7. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542
Born in 1510, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado listened to stories of great wealth and fortune waiting in the New World. As a young man, he set off on his first voyage to New Spain, married the daughter of family friend, 12-year-old Beatriz de Estrada. Through his marriage he inherited a large encomieda and access to his wife’s other estates.
Coronado proved to be an excellent conquistador and was awarded the governorship of the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia or New Galicia in today’s Mexican states of Jalisco, Sinaloa, and Nayarit. In 1535, Coronado sent a scouting party out to find gold. When the party returned they gave Coronado reports of a city of great wealth that they called Cíbola.
In 1540, Coronado left for his expedition. Thousands of men, horses, mules, priests, and guides departed New Galicia in search of Cíbola and to squash any native resistance. To pay for supplies, Coronado pawned some of his wife’s estates. This group traveled into the interior of present-day northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.
Native inhabitants that stood in the way of Coronado’s search were simply eliminated. When the Zuni people refused to provide supplies to the army, the Spaniards attacked, pillaging, burning, and murdering the Zuni inhabitants in the village of Hawikuh. During the winter of 1540-1541, more violence erupted when the Tiwa Indians, along with other Pueblo groups, refused to accommodate Coronado’s demands. At night, the Tiwa slaughtered 40-60 horses and mules. The Spaniards retaliated by burning 30 Tiwas at the stake and attempting to lay siege to the city, Coofor.
Coronado successfully laid siege to the city of Moho. He forced the native inhabitants to remain in the city as prisoners and slaves. When water ran out, some Indians tried to escape and Coronado ordered that all native men be killed and the women taken as slaves. The Tiquex War ended in March 1541 and Coronado set off into the Great Plains in search of Quivira. After native guides presumably sent him on a wild goose chase, Coronado gave up his hope of finding great wealth and returned to New Spain in 1542.
The expedition traveled through present-day northern Mexico, southwest Arizona, across New Mexico, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, and north into Kansas. They were the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Coronado died in Mexico City in 1544. His expedition was a failure.
