Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest
The allure of the New World, shortly after its unveiling to European eyes, ignited a fervent obsession within the Spanish Empire. Tales of unimaginable wealth, particularly in the form of gold and silver mines nestled deep within the continent’s interior, fueled a series of expeditions aimed at unearthing these legendary treasures. To fully appreciate the significance of Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest, a venture undertaken by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado between 1540 and 1542 in pursuit of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola and the kingdom of Quivira, it’s crucial to examine the events that preceded it. Pedro de Castaneda, the expedition’s chronicler, set the stage with a narrative steeped in the whispers of untold riches.
Castaneda recounts the story of an Indian native from the Valley of Otixipar, known to the Spaniards as Tejo, who served as a catalyst for the expeditions. Tejo claimed to be the son of a trader who, in his youth, had journeyed into the uncharted backcountry. Upon his return, the trader brought back substantial quantities of gold and silver, indicating the region’s mineral wealth. Tejo himself claimed to have accompanied his father on these journeys, witnessing large settlements akin to Mexico City, filled with artisans crafting silver ornaments. He spoke of seven magnificent cities boasting streets paved with silver.
The impact of such a narrative on the Spanish psyche was profound. It stoked the fires of ambition, curiosity, and greed within Nuno de Guzman, the president of New Spain, shaping his subsequent ventures along the Pacific Coast. In 1530, Guzman amassed a force of 400 Spaniards and several thousand allied indigenous warriors, embarking on a quest to locate the mythical "Seven Cities." However, his progress was hampered by growing discontent among his men, who clamored for a return. Simultaneously, Guzman received word that his rival, Hernando Cortez, had arrived from Spain with enhanced authority. Facing these challenges, Guzman abandoned his pursuit, though not before establishing the town of Culiacan, a base from which to launch raids into southern Sonora for the purpose of capturing and enslaving native populations.
The year 1535 marked a turning point with the arrival of Don Antonio de Mendoza as the viceroy of New Spain. The following spring brought a group of survivors from the ill-fated Narvaez expedition of 1527, namely Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andres Dorantes, and an enslaved African man known as Estevanico. These men had endured six years of captivity among the indigenous peoples of the interior, during which they heard tales of abundant copper mines and pearl fisheries. These accounts were relayed to Mendoza, who purchased Estevanico to guide a future exploration. However, it took three years before Mendoza could secure a suitable opportunity to realize his ambitions.
In 1538, Guzman was imprisoned, and Mendoza appointed his trusted associate, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, as governor of New Galicia, a province encompassing the former territory of Culiacan. Coronado, who had arrived in New Spain with Mendoza in 1535, quickly established himself. He solidified his position through marriage to Beatrice de Estrada, a cousin of Charles V, the King of Spain. Around the same time of his marriage, Mendoza tasked him with suppressing an indigenous uprising in the Amatapeque mines, a mission he accomplished with considerable success. This achievement, coupled with his influential family connections, likely contributed to his appointment as governor. Coronado expressed eagerness to aid Mendoza in his quest for the "Seven Cities".
On March 7, 1539, a reconnaissance mission departed from Culiacan, led by Friar Marcos de Niza and guided by Estevanico. Friar Marcos, a veteran of Alvarado’s 1534 expedition to Peru, dispatched Estevanico northward from Vapaca in central Sonora, instructing him to venture 50 to 60 leagues to gather information that might aid their search.
Four days later, Estevanico sent back a large cross to Father Marcos. The messenger accompanying the cross conveyed news of "seven very large cities in the first province, all under one lord, with large houses of stone and lime; the smallest one story high, with a flat roof above, and others two and three stories high, and the house of the lord four stories high. And on the portals of the principal houses, there are many designs of turquoise stones, of which he says they have a great abundance."
Shortly after, Estevanico dispatched another cross with a messenger who offered a more detailed description of the seven cities. Father Marcos, driven by the prospect of confirming these accounts, resolved to journey to Cibola. He departed Vapaca on April 8, intending to meet Estevanico at the village from which the second cross had been sent. However, upon arriving, he learned that Estevanico had already advanced northward toward Cibola, a journey of approximately 30 days. The friar continued his trek until he encountered an inhabitant of Cibola, who delivered the devastating news that Estevanico had been killed by the Cibolan chiefs. Despite this setback, Marcos managed to catch a glimpse of the city from a hilltop before swiftly returning to Compostela to report his findings to Governor Coronado.
The report, in which Marcos described the city as "larger than the city of Mexico," generated immense excitement throughout New Spain and fueled a fervent desire to explore the newly discovered region. In response, Viceroy Mendoza ordered the assembly of a military force at Compostela, ready to march to Cibola in the spring of 1540. Arms, horses, and provisions were meticulously gathered, and the winter months were devoted to preparations. For the leadership of this significant undertaking, the viceroy selected Governor Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.
Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest consisted of around 300 Spanish soldiers and between 800 and 1,000 indigenous allies. Among the Spaniards, approximately 260 were mounted, while the remaining 60 marched alongside the indigenous contingent. The expedition was equipped with six swivel guns, over 1,000 spare horses, and a substantial supply of sheep and swine.
On February 23, 1540, Coronado departed Compostela with his army, reaching Culiacan in late March. The expedition paused to rest before resuming its march towards the "Seven Cities" on April 22. Coronado followed the coastline, veering inland to the left, and entered the White Mountain Apache territory of Arizona in June. Believing that the expedition’s destination was situated near the coast, Mendoza dispatched two ships under the command of Pedro d’Alarcon from Natividad to Xalisco, tasked with transporting any soldiers and supplies that the main command could not carry.
As the expedition progressed, reconnaissance detachments were dispatched in various directions to explore the surrounding territories. In June, Coronado reached the valley of the Corazones, so named by Cabeza de Vaca because the native inhabitants had offered him animal hearts as sustenance. There, the army erected the town of San Hieronimo de los Corazones (St. Jerome of the Hearts) before continuing towards Cibola. The precise location of the fabled "Seven Cities" has been the subject of considerable debate. Still, it is generally believed to have been the site of the Zuni pueblos in western New Mexico.
On July 7, 1540, Coronado seized the first city, the Pueblo of Hawikuh, which he renamed Granada. Following the capture of this settlement, the indigenous inhabitants retreated to their stronghold on Thunder Mountain. Coronado conducted a reconnaissance of the area and, on August 3, dispatched Juan Gallego with a letter to Mendoza, informing him of the expedition’s progress and accomplishments.
The army established its winter quarters at Tiguex, near present-day Albuquerque, New Mexico. During the winter months, the army subdued the hostile native populations residing in the pueblos along the Rio Grande. While stationed at Tiguex, Coronado learned of Quivira from a Plains Indian slave residing in the village of Cicuye. This Indian, whom the Spaniards referred to as "The Turk," claimed that his masters had instructed him to lead the Spaniards to barren plains devoid of water and food, where they would either perish or, if they managed to return, be too weakened to resist.
George Parker Winship, in his 1896 book, The Coronado Expedition, offered a nuanced perspective on the Turk’s motivations. He posited that the Turk might have accompanied Alvarado on his initial visit to the Great Plains and recounted his experiences of life on the prairies to the Spaniards. However, when the Spaniards began inquiring about nations, rulers, gold, and treasures, the Turk, perhaps influenced by their expectations, embellished his accounts to align with their desires. Winship emphasized the potential for misrepresentation on the part of the white men, who often heard what they wished to find and struggled to fully comprehend the native languages and dialects. He cautioned against blindly accepting Castaneda’s accounts, given the potential for gossip and the passage of time between the events and the written record.
Regardless of the Turk’s true intentions, his tales prompted Coronado to undertake an expedition to the province of Quivira. On April 10, 1541, he penned a letter from Tiguex to the king, which, though lost to history, likely contained a summary of the information he had gathered about Quivira and his determination to visit the province. Juan Gallego, entrusted with this message, was dispatched back to the Corazones for reinforcements but found San Hieronomo nearly deserted. He then hastened to Mexico, where he assembled a small contingent of recruits, with whom he rendezvoused with Coronado upon his return from Quivira.
On April 23, 1541, Coronado, guided by the Turk, departed Tiguex with his entire army. The initial destination was Sicuye (the Pecos Pueblo), a fortified village situated five days from Tiguex. The precise route taken by the expedition from this point has been a subject of extensive debate among historians.
General J.H. Simpson, who devoted considerable research to the Spanish explorations of the Southwest, created a map of Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest, indicating that the expedition crossed the Canadian River near the border between present-day Mora and San Miguel counties in New Mexico. It then proceeded north to a point roughly halfway between the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers, almost reaching the current boundary between Colorado and New Mexico. From there, the course shifted to the northeast, continuing in that direction to a tributary of the Arkansas River, approximately 50 miles west of Wichita, Kansas.
A.F.A. Bandelier, in his 1893 book, The Gilded Man, stated that the general direction from Cicuye was northeast and that "on the fourth day, he crossed a river that was so deep that they had to throw a bridge across it. This was perhaps the Rio de Mora and not, as I formerly thought, the Little Gallinas River, which flows by Las Vegas, New Mexico. But it was probably the Canadian River, into which the Mora River empties." He further noted that after crossing the river, Coronado moved northeast for 20 days before changing course almost directly east until reaching a stream "which flowed in the bottom of a broad and deep ravine, where the army divided, Coronado, with 30 picked horsemen, going north and the remainder of the force returning to Mexico."
Frederick W. Hodge’s map, featured in his 1907 book, Spanish Explorations in the Southern United States, depicts the expedition’s route as proceeding southeast from Cicuye to the crossing of the Canadian River, then east and southeast to the headwaters of the Colorado River in Texas, where the army divided.
