| | Less than two generations after Christopher Columbus
set foot on the shores of an obscure Caribbean island on
October 12, 1492, and claimed this New World for the Spanish
kingdoms of Leon and Castille, Spanish conquistadores such
as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro had conquered the
Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Subsequent
explorers remained on the alert for other lands which might
prove as wealthy as ones these men had conquered. It was
this search for a "new" Mexico which ultimately
led to the expedition which first brought the Spanish to
New Mexico in 1540.
Ironically, the first exploration of New Mexico
may have come about from an ill-fated Spanish attempt to
settle Florida in 1527. A series of storms and ship wrecks
stranded four survivors from this expedition near present-day
Galveston, Texas. This group, which included Alvar Nuñez
Cabeza de Vaca and an African slave named Estévan
(also known as Estévan the Moor and Estevánico),
spent more than eight years wandering through southern Texas
and northern Mexico. They were the first Europeans to explore,
albeit unwittingly, this part of North America.
In 1536, the ragged survivors finally emerged from
the wilderness at Culiacan, on the west coast of Mexico.
Cabeza de Vaca's report to the Spanish Viceroy, Antonio
de Mendoza, included a brief mention of stories they had
heard which told of large cities in the interior of the
continent where valuable minerals were traded. These sparse
but tantalizing bits of information sparked a renewed interest
in the Spanish quest to find the "new" Mexico
which had so far eluded them. In 1539, Mendoza authorized
Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan priest who had accompanied
Pizarro to Peru, to conduct a preliminary exploration to determine the truth of these reports. Estévan went
along as the expedition's guide.
When the expedition approached what is now southern
Arizona, Estévan and several companions went ahead
to scout the country. A system of signals was devised so
they could report to Fray Marcos about what they found.
If there was nothing important, they were to send back a
cross the size of a man's palm. Important news would be
signaled by correspondingly larger crosses. One can only
image Fray Marcos' surprise when messengers returned bearing
a cross the size of a man! The scouts reported Estévan
had learned of a place called Cibola, and had been told
this Cibola was but one of seven magnificent cities.
Fray Marcos rushed forward, anxious to see what
marvelous sights had prompted such a report. However, the
Friar soon encountered several of Estévan's companions,
who reported that their colorful guide had been killed.
Fray Marcos' report tells us he was determined to see Cibola
for himself, so despite the news of Estévan's death,
he continued northward until they came within sight of a
settlement which he described as being larger than the city
of Mexico! Historians disagree as to his motives, but it
is clear Fray Marcos' report was vastly exaggerated. The
Cibola where Estévan was killed was in reality the
ancestral Zuni pueblo of Hawikah, but the friar's report
seemed to confirm the stories which Cabeza de Vaca had heard
during his travels. Could it be that these seven cities
of Cibola were the mythical Seven Cities of Antilia, the
golden Quivira men had been seeking since Medieval times?
From the list of those who anxiously proposed to
follow up Fray Marcos' discovery, Viceroy Mendoza chose
29 year old Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. This expedition,
as all such Spanish colonial enterprises of the time, was
privately financed. Vasquez de Coronado's family contributed
50,000 ducats (probably a million dollars in today's money),
towards the cost of the expedition, while Viceroy Mendoza
personally invested an additional 60,000 ducats. No one
seemed concerned about the risk of such an investment. After
all, hadn't Fray Marcos confirmed Cabeza de Vaca's reports
of the Seven Cities?
In January of 1540, Vasquez de Coronado set out
from Mexico to find these fabled cities of gold. The chronicles
tell us that when arrived at the outskirts of the multi-storied,
stone and mud village of Hawikah, many unkind words were
uttered about Frey Marcos, as the expectations conjured
up by his imaginative report were nowhere to be seen
The Spanish were met by a line of Zuni warriors,
intent on defending their home against these strange visitors.
Vasquez de Coronado attempted to convince them his intentions
were peaceful, but his conciliatory gestures were rebuffed.
It was a furious but uneven battle, as the mounted Spanish
soldiers used their superior weapons to beat back the determined
Zuni defenders. Casualties were few, and after the battle,
the Spanish replenished their supplies from captured Zuni
storerooms and continued on their quest.
For the next two years, the expedition explored
deep into the North American continent, but discovered only
that the Seven Cities of Cibola were, after all, nothing
but a myth. After Vasquez de Coronado was injured in a riding
accident in the winter of 1542, the disheartened adventurers
returned to Mexico. Despite their failure to find any cities
of gold, history has shown the expedition to have been a
journey of epic proportions. In little more than two years,
Vasquez de Coronado and his men explored much of the southwestern
United States, ventured deep into the plains of Kansas,
descended the walls of the Grand Canyon, and visited all
the major lndian villages in the region.
We can only imagine what the indigenous peoples
they met thought of the light skinned men who rode astride
unfamiliar creatures, wearing uncomfortable looking clothes
which reflected the sun, aggressive and often rude men who
carried weapons made of steel and who persisted in knowing
about cities where a bright yellow metal could be found.
It must have been a frightening, yet wonderful encounter.
Little did either of these two diverse cultures know that
their worlds would never be the same.
For nearly forty years New Mexico was forgotten.
As the sixteenth century progressed, Spanish settlement
advanced slowly, but steadily through northern Mexico. During
this period, Franciscan missionaries learned that Indians
of the region traded regularly with other peoples who lived
further north. During the 1580's several expeditions entered
New Mexico and explored much of the same region traversed
four decades earlier by Vasquez de Coronado. One of these,
led by Fray Bernardo Beltran and Antonio de Espejo in 1582,
is credited with the first official use of the term, la
Nueva Mexico, to describe the region we now call New Mexico.
The reports of these expeditions reminded Spanish officials
of the many potential converts to Christianity which lived
in this region, and encouraged the subsequent conquest and
colonization of this "new" Mexico.
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