Today is the 459th anniversary of the death of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján, the Spanish explorer who had sought, but failed, to discover the fabled “Seven Cities of Cíbola” that were said to be built of gold and full of precious gems despite extensive exploration of the southwestern portion of North America. He instead found only the single Zuni pueblo of Hawikuh, made of mud and clay, which straddled what is now the border between New Mexico and Arizona. On the verge of abandoning his quest, he heard from a slave of one of his lieutenants of a land named Quivara, which lay to the northeast, in which he would find as much treasure as he desired. He crossed what is now Texas and Oklahoma into Kansas, only to find another village of huts and little in the way of riches. He killed the slave and began his return to Mexico, where he knew he must explain his failure to an irate government. Perhaps the only fruits of his labors are the extensive knowledge of the lands he explored, which includes the discovery of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Here are the words of Coronado about the expansive plains and the great herds of bison he encountered: "The country they [the buffalo] traveled over was so smooth that if one looked at them the sky could be seen between their legs." “I found such a quantity of cows... that it is impossible to number them, for while I was journeying through these plains... there was not a day that I lost sight of them.” Coronado, born c. 1510 in Salamanca, never attempted another search and endured the shame of this fiasco until his death. He and his friend Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco (1495 - 1552) had spent much of their own fortunes on the expedition, while Coronado had also borrowed a vast sum by placing his wife’s estate as collateral. In addition, because he was charged with and convicted of crimes of war against the Indians who served him during the quest, he lost the governorship of Nueva Galicia (a province just less than 300 miles northwest of Mexico City) in 1544.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 00:22:31 +0000