Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Spanish conquistador

• Born: 1510
• Birthplace: Salamanca, Spain
• Died: September 22, 1554
• Place of death: Mexico City, New Spain (now in Mexico)

As the leader of the 1540-1542 expedition to the Seven Cities of Cíbola and Quivira, Coronado explored what became Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas and opened what is now the southwestern United States to Spanish colonization and settlement.

Early Life

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (frahn-SEES-koh VAHS-kayz day kaw-ruh-NAHD-oh) was the second son of noble parents, Juan Vásquez de Coronado and Isabel de Luján (his proper family name was Vásquez, but Americans mistakenly call him Coronado). Only a few details abut his childhood are known. His father became governor (corregidor) of Burgos in 1512, an important royal appointment. In 1520, his father created an entailed estate, whereby the family property passed to Francisco’s older brother Gonzalo. Although the other children received onetime settlements, with provision made for their education, they had to make their own way in life.

Coronado decided to seek his fortune in the New World. Handsome (perhaps fair complexioned, if a portrait of his brother Juan is any indication), generous, modest, and loyal, Coronado was a favorite at court and won the friendship and patronage of Antonio de Mendoza, the first viceroy of New Spain. Coronado sailed with Mendoza, arriving in Mexico City in November, 1535.

Life’s Work

Mendoza’s patronage was invaluable. In 1537, he chose Coronado to put down a rebellion of black miners. The following year, the viceroy named his young friend to a seat on the Mexico City council without even seeking royal approval for his appointment. Meanwhile, Coronado helped found the Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament for Charity, which provided alms for the needy and educated orphan girls. He was also married, to Beatriz de Estrada, whose father, Alonso de Estrada, had been New Spain’s royal treasurer and was rumored to have been the illegitimate son of King Ferdinand. His wife’s dowry included half of a large country estate. Coronado, the fortune seeker, had become a landed country gentleman. The marriage produced five children.

Again the viceroy called on Coronado. A serious Mexican Indian rebellion had convulsed the mining towns of New Galicia (northwestern Mexico), and Mendoza sent Coronado to suppress it and act as governor of the region. Coronado surmised that the Mexican Indians had risen because of horrible abuse and exploitation at the hands of the Spaniards.

News had begun to filter into Mexico about rich Indian cities lying far to the north. First had come Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca , who had survived Panfilo de Narváez’s disastrous expedition to Florida. He staggered into Mexico in 1536, with tantalizing but enigmatic stories about seven great and wealthy cities to the north. Mendoza sent Fray Marcos de Niza to verify Cabeza de Vaca’s stories in early 1539. Coronado accompanied the friar on his way through New Galicia to the Seven Cities but then returned to his duties as governor. Fray Marcos returned in the fall, claiming to have actually visited Cíbola, the land of the Seven Cities. His report was more wondrous than Cabeza de Vaca’s. Mendoza and Coronado began to plan an expedition to explore and conquer Cíbola. Speed was important. Charles V had commissioned Hernando de Soto, the new governor of Cuba and Florida, to explore north from Florida, and Hernán Cortés himself had returned from Spain, anxious to claim Cíbola as his own.

While men gathered in New Galicia for the expedition, Mendoza and Coronado dispatched another scouting party to Cíbola under Melchior Díaz, who was more knowledgeable about the northern frontier than any Spaniard. Before Díaz returned, a force of more than three hundred Spaniards was ready at Compostela, along with several priests, perhaps a thousand Mexican Indian allies, and about fifteen hundred horses and pack animals. Although subject to the viceregal government, the expedition was privately financed. Mendoza invested sixty thousand ducats in it, and Coronado, fifty thousand ducats from his wife’s estate. Mendoza initially hoped to lead the foray himself but eventually named Coronado to head it on January 6, 1540. Meanwhile, a small squadron under Hernando de Alarcón was to sail up the Gulf of California and support Coronado by sea, although Alarcón never did find Coronado.

The Coronado party set out from Compostela on February 23, 1540, without waiting for Díaz’s report, but met the scout at Chiametla. He secretly told Coronado that he had been to Cíbola and had found no gold, silver, or great cities. Rumors about the report upset the men, who were young adventurers and soldiers of fortune looking for gold, glory, and empire. Yet Fray Marcos reassured them that great riches awaited those with the courage to persevere.

