Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado | |
---|---|
Governor of New Galicia | |
Monarch | Charles I |
Personal details | |
Born | 1510 Spanish conquest of Mexico Exploration of North America |
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko ˈβaθkeθ ðe koɾoˈnaðo]; 1510 – 22 September 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. Vázquez de Coronado had hoped to reach the Cities of Cíbola, often referred to now as the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. His expedition marked the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, among other landmarks. His name is often Anglicized as Vasquez de Coronado or just Coronado.
Early life
Vázquez de Coronado was born into a noble family in
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado went to
Expedition
Preparation
Vázquez de Coronado was the Governor of the Kingdom of
Vázquez de Coronado assembled an expedition with two components. One component carried the bulk of the expedition's supplies, traveling via the Guadalupe River and Gulf of California under the leadership of Hernando de Alarcón.[3] The other component traveled by land, along the trail on which Friar Marcos de Niza had followed Esteban. Vázquez de Coronado and Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza invested large sums of their own money in the venture. Mendoza appointed Vázquez de Coronado the commander of the expedition, with the mission to find the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. This is the reason he pawned his wife's estates and was lent 70,000 pesos.
In the autumn of 1539, Mendoza ordered
Expedition
Vázquez de Coronado set out from Compostela on February 23, 1540, at the head of a much larger expedition composed of about 400 European men-at-arms (mostly Spaniards), 1,300 to 2,000
He followed the Sinaloan coast northward, keeping the
After leaving
Despite what is shown in the accompanying map, on-the-ground research by Nugent Brasher beginning in 2005 revealed evidence that Vázquez de Coronado traveled north between Chichilticalli and Zuni primarily on the future New Mexico side of the state line, not the Arizona side as has been thought by historians since the 1940s.[11] Also, most scholars believe Quivira was about thirty miles east of the great bend of the Arkansas River, ending about twenty miles west-southwest of the location depicted on the map, with Quivira being mostly on tributaries of the Arkansas River instead of directly on the Kansas River.[12] For details, see the heading below, "Location of Quivira...."
Conquest of Cíbola
Vázquez de Coronado traveled north on one side or the other of today's Arizona–New Mexico state line, and from the headwaters of the
The first scouting expedition was led by
Exploration of the Colorado River
Three leaders affiliated with the Vázquez de Coronado expedition were able to reach the
While at Hawikuh, Vázquez de Coronado sent another scouting expedition overland to find the Colorado River, led by Don García López de Cárdenas. The expedition returned to Hopi territory to acquire scouts and supplies. Members of Cárdenas's party eventually reached the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where they could see the Colorado River thousands of feet below, becoming the first non-Native Americans to do so. After trying and failing to climb down into the canyon to reach the river, the expedition reported that they would not be able to use the Colorado River to link up with Hernando de Alarcón's fleet. After this, the main body of the expedition began its journey to the next populated center of pueblos, along another large river to the east, the Rio Grande in New Mexico.
Tiguex War
Search for Quivira
From an indigenous informant the Spanish called "the Turk" (el turco), Vázquez de Coronado heard of a wealthy nation called Quivira far to the east. In spring 1541, he led his army and priests and indigenous allies onto the Great Plains to search for Quivira. The Turk was probably either Wichita or Pawnee and his intention seems to have been to lead Vázquez de Coronado astray and hope that he got lost in the Great Plains.
