In the book “a land so strange”, the writer Reséndez recounts the story of the last and only four survivors meeting with the native Americans and being enslaved by those natives after they are found out to be useless in certain ways. As soon as those who took the expedition hit by the hurricane and being hurled onto the beach, the native Indian found them and treated them with effort and even gave whatever they need. Despite some of the ventures being skeptical about the kindness of the Indian, the majority people followed. Unfortunately, they were found to be useless to the Indians. The reason that the Indian acted kindly to them, in my opinion, is because of fact that they thought, with the armory of those explorers and the people, the natives could take advantage of them and eventually survive some harsh winter situations. Several years later, after being slaved for a great deal of time, Cabeza de Vaca, with the miracle, become the trader between the tribes when in the times of war. His experience as the accounting personnel before helped him to be the best option for the job. Coincidentally, this endows them a chance for the future reunion. Indeed, they succeeded in reunion and, fortunately, enjoyed a  time of free men and authority.

I agree that even in the time of 600 years ago, people started to have the idea that there should be a person who should does a job of selling, exchanging and trading between individuals, groups, and tribes when in the times of war. Cabeza de Vaca, as a trader, enjoyed being freeman and people’s respect that he couldn’t possibly have when he was being enslaved by the native Indians. This scenario reminds of the high demand of the trader in the present world. Being more globalized the world means the increase in the exchange of goods. That is why people all over the world are studying business and economics and hopefully, they could eventually become the traders. Those who choose to study the business in college not only because of the money but also because of the feeling of higher authority over others and great self-governing ability. In addition, I especially like those four survivors explaining everything based on the belief as a Christian. When they are hit by the hurricane, they considered it as God’s will. Then, when those four survivors finally gained their identities as free men, they thanked God and thought it the God’s will. I am wondered to see how the religion rooted into people’s minds. And I could tell the extent they respect their religion. However, when we looked into the context of that time, we can see the reason why. The experience of being a trader is quite interesting, and it indeed shows people what is like to do the business in 15th century.