The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado
Kathryn Gallegos
Junior Division
1,747 words
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Francisco Coronado, the second son born to a wealthy nobleman in the year of 1510, Juan
Vazquez de Coronado, was raised in Castilla y Leon, Salamanca, Spain (History.com, 1). He
eventually moved to New Spain (Mexico) in 1535 to construct a life of his own as he was a
younger son. In Mexico, Coronado married the daughter of Alonso de Estrada, Dona Beatriz de
Estrada, and he became the governor of Nueva Galicia, the capital of New Spain, in 1538. In the
year of 1540, an expedition was set up with the help of Coronado's close friend, Don Antonio de
Mendoza, to find the rumored Seven Cities of Gold in Cibola. This expedition included around
1,000 men, 300 Native Americans, and 1,500 animals (biography.com, 1). Although Coronado did
find many new rivers and paths, enabling Spain to make more accurate maps, his expedition
proved to be fruitless for several reasons: he failed to find gold, he did not see value in the fertile
soil and the mineral rich mountains, he treated the Native Americans badly, and he squandered a
fortune (Castaneda, 4, 9).
Spain considered Coronado unsuccessful because he did not find any gold. He thought he
could find the fabled Seven Cities of Gold. The legend of the Seven Cities came from Europe long
before Columbus sailed to America. When the Moorish (Muslim) people attacked Merida, Spain in
1150, it was said that 7 Catholic bishops and their followers fled across the Atlantic from Portugal
to a place called Antilia, which was an island, and with them they also took gold, and lots of it
(paintermagazine.co.uk). They supposedly built the Seven Cities of Gold. The cities were to be
larger than Mexico City (Castaneda, 9, 7, Handbook of Texas Online, 1). Because of Coronado's
failure to find gold, Spain did not pay much attention to the rest of North America for about a
hundred years. Coronado wasn't the only one to search for the Seven Cities; others who searched
were Hernando de Soto, Hernan Cortes, Nuno de Guzman, and Panfilio de Narvaez
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(arizonaexperience.org, 1).
Coronado treated the Native Americans without any respect or regard. In fact, there were
many Native Americans who were treated badly by the Spanish. The Tiguex people were the
most mistreated and their leaders were taken by the Spaniards (Castaneda, 31). In Tiguex, the
Natives were forced to exchange clothing with the Spaniards because the Spaniards' clothes were
torn and tattered. The majority of the men were killed in Tiguex, while the women and children
were taken as slaves (encyclopedia.com, 1). Another time, a soldier went to a village, where the
Spaniards were staying, and he went into a Native Americans' house, and visited a pretty woman,
while her husband held the bridle of the Spaniards' horse. When the Spaniard came down and
left, the Native American went up to find that the Spaniard had tried to violate her. The Native
American never found out who did it because the Spaniard denied doing it even after the Native
American recognized the Spaniards' horse. There were many actual sexual assaults on Native
American women; however, most are unrecorded (sjsu.com, 1). The Spaniards took Native
Americans as slaves and they also stole their goods. While on this quest for gold, the Spaniards
managed to kill 13 Zunis and burned 30 Tiwas at the stake. Once a Spaniard got shot in the eye
while quarreling with Native Americans, so some soldiers gathered up some Native Americans
and executed them all (History.com, 1 ). The Spaniards also destroyed 13 villages in the process
of searching for gold. Coronado's manner of dealing with native peoples was another reason he
was removed from his position as governor. Some of the Native Americans Coronado
encountered were Incas, Quivira people, Teyas, Harahays, Querechos, Tiguex people, Apaches,
Pawnees, Pueblos, Witchitas, Zunis, Hopis, Tiwas, and an individual, which the Spaniards called
the Turk, who misled and deceived them (Castaneda, 45). This man called the Turk claimed he
knew where much gold was and described cities full of gold and a tree hanging with golden bells
which he napped under. In truth, he led Coronado and his men off course so his tribe wouldn't
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have to see the Spainards again after the poor treatment they received and because he wanted to
go back to his homeland (desertusa.com, 1). Finally, the Turk confessed he was misleading them
after Coronado and his men began to suspect that he was lying. The Spaniards put the Turk in
chains, and then took him with those who were with Coronado, and they garroted him or
strangled him (Castaneda, 41).
