ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some aspects of Cabeza de Vaca's account, focusing in particular on three issues: the translation of geographies enacted by Cabeza de Vaca as a contribution to the Habsburg translatio imperii; the diegetic figures of translation and translator; and finally, the transmediation of Cabeza's account into the cartographic medium. In fact, many historians recognize Cabeza de Vaca as America's 'first ethnographer'. The wandering of Cabeza de Vaca in the semi-desert areas of what today are the southern United States and Mexico is transformed into a narrative structure that resembles that of the medieval peregrinatio pro Dei amore, the pilgrimage for the love of God. In contrast to the defining cultural monolingualism of the three Spaniards, Estebanico's multilingual dexterity, his experience in dealing with other languages and cultures, his acquaintance with translation processes were strong enough arguments for Cabeza de Vaca and his companions to entrust their lives to his care as the lengua, as interpreter.