With the Turk guiding him, Vázquez de Coronado and his army might have crossed the flat and featureless steppe called the
On the Llano, Vázquez de Coronado encountered vast herds of bison—the American buffalo. "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."[17]
Querechos and Teyas
Vázquez de Coronado found a community of people he called
Vázquez de Coronado left the Querechos behind and continued southeast in the direction in which the Turk told him that Quivira was located. He and his army descended off the tabletop of the Llano Estacado into the
The Teyas, like the Querechos, were numerous and buffalo hunters, although they had additional resources. The canyons they inhabited had trees and flowing streams and they grew or foraged for beans, but not corn. The Spanish, however, did note the presence of mulberries, roses, grapes, walnuts, and plums.[20]
An intriguing event was Vázquez de Coronado's meeting among the Teyas an old blind bearded man who said that he had met many days before "four others like us". He was probably talking about
Scholars differ in their opinions as to which historical Indian group were the Teyas. A plurality believe they were
In 1993, Jimmy Owens found crossbow points in Blanco Canyon in Crosby County, Texas, near the town of Floydada in Floyd County. Archaeologists subsequently searched the site and found pottery sherds, more than forty crossbow points, and dozens of horseshoe nails of Spanish manufacture, plus a Mexican-style stone blade. This find strengthens the evidence that Vázquez de Coronado found the Teyas in Blanco Canyon.[24]
Quivira
Another guide, probably Pawnee and named Ysopete, and probably Teyas as well told Vázquez de Coronado that he was going in the wrong direction, saying Quivira lay to the north. By this time, Vázquez de Coronado seems to have lost his confidence that fortune awaited him. He sent most of his expedition back to New Mexico and continued with only forty Spanish soldiers and priests and an unknown number of Indian soldiers, servants, and guides. Vázquez de Coronado, thus, dedicated himself to a reconnaissance rather than a mission of conquest.
After more than thirty days journey, Vázquez de Coronado found a river larger than any he had seen before. This was the Arkansas, probably a few miles east of present-day Dodge City, Kansas. The Spaniards and their Indian allies followed the Arkansas northeast for three days and found Quivirans hunting buffalo. The Indians greeted the Spanish with wonderment and fear but calmed down when one of Vázquez de Coronado's guides addressed them in their own language.
Vázquez de Coronado reached Quivira itself after a few more days of traveling. He found Quivira "well settled ... along good river bottoms, although without much water, and good streams which flow into another". Vázquez de Coronado believed that there were twenty-five settlements in Quivira. Both men and women Quivirans were nearly naked. Vázquez de Coronado was impressed with the size of the Quivirans and all the other Indians he met. They were "large people of very good build".[25] Vázquez de Coronado spent twenty-five days among the Quivirans trying to learn of richer kingdoms just over the horizon. He found nothing but straw-thatched villages of up to two hundred houses and fields containing corn, beans, and squash. A copper pendant was the only evidence of wealth he discovered. The Quivirans were almost certainly the ancestors of the Wichita people.[26]
Vázquez de Coronado was escorted to the further edge of Quivira, called Tabas, where the neighboring land of Harahey began. He summoned the "Lord of Harahey" who, with two hundred followers, came to meet with the Spanish. He was disappointed. The Harahey Indians were "all naked – with bows, and some sort of things on their heads, and their privy parts slightly covered".
Location of Quivira, Tabas, and Harahey
Archaeological evidence suggests that Quivira was in central Kansas with the westernmost village near the small town of Lyons on Cow Creek, extending twenty miles east to the Little Arkansas River, and north another twenty miles to the town of Lindsborg on a tributary of the Smoky Hill River. Tabas was likely on the Smoky Hill River. Archaeologists have found numerous 16th-century sites in these areas that probably include some of the settlements visited by Vázquez de Coronado.
At Harahey "was a river, with more water and more inhabitants than the other". This sounds as if Vázquez de Coronado may have reached the Smoky Hill River near Salina or Abilene. It is a larger river than either Cow Creek or the Little Arkansas and is located at roughly the 25 league distance from Lyons that Vázquez de Coronado said he traveled in Quivira. The people of Harahey seem Caddoan, because "it was the same sort of a place, with settlements like these, and of about the same size" as Quivira. They were probably the ancestors of the Pawnee.[28]
Expedition end
Vázquez de Coronado returned to the Tiguex Province in New Mexico from Quivira and was badly injured in a fall from his horse "after the winter was over", according to the chronicler Castañeda—probably in March 1542. During a long convalescence, he and his expeditionaries decided to return to New Spain (Mexico). Vázquez de Coronado and his expedition departed New Mexico in early April 1542, leaving behind two friars.[29] His expedition had been a failure. Although he remained governor of Nueva Galicia until 1544, the expedition forced him into bankruptcy and resulted in charges of war crimes being brought against him and his field master, Cárdenas. Vázquez de Coronado was cleared by his friends on the Audiencia, but Cárdenas was convicted in Spain of basically the same charges by the Council of the Indies. Vázquez de Coronado remained in Mexico City, where he died of an infectious disease on September 22, 1554.[30] He was buried under the altar of the Church of Santo Domingo in Mexico City.[31]
Family
Within a year of arriving in New Spain, he married Beatriz de Estrada, called "the saint".
