typically boring expeditionary literature, Cabeza de Vaca's book opened a new frontier for the imagination and greed of European explorers. He described North America as a special place where miracles happen and created unfounded speculation that other explorers could go back to North America and find mythical cities of gold.

He triggered several other expeditions, which, although failing to find golden cities, brought de Soto, Coronado and many other Spanish explorers to what is now the United States. They created more pre-British American history and literature.
We don't give him proper credit, but let's face it: It was Cabeza de Vaca's book that started the Hispanic migration to North America.

Frankly, perhaps more amazing than Cabeza de Vaca's finding of gay marriage among Native Americans is the fact that it has taken Europeans and their descendants almost five centuries to accept it.

Who knows? Perhaps if we had paid more attention to what Jefferson called "the ancient part of American history," gay marriage would be ordinary now. And if more Americans recognized that our history was first written in Spanish, perhaps our Hispanic heritage would not be so hidden.

COPYRIGHT 2014 CREATORS.COM
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In Spanish
​
La travesía de Cabeza de Vaca

La Historia del Matrimonio Gay
en América Comenzó en Español
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CABEZA DE VACA MONUMENT in Houston, Tx.
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KING CHARLES I
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PANFILO DE NARVAEZ
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THE FOUR SURVIVORS
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LA RELACIÓN
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ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA
Scenes from the 1991 Mexican film 'Cabeza de Vaca' Starring Spanish actor Juan Diego:
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JUAN DIEGO PORTRAYS CABEZA DE VACA
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THE HEALER CABEZA DE VACA
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CABEZA DE VACA
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ESTEVANICO
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THE PREACHER CABEZA DE VACA
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THOMAS JEFFERSON

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                   CHAPTERS/CAPITULOS

1. Our Pre-Mayflower Thanksgivings
Nuestros Días de Acción de Gracias Pre-Mayflower
               
2. A Tale of Two Cities
                 
3. Our Pre-Hispanic Heritage
              

4. The Black Legend Returns

4. La Leyenda Negra Regresa
                
5. Even on HBO, The Black Legend Lives
                   
6. Our Spanish Heritage
                     
7. Exalted or Offended?
                    
8. We are all 'Americanos'
                  
9. Latinos are Failing
                  
10. Hispanic, Columbus or Indigenous Day?
10. 
™Dia Hispano, De Colon o Indigena?
                   
11. Two Good Places to Rest
11. Dos buenos lugares para descansar
                  
12. Whitman's Prophetic Letter
12. La Carta Profética de Whitman
                  
13. America’s Cradle
13. La Cuna de America
                 
14. Our Quincentennial is Coming!

14. ´Nuestro Quinto Centenario Se Avecina!
                   
15. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 29
                
16. A Time To Welcome the Spirits
                  
17. A Hispanic Christmas
17. Una Navidad Hispana
                  
18. JOSE MARTI:
     His Legacy Lives Here
     Su Legado Vive Aquí 
                
19. Hyphenated and Proud!
                   
20. Politicizing Education

21. Speak Any Spanish Lately?
              
22. Happy Three Kings Day!
22. ​
´Feliz Día de Reyes!
               
23. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 29

24. A Long-Overdue Museum
                 
25. America's First Christmas was celebrated in Spanish
25. La Primera Navidad Americana fue celebrada en español

26. The Grand Canyon
and the Bucket List
 Of Hispanic Heritage
26. El Gran Canyon
y la Lista de Lugares de la Herencia Hispana

                  
27. Now That Fiesta Month Is Here,
Can We Talk About Heritage?

27. Ahora que el mes de fiesta hispana esta aquí,

​™Podemos hablar de nuestra herencia?
                  
28. Our Hispanic Heritage: On Exhibit and Yet Hidden
28. Nuestra Herencia Hispana: En Exhibición y Sin Embargo Oculta

29. Florida's Birthday Should Be a National Holiday

             
30. A Local Celebration that Should be National               

31. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 30               
​

32. The Conveniently 'Forgotten War'
32. La Guerra Convenientemente Olvidada

33. Guantanamo Has a History  June 4, 2013

34. Exposing the Social Media Bigots  June 18, 2013
34. Exponiendo a los Intolerantes
     de los Medios Sociales June 18, 2013

35. Thinking of Cusi On the Fourth of July
35. Pensando en Cusi en el Cuatro de Julio

36. The Discovery of White Hispanics
36.  El Descubrimiento de los Hispanos Blancos

37. Let's Build a Timeline Of Hispanic-American History
37. Vamos a Construir una Cronología
     De la Historia Hispanoamericana

38. In the Name of Heritage
38. En el Nombre de la Herencia

39. Hispanics or Latinos?
39. ™Hispanos o Latinos?

40.  Hollywood's Hidden Hispanic Heritage
40. La Herencia Hispana Oculta en Hollywood

41. Obliviously Living in ‘The Land of Estevan Gomez’
41. Viviendo Inconscientemente
       En la ‘Tierra de Estevan Gómez’

