Los Desaparecidos in the Gulf Coast and Early Texas Borderlands
Los Desaparecidos in the Gulf Coast and Early Texas Borderlands
This chapter highlights the experiences of those who disappeared or went missing on the southwestern borderlands in early Texas. Examined from the human angle of loss, the stories in the early Spanish narratives highlight the intense magnitude of destruction on these emergent borderlands, matching the dramatic numbers. A fresh look from this perspective also helps to insert Cabeza de Vaca’s account where it belongs—in the middle—as a connected series of entries into La Florida, some of which pushed west into Texas. Not just a miraculous “survivor,” the Spanish conquistador engaged in violent acts that mimicked previous conquistas; he also provided a model for others to follow as disappearances came to mark the borderlands for Spaniards and Indians alike. It also reminds readers that the possibility—even likelihood—of disappearance loomed over all of the colonial enterprise.
Keywords: Borderlands, Texas, Spanish Conquistadors, Cabeza de Vaca
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