The nature of the Spanish exploration in the Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition is like any other European expedition to the new worlds, to conquer and reap the wealth and riches of unexplored lands. But as the Narvaez expedition runs it course, it in the end fails due to the expedition's lack of knowledge of the land and it's people, cooperation, and planning. Although the expedition's main goals were lost, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the expedition, is able to gain some benefit. Cabeza de Vaca experiences what life is in the new world and is able to share it with everybody in Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition. Although some may find Cabeza de Vaca's writing of the Narvaez chronicle objective, it is evident that some bias slips through that exposes that infamous European ethnocentrism. .
Although the nature expedition is reason for gaining wealth and power, Cabeza de Vaca has alternate motives for exploring such a land. Cabeza de Vaca portrays the expedition like an anthropological study. Along with giving the expedition objectives, Cabeza de Vaca describes activities, language, and customs of the Native Americans. For example Cabeza de Vaca devotes virtually all of chapter twenty-four to describing the kinship between wife and husband and the guerilla warfare of the Aguenes and Quevenes tribe. Cabeza describes "a custom for husbands to leave their wives if they do not get along, and to remarry whomever they please" (Cabeza 66) and "the warriors are hidden by brushwood, which has loopholes, and are so well covered and concealed that even at close range they cannot be seen" (Cabeza 67). With Cabeza de Vaca narrating the chronicle, the literary work almost becomes a guide for future expedition. It gives future explorers a preview of the ecology of the land as well as the nature of it's people. This is indeed valuable information for future excursions.