Beatriz was the second daughter of
Beatriz and Francisco have been reported, through different sources, to have had at least four sons (Gerónimo, Salvador, Juan, and Alonso) and five daughters (Isabel, María, Luisa, Mariana, and Mayor).[33][34]
After Alonso's death, Beatriz ensured that three of their daughters were married into prominent families of New Spain. She never remarried.[35]
Beatriz reported that her husband had died in great poverty, since their encomiendas had been taken away from them due to the
Commemoration
In 1939, United States 76th Congress passes the Coronado Exposition Commission Act of 1939 authorizing the erection of a monument at the nearest point of the international boundary between the United States and Mexico where the Coronado expedition first crossed into North America.
In 1952, the United States established Coronado National Memorial near Sierra Vista, Arizona to commemorate his expedition. The nearby Coronado National Forest is also named in his honor.
In 1908, Coronado Butte, a summit in the Grand Canyon, was officially named to commemorate him.
A large hill northwest of Lindsborg, Kansas, is called Coronado Heights.[citation needed]
Coronado High Schools in Lubbock, Texas; El Paso, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Scottsdale, Arizona were named for Vázquez de Coronado.
Coronado Road in Phoenix, Arizona, was named after Vázquez de Coronado. Similarly, Interstate 40 through Albuquerque has been named the Coronado Freeway.
Coronado, California is not named after Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, but is named after Coronado Islands, which were named in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno who called them Los Cuatro Coronados (the four crowned ones) to honor four martyrs.[36]
The mineral Coronadite is named after him.[37]
Popular culture
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade references the "Cross of Coronado". According to the film, this gold cross, discovered in a Utah cave system, was given to Vázquez de Coronado by Hernán Cortés in 1521. Such an event never happened because Vázquez de Coronado would have been 11 or 12 years old in 1521 and still living in Spain. In addition, when Indy captures the cross from robbers aboard a ship off the coast of Portugal, the ship can be seen to be named The Coronado.
In the classic
The song "Hitchin' to Quivira"[38] from independent singer-songwriter Tyler Jakes's 2016 album Mojo Suicide is based on the story of Vázquez de Coronado's expedition.
The song "Coronado And The Turk" from singer-songwriter Steve Tilston's 1992 album Of Moor And Mesa is based on the story of Vázquez de Coronado's expedition.
The 1995 film, Charlie's Ghost: The Secret of Coronado[39] also known as Charlie's Ghost Story starring Cheech Marin, follows the story of a young boy who meets the ghost of Coronado and tries to help him by giving his remains a proper burial.
In 1992, underground found-footage filmmaker Craig Baldwin made the film O No Coronado![40] detailing the expedition of Vázquez de Coronado through the use of recycled images from Westerns, conquest films, and The Lone Ranger television series.
See also
References
- ^ a b Flint, Richard; Flint, Shirley Cushing. "Francisco Vázquez de Coronado". New Mexico Office of the State Historian. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ^ estrada1 Archived 2008-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Winship. pp. 39–40
- ^ a b c Winship. p. 38
- ^ Winship. pp. 32–4, 37
- S2CID 129070895.
- ^ Winship. pp. 38, 40
- ^ Winship. p. 60
- ^ Winship. pp. 40–41
- ^ Winship. p. 143
- ^ Flint, Richard and Flint, Shirley Cushing, eds. The Latest Word from 1540. Albuquerque: U New Mexico Press, 2011, 229–261
- ^ Flint and Flint, Documents of the Coronado Expedition. Albuquerque: U New Mexico Press, 2012, p. 602
- ^ Herrick, Dennis. Winter of the Metal People: The Untold Story of America's First Indian War. Mechanicsburg, PA: Sunbury Press, 2013.
- ^ Flint, Richard, Shirley Cushing Flint. "Coofor and Juan Aleman". New Mexico Office of the State Historian. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ISBN 9780810391956.