In contrast, an earlier Spanish explorer, Cabeza de Vaca went through some of the same
Southern North American areas as Coronado, but he treated the Native Americans better and
even fought for their freedom when he was governor of Paraguay. De Vaca also was a slave to
some Coahuiltecan Native Americans at one point. He always treated them as well as he could, no
matter the situation. Proof of this is that he still respected them when he was governor. He spent
seven years with Native Americans mainly around what is now Texas, and began to understand
them. When a few Spaniards tried to catch Native Americans for slaves, de Vaca was spotted
walking with some Native American escorts. The Spaniards were so surprised when they saw him
because of his tanned skin and the fact that he had taken on the Native Americans’ customs and
dress. In the end, he stopped the Spaniards from taking his escorts as slaves. Spending seven
years with the Native Americans changed him from an arrogant conquistador to a humble leader
(biography.com). Unlike Coronado, Cabeza de Vaca saw the value in the Native Americans as
people.
Unfortunately, even though Coronado explored and found great wildlife and rich soil, he
didn’t recognize how it could be cultivated for Spain. He was blinded by his quest for gold. He
saw wonderful examples of Native American architecture, but did not set up villages of his own.
Coronado found a village of Native Americans called Cicuye, who built their homes five stories
high. He saw the past inhabitants of Aztecs in the “Red House”, an impressive fortification of the
civilization ruins, reflecting a more advanced, previous civilization. He stumbled upon Acoma, a
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fortress with cisterns, the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States (sjsu.edu
1). Coronado also led a small force to Quivira, which was nothing more than an area of Witchitas
around the vicinity of present day Great Bend, Kansas. The houses there were round; they had
one story much like a loft, under the roof, where the people there kept their belongings and slept.
The roofs were made of straw and there was a river flowing through this province which the
Spaniards called Espiritu Santo or Holy Spirit (sjsu.edu 2).
Coronado and his men discovered and mapped many new water ways. Even though Coronado
did not see the value in these “roads”, they would, someday, become the key to exploration and
riches in the West. The Colorado River became a great passageway for other explorers and
provides, even today, life sustaining water for the Southwest. The Native Americans were already
using this river for their crops and villages (History.com 1). Some other rivers that were
uncovered included the Arkansas River, the Pecos River, the Rio Grande River, and the Canadian
River (h
The expedition saw abundant vegetation and wildlife which could have given Spain much
wealth . Many of the foods such as plums, grapes, nuts, mulberries, oats, pennyroyal, wild
marjoram, and flax revealed the rich soil. The main attraction of wildlife was what he called
“cows”. Coronado stated (English translation), “ 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
I lost sight of them (haikudeck.com, 12).” This might have been herds of buffalo when the
Spaniards were traveling through the Great Plains, which they called the Llano Estacado
(Castaneda, 21, 81).
A fortune was squandered on the expedition; Coronado spent much of his wife's money on
the expedition and his friend Viceroy Mendoza's money gave and lost much wealth on the
expedition, as well. Coronado expended almost all of it on his greed for gold. He pawned his
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Beatriz's ( his wife ) estate and was lent 70,000 more pesos by other individuals. Most of the
people who searched for the Cities put in great amounts of money. Other explorers experienced
the same loss. When Cabeza de Vaca returned from his expedition with Narvaez, he would not
speak about his exploration with anyone except the King. This created the rumor that he had seen
the Seven Cities, but what was more important to Cabeza de Vaca was the Christian conversion of
the Native Americans (sjsu.com, 1). Because Coronado and others believed this rumor about the
Seven Cities of Gold, they felt spending the money for this quest for gold was worth it. However,
the money could have been spent cultivating the rich new land, which might have produced
wealth many times over.
Coronado's expedition greatly affected much of the knowledge of the American Southwest,
ranging from the Grand Canyon in modern day Arizona to the Great Plains in modern-day Kansas. He
explored a bit of modern-day Oklahoma and Texas, most of New Mexico, Kansas, and Arizona. His
expedition covered over 1,500 miles of land (Castaneda, 1). He was also one of the first Europeans to
see the American Southwest. However, Coronado still failed on his mission because he did not find
gold, he did not respect the Native Americans, he wasted a fortune, and he didn't want to see the beauty
or wealth in the mineral rich mountains and fertile soil. The only thing he did accomplish was to make
more accurate maps. Coronado's expedition ended in 1542, when he gave up his quest for gold. Only
100 of his men came back with him out of the 1,500. On September 22nd, 1554 Coronado died in
Distrito Federal, Mexico City. He was buried in the Santo Domingo Church in the same city
(findagrave.com 1). However, Coronado's expedition would not be forgotten as gold was uncovered in
the American Southwest many years later and since then, many people have tried to find the Cities of
Gold. Stories have been written and movies have immortalized these fabled cities (biography.com 1,
Castaneda, 5). The legend lives on.
