History of New Mexico and La Florida Del Inca A...

These two selections Gaspar Pà ©rez de Villagrà ¡s History of New Mexico and Garcilaso de la Vegas La Florida del Inca have a common theme of describing the expeditions of conquest and colonization in North America in the 16th Century. Both writers have a common point of view of being sympathetic to the Spanish side in these conflicts and share a belief in its mission of spreading Christianity to the natives of the New World. They refer to the Indians as savages, barbarians and infidels although as a mestizo Garcilaso was also quite sympathetic in his description of the Inca civilization created by his mothers people, although less so to other native peoples he regarded as uncivilized. Villagrà ¡ and Garcilaso were both military men from a feudal-warrior culture as well, and the former was an actual eyewitness to the first conquest of New Mexico. Consequently, they took a great interest in describing weapons, battles and feats of bravery on the part of both Indian and Spanish figh ters and always gave credit to Indian warriors who went to their deaths bravely. Villagrà ¡ even compared them to the great classical warriors of ancient times while Garcilaso praised them as equal to any of the bravest Spanish soldiers. Garcilaso de la Vega (Gomez Suarez de Figueroa), also known as El Inca, was a mestizo historian from Peru who composed his classic La Florida and Royal Commentaries of the Incas in Spain. His point of view was generally sympathetic to the Native Americans,