- ^ Winship, George Parker (Ed. and Translator) The Journey of Coronado, 1540–1542, from the City of Mexico to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado and the Buffalo Plains of Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, As Told by Himself and his Followers. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co, 1904, 142–215
- ^ Winship, 214
- ^ Winship, 65
- ^ Riley, Carroll L., Rio del Norte, Salt Lake City: U of Utah Press, 1995, 190
- ^ Winship, 70
- ^ Winship, 232
- ^ Flint, Richard. No Settlement, No Conquest, Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 2008, 157. For a contrary view, see Riley, 191–192
- ^ Winship, 69–70
- ^ Flint, Richard and Flint, Shirley Cushing, eds. The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva. Niwot, CO: U Press of CO, 1997, 372–375
- ^ Winship, 113, 209, 215, 234–237
- ^ Bolton, 293 and many subsequent scholars
- ^ Winship, 235
- ^ Winship, 235; Wedel, Waldo R., "Archeological Remains in Central Kansas and their Possible Bearing on the Location of Quivira". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 101, No. 7, 1942, 1–24. Wedel lays the foundation for the location of Quivira, built on by many subsequent investigators.
- ^ Bolton, Herbert E. Coronado: Knight of Pueblo and Plains, Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 1949, 330–334
- ^ Bolton, 406
- ^ Blue, Rose; Naden, Corinne J. (2003). Exploring the Southwestern United States. Mankato, MN: Capstone Publishers. p. 23.
- ^ Dorantes de Carranza, Baltasar, and Ernesto de la Torre Villar. 1987. Sumaria relación de las cosas de la Nueva España: con noticia individual de los conquistadores y primeros pobladores españoles. México: Editorial Porrúa.
- ^ a b Shirley Cushing Flint "No Mere Shadows: Faces of Widowhood in Early Colonial Mexico" University of New Mexico Press 2013 pp 40
- ^ Aiton, Arthur Scott. Antonio de Mendoza, First Viceroy of New Spain. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1927
- ^ Aiton, Arthur Scott. Antonio de Mendoza, First Viceroy of New Spain. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1927.
- ^ Chauncey Adams, History of Coronado
- ^ "Coronadite: Mineral information, data and localities". www.mindat.org.
- ^ "Hitchin' To Quivira by Tyler Jakes". Https. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- ^ "Charlie's Ghost: The Secret of Coronado". IMDb.
- ^ "¡O No Coronado!". IMDb.
Sources
- Winship, George Parker, translator and editor (1990) The Journey of Coronado 1540–1542. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing. Introduction by Donald C. Cutter. ISBN 1-55591-066-1
Further reading
- Blakeslee, D. J., R. Flint, and J. T. Hughes 1997. "Una Barranca Grande: Recent Archaeological Evidence and a Discussion of its Place in the Coronado Route". In The Coronado Expedition to Terra Nueva. Eds. R. and S. Flint, University of Colorado Press, Niwot.
- Bolton, Herbert Eugene. (1949) Coronado: Knight of Pueblos and Plains (New York: Whittlesey; Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press).
Ebook Archived 2009-02-22 at the Wayback Machine - Bolton, Herbert E. (1949) Coronado on the Turquoise Trail: Knight of Pueblos and Plains. Coronado Cuarto Centennial Publications, 1540–1940, vol. 1. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Reprinted in 1949 jointly with Whittlesey House, New York, under the title Coronado, Knight of Pueblos and Plains.
- Bolton, H. E. (1960) Rim of Christendom. Russell and Russell, New York.
- Bolton, Herbert E. (1921) The Spanish Borderlands: A Chronicle of Old Florida and the Southwest. Chronicles of America Series, vol. 23. Yale University Press, New Haven.
- Castañeda, Pedro de. (1990) The Journey of Coronado. Translated with an extensive introduction by ISBN 1-55591-066-1 On-line at PBS - The West
- Chavez, Fr. Angelico, O.F.M. (1968) Coronado's Friars.. Academy of American Franciscan History, Washington D.C.
- Day, Arthur Grove. (1981) Coronado's Quest: The Discovery of the Southwestern States (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1940; rpt., Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1981,
- De Voto, Bernard. (1952) The Course of Empire. Houghton, Mifflin, Boston.
- Duffen, W., and Hartmann, W. K. (1997) "The 76 Ranch Ruin and the Location of Chichilticale". In The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540–1542 Route Across the Southwest. Eds. Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.
- (1997) The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540–1542 Route Across the Southwest, edited by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.
