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Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was born into the Spanish aristocracy around 1490. He took the title Cabeza de Vaca, meaning "head of a cow," from his mother's side of the family.

One of her ancestors – a shepherd named Martin Alhaja – had helped the Spanish Christians win a decisive battle against their Moorish oppressors in 1212 by marking an unguarded mountain pass with a cow skull. The Christians sneak-attacked, scoring a major victory, and Alhaja and his descendants were ennobled with the title Cabeza de Vaca. Cabeza de Vaca's grandfather was Pedro de Vera, the sadistic conqueror of the Canary Islands.