Gaspar Perez de Villagra's (1555-16...

Gaspar Perez de Villagra's (1555-1620) Historia de la Nueva Mexico (1610) is an epic piece of poetry and firsthand account of the first European pacification established in New Mexico. Don Juan de Onate l the first party of soldiers and colonists on their journey north from recently made known Spain. The author was a captain in the Onate expedition and while his metrical composition is a rich source of historical information, not many experts have expressed interest in the work's literary merit (Leal 1993 96-97)

Critics have regarded Villagra's Historia as inferior to other American epics of the like kind as Alonso de Ercilla's La