Winship offered a more detailed account, stating, "The two texts of the Relacion del Suceso differ on a vital point; but despite this fact, I am inclined to accept the evidence of this anonymous document as the most reliable testimony concerning the direction of the army’s march. According to this, the Spaniards traveled east across the plains for 100 leagues (265 miles) and 50 leagues either south or southeast. The latter is the reading I should adopt because it better accommodates the other details. This took them to the point of separation, which can hardly have been south of the Red River and was much more likely somewhere along the north fork of the Canadian River, not far above its junction with the mainstream."
By the time the army divided in May, Coronado estimated that they were 250 leagues from Tiguex. The separation was prompted by food shortages and the weakened condition of many horses, hindering further progress. During the march, a native informant insisted that the Turk was lying, and the Indians they encountered failed to corroborate the Turk’s accounts.
Coronado’s suspicions were ultimately aroused. He summoned the Turk, interrogated him thoroughly, and elicited a confession of falsehood. However, the Indian maintained that Quivira did exist, albeit not as he had initially described it. Following the army’s division, all accounts converge on the fact that Coronado and his 30 chosen men proceeded north to a large stream. They crossed it and descended in a northeasterly direction for some distance before continuing their course and eventually reaching the southern border of Quivira.
Winship suggested that the army returned due west to the Pecos River "while Coronado rode north ‘by the needle.’" He concluded that Coronado likely did not venture much beyond the southern branch of the Kansas River, even if he reached that stream.
The "large stream" mentioned in the accounts is believed to be the Arkansas River. The expedition is thought to have crossed the river near present-day Dodge City, Kansas, before following the left bank to the vicinity of Great Bend, where the river’s course changes. Concurrently, Coronado proceeded almost directly to the neighborhood of Junction City. At the furthest point of his journey, he erected a cross bearing the inscription: "Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, commander of an expedition, arrived at this place."
In late August, Coronado departed Quivira and commenced his return journey. By October 20, he was back in Tiguex, composing his report to the king. The army spent another winter at Tiguex before departing for New Spain in the spring of 1542, arriving in the fall. His report to the viceroy was met with a cold reception, which seems to have offended the captain-general. Shortly after, he resigned as governor of New Galicia and retired to his estate. Although the expedition failed to discover the coveted gold and silver, this outcome was not due to the commander’s shortcomings. Instead, the Spaniards gained invaluable geographical knowledge of a vast section of the continent’s interior. Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest may not have found riches, but it added greatly to the geographical knowledge of the time.
Four priests accompanied the expedition: Father Marcos, who had previously been dispatched to locate the seven cities of Cibola; Juan de Padilla; Luis de Ubeda; and Juan de la Cruz. Father Marcos returned to Mexico with Juan Gallego in August 1541 and was not mentioned in connection with the expedition afterward. The remaining three friars remained as missionaries among the indigenous populations, ultimately meeting their demise at their hands. Father Padilla was killed in Quivira, Father Cruz at Tiguex, and Father Ubeda at Cicuye.
Drawing from the narratives of Castaneda and Jaramillo, as well as the Relacion del Suceso, it becomes relatively easy to identify specific landmarks that conclusively establish the terminus of Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest as somewhere in central or northeastern Kansas. The first of these landmarks is the crossing of the Arkansas River, near the site of the later Santa Fe Trail crossing. The second is the three-day march along the north bank of the river to the point where its course changes.
The next landmark is the southwestern border of Quivira, where Coronado first observed the hills along the Smoky Hill River. Another is the ravines mentioned by Castaneda as forming the eastern boundary of Quivira, which corresponds to the terrain around Fort Riley and Junction City. Furthermore, numerous relics of Spanish origin have been unearthed in southwestern Kansas. Professor J.A. Udden of Bethany College discovered a fragment of Spanish chain mail in a mound near Lindsborg, Kansas. W.F. Richey of Harveyville, Kansas, presented a sword found in Finney County to the State Historical Society, bearing a Spanish motto and Juan Gallego’s name near the hilt. Richey also reported the discovery of another two-edged sword in Greeley County, resembling a 16th-century Spanish dagger. Additionally, near Lindsborg, the iron portion of a Spanish bridle and a lead bar bearing a Spanish brand were found. In light of this compelling circumstantial evidence, it is almost certain that Coronado’s expedition concluded somewhere near the confluence of the Smoky Hill and Republican Rivers.
One somber aspect of the expedition was the fate of the Turk, whom Coronado executed upon discovering that he had misled him. However, the native’s actions were undoubtedly influenced, if not inspired, by the Spanish soldiers’ avarice. Ultimately, Coronado’s Expedition of the Southwest and its failure to find gold and riches led to the death of the Turk, who led Coronado and his men on a false trail.