One of the first travel journals of its kind to be published, this epic poem about Juan de O ate's entrada that led to the founding of Nueva M xico in 1598 (to become the state of New Mexico 314 years later) is full of the hopes and dreams of those who traveled with O ate. Historia de la Nueva M xico, 1610 was written fourteen years before John Smith's History of Virginia. Its thirty-four cantos have long been considered a key source for early New Mexico history and this bilingual Spanish/English version presents it as literature.
By situating Historia de la Nueva M xico, 1610 within the Hispanic literary heritage, the work is restored to the canon of American literature.