e The Hook The coastal region of east Texas south of Galveston was very difficult to navigate on foot Abounding wetlands estuaries bays mosquitoes and Indian groups made it an inhospitable place for Spaniards It is also a historical fact that many conquistadors did not know how to swim ID: 778700
Download The PPT/PDF document "Cabeza de Vaca Mini Q How Did Cabeza de ..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Cabeza de Vaca Mini Q
How Did Cabeza de Vaca Survive?
Slide2The Hook
The coastal region of east Texas, south of Galveston, was very difficult to navigate on foot. Abounding wetlands, estuaries, bays, mosquitoes and Indian groups made it an inhospitable place for Spaniards. It is also a historical fact that many conquistadors did not know how to swim.
The Gulf Coast of TX is home to perhaps the richest variety of mosquitoes in North America – 81 known species. Acting together, mosquitoes can bring down a large animal. Thousands of bites can kill a person.
Each summer, bands of nomadic Indians would move to the prickly-pear cactus fields of southeast Texas to gorge themselves on cactus fruit. Juice squeezed from the fruit could also stave off thirst. However, prickly-pear plants only produce fruit every other year, and low rainfall could affect crop yield. A bad season would have had a devastating impact on native tribes.
Slide3Background Vocabulary
c
onquistador
– a Spanish soldier and explorer – aka
conquerors
– sailed to the New World in the 16
th
century and took control of Mexico, Central America and Peru
flint – very hard quartz stone that sparks when struck by steel
colonization – settling a new land which is still under the control of the mother country back home
castaways
– survivors of a shipwreckCharrucos – Karankawa Indian group on the east Texas coast whom de Vaca served as a slave for two years