After reading these two great works, It truly is amazing the sacrifice, skill, and bravery that went into devloping and settling in the new world. Both Vaca and La casa’s proved to be valiant in their efforts toward the betterment of their society.
To first understand this question, We have to look at both works and what they were about.
Las Casas was born in 1484 and died in 1566. He was one of the very first Spanish settlers to arrive in the new world. He was a well known clergyman and writer and also a activist. Her spent most of his life combatting slavery of the natives and worked tirlesly for God. He was a freedom fighter and A man of high morals.
Vacas was an explorer historian and writer. He traveled and explored the New world for close to 10 years. Out of the 600 men who had left for the trip, He was one of the 4 to return. Writing a memoir in 1537, he detailed his accounts of heroism, bravery and healing. Traveling across the vast American Wilderness, he and others encountered disease, danger, bad weather, and so much more. The main objective of the trip was to befriend the indian tribes and help them convert to Christianity. While their were many peaceful encounters with the native peoples, he did include times where theyr were less than friendly to the foreign strangers.
After reading both these works, It’s truly amazing to grasp and look at the human Spirit. The will power that these two men had is nothing short of astonishing. Truly to observe these stories is something that will stay with me for a long time. The horror of loosing 600 men to a trip is mind blowing. La casas accounts left a stain in my mind of what horror really looked like, however, it was known that he did emblesh his stories for effect, which to me leads to a lack of credibility.
With that said, I truly beleive Vaca’s account is the more memorable one. He was a very respected traveler and Historian, and I believe his story was more beleiable and interesting. The fact is, What happened with LA casa’s is terrible, but hisflexing of the truth led to me questioning the things he journeled about. Vaca’s tale is more memorbale as it is a story of undieing will and trying.
JBSchool 