42. Marking America's Birthplace
42. Marcando el Lugar de Nacimiento De Estados Unidos

43. Hispanics in Denial Should Be Infamous
43. Los Hispanos en Rechazo Deben Ser Infames

44. 
Gay Marriage's Hidden American History
      Started in Spanish
 CABEZA DE VACA'S JOURNEY
44. La Historia Oculta del Matrimonio Gay
      En América Comenzó en Español
        EL VIAJE DE CABEZA DE VACA​

45. Super Bowl Coke Commercial
       Draws Out Ugly Americans

45. Comercial de Coke en Super Bowl
     Hace Relucir a los Americanos Feos


46. 
The 'Discovery' of Self-Loathing Hispanics
46. El ‘Descubrimiento' de los
     Hispanos que se Auto Desprecian


THE GREAT HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY TOUR 
June 2014 - January 2015


47. My Pilgrimage to San Xavier
47. Mi Peregrinaje a San Xavier

48. The Great Hispanic American History Tour
48. La Gran Gira por la Historia Hispanoamericana

49. On the Trail of Conquistadors
49. En el Camino de los Conquistadores

50. Beyond St. Augustine
50. Más Allá de San Agustín

51. A Hidden Hispanic Role Model
51. Un Modelo Hispano Oculto

52. The Hispanic Flank of the American Revolution
52. El Flanco Hispano de la Revolucion Americana
​

53. New Orleans Has a Spanish ‘Ne Sais Quoi’
53. Nueva Orleans Tiene Un ‘Ne Sais Quoi’ Español

54. Galveston: Still the Isle of Misfortune?

55. Extracting Compacted History
     Unveils Hidden Hispanic Heritage

56. 'Remember The Alamo' Was a Spanish Mission

57. San Antonio: The Showcase Of Our Hispanic Heritage

58. There Was Compassion On the Spanish Mission Trail

59. A Hidden Latina Role Model

60. Time Portals on the Road

61. The First Thanksgiving
     In the (Southwest) United States

62. The World's Biggest Statue
of a Nameless Horseback Rider


63. A River Runs Through Our Hispanic Heritage

64. A Beacon of Hope On a Border Mountaintop

65. A Mexican-American Town
65. Un Pueblo Mexico-Americano

66. The Crossroads of Conquistadors

67. Hiking In Search of Coronado's Trail

68. The Real American Pioneers

69. Keeping My Pledge to San Xavier

70. If They Knew Arizona's History,
     They Wouldn't Be So Xenophobic

71. 'Tucson' is a Spanish Adaptation

72. Under a Utah Lake, Hispanic Heritage Lives

73. A Hilltop View Of Hispanic Heritage

74. Searching for Coronado's Quivira

75. The Spanish Savior of St. Louis

76. 
Jefferson's Spanish Library

WASHINGTON, D.C.
February-June 2015

77. When Galvez Came to Congress
77. Cuando Gálvez Vino al Congreso


78. A Tour of Our Extraordinarily Hispanic U.S. Capitol

79. Searching for Not-S0-Hidden
Hispanic Heritage in Washington, DC


80. Smithsonian Omits Hispanics In U.S. History Exhibit
80. Smithsonian Omite a los Hispanos
     en Exhibición de Historia de EE.UU.
MIAMI - August 2015
​
81. Finding Dad in a Museum
81. Encontre a Mi Padre en un Museo


​CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP - 2018
82. International Friendship Park ​at U.S.-Mexico Border
​- A Jagged Corner of the World


83. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
​
84. Cabrillo National Monument

85. ​It took more than 2 centuries

86. Presidio Park: The Birthplace
of the Spanish Colonization of California


87. Junípero Serra Museum Transcends the Story of a Great Man

88. Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá:
California's First Spanish Mission


89. Old Mission (Padre) Dam: California's First Aqueduct

90. Even at the beach in San Diego, you can't avoid Spanish history

91. Chicano Park: Mexican-American ​painted under highway ramps

92. Balboa Park: Candy for your eyes amid a painful controversy!

93. San Diego: An American Town
Named After the Saint from Alcalá

93. San Diego: Un Pueblo Americano
Lleva el Nombre del Santo de Alcalá


94. San Luis Rey de Francia: The King of the California Missions
94. San Luis Rey de Francia: ​El Rey de las Misiones de California

95. San Antonio de Pala:
A Sub-Mission to Reach
 the Natives of the Interior
95. San Antonio de Pala:
Una Asistencia para Alcanzar los Nativos del Interior

96. San Juan Capistrano:
The Home of the Mission Swallows
 from Argentina
96. San Juan Capistrano:
El Hogar de las Golondrinas Desaparecidas ​de Argentina

97. San Gabriel Arcángel: A Mission that Launched Cities
97. San Gabriel Arcángel: Una Misión Que Lanzó Ciudades

98. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles:
Hispanics had to be imported

98. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles:
Hispanos tuvieron que sen importados


99. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:
A Walk through Mexican-American History

99. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:
Un Paseo por la historia 
​mexicoamericana


