Robin Varnum

This is a biography, with some useful background information. Alvar was the earliest explorer of parts of Florida, Georgia, Texas and Northern Mexico. He reported on the ethnic populations at a time when they were relatively free of European influences. His work in that area was valuable because the arrival of De Soto in that area revealed a great die-off of the native populations, with a related decline of culture. Coronado, also travelling post Cabeza, reported the same of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. it was the Indians who reported to Cabeza and his companions the possibility of the "Seven Cities of Cibolla" which led to further explorations by the "Get Rich Quick Crowd", that seriously hampered the development of Texas and New Mexico.
To me, however, there was a great deal of interest in the latter parts of the book dealing with Cabeza de Vaca's period as governor of northern Argentina, as the area around Asuncion was opened up for settlement. It appears, by his own account, that Cabeza de Vaca was a very humane governor who tried a policy of co-operation with the Indians and that it bore great result in the short period before the more greedy members of the colony reverted to the "crush them Quick and take their stuff " policy that was more characteristic of the Spanish expansion. As the later part of the book is based on the court documents created by the attempt to get the mutineers punished and de Vaca's rule restored, it seems overall to be a description of a nobler alternative that sadly failed due to Spanish greed and impatience. Well worth the read.… (altro)