- Flint, Richard and Shirley Cushing Flint. (1993) "Coronado's Crosses, Route Markers Used by the Coronado Expedition". Journal of the Southwest 35(2) (1993):207–216.
- (2003) The Coronado Expedition from the Distance of 460 Years. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
- (2005) Documents of the Coronado Expedition, 1539–1541: They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty nor Did They Wish to Be His Subjects. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.
- Richard Flint, Shirley Cushing Flint. A Most Splendid Company: The Coronado Expedition in Global Perspective. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2019.
- Forbes, Jack D. (1960) Apache, Navaho, and Spaniard. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
- Hammond, George P. (1940) Coronado's Seven Cities. United States Coronado Exposition Commission, Albuquerque.
- Hammond, George P., and Edgar R. Goad. (1938) The Adventure of Don Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
- Hammond, George P. and Agapito Rey. (1920) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540–1542. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque (reprint by AMS Press, New York, 1977).
- Hammond, George P., and Agapito Rey, eds. (1940) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition, 1540–1542. Coronado Centennial Publications, 1540–1940, vol. 2. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
- Haury, Emil W. (1984) "The Search for Chichilticale". Arizona Highways 60(4):14–19.
- Hedrick, Basil C. (1978) "The Location of Corazones". In Across the Chichimec Sea. Ed. C. Riley, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
- Herrick, Dennis (2013) "Winter of the Metal People: The Untold Story of America's First Indian War, Sunbury Press, Mechanicsburg, PA.
- Hodge, Frederick W. and Theodore H. Lewis, ed. (1907) Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, Vol. II (1907, xiii, 413 p.; rpt., Texas State Historical Association, 1985, 411 pages, ISBN 0-87611-067-7pbk.)
- Lee, Betty Graham. (1966) The Eagle Pass Site: An Integral Part of the Province of Chichilticale. Thatcher: Eastern Arizona College Museum of Anthropology Publication No. 5.
- Mill, J. P., and V. M. Mills (1969) The Kuykendall Site: A Prehistoric Salado Village in Southeastern Arizona. El Paso Arch. Soc. Spec. Report for 1967, No. 6, El Paso.
- Reff, Daniel T. (1991) Disease, Depopulation and Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518–1764. (University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City).
- Reff, Daniel T. (1997) "The Relevance of Ethnology to the Routing of the Coronado Expedition in Sonora". In The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540–1542 Route Across the Southwest. pp. 165–176, Eds. Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.
- Sauer, Carl O. (1932) The Road to Cibola. Ibero-Americana III. University of California Press, Berkeley.
- Schroeder, Albert E. (1955) "Fray Marcos de Niza, Coronado and the Yavapai". New Mex. Hist. Rev. 30:265–296; see also 31:24–37.
- Seymour, Deni J., (2007) "An Archaeological Perspective on the Hohokam-Pima Continuum". Old Pueblo Archaeology Bulletin No. 51, December 2007:1–7.
- Seymour, Deni J. (2008) "Despoblado or Athapaskan Heartland: A Methodological Perspective on Ancestral Apache Landscape Use in the Safford Area". Chapter 5 in Crossroads of the Southwest: Culture, Ethnicity, and Migration in Arizona's Safford Basin, pp. 121–162, edited by David E. Purcell, Cambridge Scholars Press, New York.
- Seymour, Deni J. (2009) "Evaluating Eyewitness Accounts of Native Peoples Along the Coronado Trail From the International Border to Cibola". New Mexico Historical Review 84(3):399–435.
- Seymour, Deni J. (2009) Where the Earth and Sky are Sewn Together: Sobaípuri-O'odham Contexts of Contact and Colonialism. Book manuscript.
- Udall, Steward S. (1984) "In Coronado's Footsteps". Arizona Highways 60(4):3.
External links
- The Search for Chichilticale
- The journey of Coronado, 1540–1542, from the city of Mexico to the Grand Canon of the Colorado and the buffalo plains of Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, as told by himself and his followers, written by Pedro de Castañeda and translated by George Parker Winship, 1922 publication, searchable copy with page numbers at archive.org
- Coronado: Misfortune's Explorer Primary Source Adventure, a lesson plan hosted by The Portal to Texas History
- Coronado Cross June 29, 1541, Ford County, KS
- List of Men Who Were Part of the Coronado Expedition
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Coronado
- Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. .