100. Strolling the Hispanic Walk of Fame
​100. Caminando por el Paseo Hispano de la Fama

101. San Fernando Rey de España Teaches
California's Colonial History

101. ​​San Fernando Rey de España Enseña
la historia colonial de California


​102. Mission San Buenaventura Survived Earthquakes and Pirates
102. Misión San Buenaventura Sobrevivió Terremotos y Piratas

​103. Father Serra Cross: On a hill,
​overlooking ​the land he shepherded

​103. La Cruz del Padre Serra: En una colina,
​con vistas a la tierra que pastoreaba


104. The Birthplace of Santa Barbara
104. El Lugar de Nacimiento de Santa Barbara

105. The Queen of the Spanish Missions
105. La Reina de las Misiones Españolas

106. Mission Santa Ines: Built to relieve other overcrowded missions
106. Misión Santa Inés: Construida para aliviar otras misiones superpobladas

107. Mission La Purísima Concepcion:
​Going back in time ​to Spanish California

107. Mision La Purísima Concepción:
Retrocediendo en ​el tiempo a la California española


XXX. Saluting an exile: ​Father Félix Varela
XXX. The Meaning of 'Sotomayor'
SPECIAL SECTIONS
• Great (pro-Hispanic) Americans
​
• 16th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
• 17th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
• 18th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
​
• Spanish-American expeditions before Jamestown
• NYC ​Hispanic Landmarks
• NYC Hispanic Art
• Do You Know/Sabes?
• Garita Art
​
• Do You Speak Spanglish?
HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY TIMELINE
​1513 Ponce de Leon Discovers North America, Names Her 'Florida'

April 22, 1513 ​Alaminos discovers the Gulf Stream

1517 De Cordoba, wounded in Yucatan, stops in Florida

1518 Grijalva Reaches Galveston Island

1519 De Pineda confirms Florida ​is not an island​

1521 Ponce de Leon Returns to Florida, Falls Mortally Wounded

1524-25 Estevan Gomez Explores North America's East Coast

1526 Ayllón lands in S.C., settles in Georgia


1528 Narváez expedition succumbs to storms and natives

1528-36 Cabeza de Vaca treks across North America

1537-42 Cabeza de Vaca Returns to Spain, Writes 'La Relación'

1539 De Niza Searches for Golden Cities of Cibola
​

1539-42 De Soto celebrates first American Christmas

1540 Hernando de Alarcon Reaches California

1540-42 Coronado Explores the Southwest,
Cardenas Discovers ​the Grand Canyon


1542-43  ​Cabrillo explores California coast​

1559 De Luna Builds Santa Maria de Ochuse​


1565 Pedro Menendez de Avilés Establishes San Agustin

1566 Santa Elena Built in South Carolina

1598 ​Juan de Oñate Explores New Mexico

1602 Sebastian Vizcaino ​explores the West Coast

1610 Pedro de Peralta establishes Santa Fe

1610-26 The Birth of San Miguel, oldest church in the U.S.A.

1613 Juan Rodriguez becomes the first Manhattan immigrant

1633 Misión San Luis de Apalachee is born in Tallahassee

​1682 San Antonio de la Ysleta becomes first mission in Texas

1691 Father Eusebio Kino builds Tumacácori and Guevavi

1692 ​Father Kino builds San Xavier del Bac 

1692 Diego de Vargas leads ​'Bloodless Reconquest" of Santa Fe

1695 Castillo de San Marcos ​Completed in St. Augustine

1718 Mission San Antonio de Valero is born
​- long before it became The Alamo
​

1738 Runaway slaves establish Fort Mose,
​the first free African-American community​


​1738 Francisco Menendez Leads Fort Mose

1742 Spanish Soldiers ​Open Fort Matanzas

1752 Spanish Soldiers Build Presidio de Tubac

1763 Spanish Florida Goes to England

1765 Juan Antonio Maria de Rivera ​explores ​Colorado and Utah
​
1769 
Father Serra opens ​San Diego de Alcalá,
California's first ​Spanish mission


1771 Father Serra establishes San Gabriel Arcángel

1772 Good hunting determines site
​of ​Misión San Luis Obispo de Tolosa


1775 Captain Hugh O’Connor
​builds Presidio San Agustin del Tucson


​1776-83 Hispanics in the American Revolution

1776 The Birth of San Francisco

1781 Spanish troops defeat the British, capture Pensacola

1781 Pobladores of Los Angeles are imported

1791 ​Alessandro Malaspina Alaska Reaches Alaska

1797 Fermín Francisco de Lasuén
Establishes Misión San Fernando Rey de España


1797 The Birth of Villa de Branciforte

Herencia Hispana Oculta de America:
La Lista de Lugares, Ideas, y Evidencia Historica para Reconectár a los Americanos con sus Raíces Hispanas

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America's Hidden Hispanic Heritage:
The Bucket List of Places, Ideas and Historical Evidence to Reconnect Americans with their  Hispanic Roots
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  • ON THE ROAD AGAIN
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