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Francisco Vazquez de Coronado failed to bring back gold from the
legend of the Seven Cities.
www.exploration.marinersmueseum.org
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Coronado's route through the American Southwest was a great journey that covered more
land than all of the explorers of the New World.
www.iamnm.com
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Works Cited
Primary Sources
Casteneda, Pedro. “The Narrative of the Expedition of Coronado, 1528-1543.” Early Americas Digital
Archive. Ed. Fred Hodge. Umd.edu.2002. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.
This is a narrative of Coronado’s expedition written by a man who went along with Coronado. It covers
most of it from Pedro de Castaneda’s point of view. I found a lot of my information from this.
Coronado, F. “Expedition of Coronado to the Southwest (1540-1541).”historycentral.com. History Central, n.d. Web 19 Jan. 2016.
This is a summary from Coronado’s point of view. I found reading it helped me understand what happened on the expedition.
Coronado, F. “Spain Authorizes Coronado’s Conquest in the Southwest, 1540.” The Gilder Lehman Institute of American History. PSI, 2009-2016. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.
This letter to Coronado was helpful in showing how important the discovery of gold was to the King of
Spain.
Coronado, F., “ Coronado’s Report to the King of Spain.” New Perspective n the West.PBS, 2001. Web
21 Jan. 2016.
This is the report of Coronado which described what happened so far on the expedition up until Oct.
20, 1541.
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Secondary Sources
Abbot, Carl, Stephen Leonard, and Thomas Noel. Colorado: A History of the Centennial State. Fourth ed.
Boulder University Press of Colorado, 2005, Print.
This book of Colorado history contains a short history of Coronado’s exploration and life.
“Coronado, Franscisco Vasquez de ( 1510-1554).” American Eras. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Jan. 2016.
I learned about Cabeza de Vaca and his previous exploration of some of the same areas Coronado explored.
Donoghue, David, “Vazquez De Coronado, Francisco,” Handbook of Texas Online/ 2010 June 15. Texas
State Historical Association. 21 Jan. 2016.
This website gave information about the 7 Cities of Cibola.
"Francisco Vazquez de Coronado Biography." The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks,
n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/francisco-vázquez-de-coronado9258086>.
Biography.com gave a basic understanding of Coronado and his expedition.
Hathorn, Billy, Francisco Coronado. Museum in Hereford TX. Web. 20 Jan. 2016.
This is a picture of Coronado in full dress with his helmet.
History.com staff. “Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.” History.com. A and E Networks, 2009. Web. 21
Jan. 2016.
Most of the information about Coronado’s travels came from this website.
Lander, Eric. “Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.” Find a Grave. N.p., 20 July 2002. Web 21 Jan. 2016.
This site held the information about where and when Coronado died.
PSI. The Coronado Expedition 1540-542. Tucson, AZ: psi.edu, 2016. Web. 20 Jan. 2016. Rpt of Map of
Coronado Expedition. 1540.
This is a map of Coronado’s quest for gold.
The Coronado Expedition. Texas State Historical Association, 1949. Web. 4 Apr. 2016. <http://arizonaexperience.org/remember/coronado-expedition>.
Information about the Seven Cities came from this website.
Todorov, Tzvetan. The Conquest of America. NY: Harper Collins, 1985. Print.
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This book contains information about all of the explorers in America including Columbus and Coronado.
Trans. Martin A. Favata and Jose B. Fernandez. 1555th ed. Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press, 1993. N.
pag. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
I found a very rare book, which is a 1555 edition and translation of Cabeza de Vaca’s La
“Relacion.”
Watkins, Thayer. “The Exploratory Expedition of Franscisco Vasquez de Coroando.” Sjsu.edu. San Jose
University of Economics, N.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2016.
Many architectural details of the exploration were found here.
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