After the force reached Culiacán, Coronado decided to push ahead quickly to Cíbola with a small party of eighty Spaniards, along with some Mexican Indian allies. The main group would follow later. During the long trek through Sonora and eastern Arizona, supplies dwindled and horses died. When Coronado reached Cíbola (Hawikuh) in July, 1540, his men were starving. Mendoza had ordered Coronado neither to abuse the Indians nor to make slaves of them. He thus tried to negotiate with the Zuni at Cíbola (there and elsewhere, most communication with the Indians was probably by sign language), but they ambushed his scouts and then attacked the whole party. After repelling the initial assault, Coronado besieged the fortified pueblo but was nearly killed in battle. García López de Cárdenas, second in command, captured Cíbola but found none of the promised riches.

Recovered from his wounds, Coronado again assumed command. On July 15, 1540, he sent a small party under Pedro de Tovar to explore Tusayán to the northwest, home of the Hopi. It returned with reports of a great river and a land of giants somewhere beyond. In late August, Coronado dispatched López de Cárdenas with twenty-five horsemen to investigate: They discovered the Grand Canyon. For several days, three men tried to reach the Colorado River far below but managed to climb down only a third of the way. Disappointed but determined to press on, Coronado sent messengers, including a disgraced Fray Marcos, back to Mendoza.

Several Pueblo Indians arrived in Cíbola and invited the Spaniards to visit Cicúique (Pecos) and Tiguex, two hundred miles to the east near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Coronado sent Hernando de Alvarado and twenty men to reconnoiter. They found pueblos of multistoried houses and friendly Indians but no riches. In late November of 1540, Coronado decided to move his force there for the winter, including the main expedition which had just arrived at Cíbola.

The Spaniards and Mexican Indians were not equipped for the harsh winter. Despite Coronado’s attempts to treat the American Indians humanely, the Spaniards forced one village of Indians to vacate their pueblo so that the intruders could live there. They took large amounts of food and winter clothing, and when a Spaniard molested an Indian woman and received no punishment, resentment smoldered.

Meanwhile, Alvarado found two Indian slaves, whom the Spaniards called Turk and Sopete. They told Alvarado about Quivira, a fabulously rich land farther to the east. Turk, whose fertile imagination concocted the type of reports the Spaniards wanted to hear, claimed that he had owned a gold bracelet from Quivira, which a Pueblo chieftain had stolen from him. This was the closest the expedition had come to gold, and Alvarado immediately imprisoned the chief.

Torture of the chief to locate the imaginary bracelet, together with the other abuses, transformed the previously friendly Indians into sullen and finally hostile hosts. The Tiguex War erupted. Coronado sent Cárdenas to deal with the rebellion, and he brutally suppressed it by March, 1541, mistakenly burning at the stake thirty or forty warriors who had surrendered during a truce at Arenal.

Coronado then decided to push on to Quivira, even though Sopete said that Turk’s stories were lies. The expedition left for Quivira on April 23, 1541. The men found no gold, but their trek revealed huge buffalo herds and the plains Indians, including the Tejas tribe, which gave its name to Texas. With no topographical features to orient them on the flat plains, they piled buffalo chips to mark their trail. In the Texas panhandle, Coronado finally realized that Turk had deceived him. He placed Turk in chains, chose thirty-six men to continue on with Sopete as guide, and sent the remainder of the expedition back to Tiguex to wait. Sopete led them into central Kansas. There they found Quivira, land of the Wichita Indians, and final disappointment, for there was no gold or silver. In revenge, the Spaniards strangled Turk but left Sopete in his homeland as a reward for his service. Coronado then turned back toward Tiguex, arriving there in September.

A discouraged Coronado dispatched a report to the viceroy and spent the winter at Tiguex. On December 27, 1541, during a horse race, Coronado fell, and a horse stepped on his head, nearly killing him. Coronado never fully recovered. More somber and less vigorous, he consulted with his men and decided to return to Mexico. Three friars stayed to work among the Indians, however, and a few soldiers criticized him for not allowing them to remain and settle in the region. The expedition left Tiguex in April and straggled into Culiacán in June, 1542, where it disbanded.

Coronado’s later years added nothing to the great explorer’s fame. Despite Mendoza’s disappointment over the expedition’s failure, he sent Coronado back to New Galicia as governor. In 1543, Charles V ordered an inquiry into the conduct of the expedition, particularly its treatment of the Indians, and the following year, Coronado’s performance as governor came under royal scrutiny. Absolved of the most serious charges, Coronado was nevertheless removed as governor by Mendoza, as much because of his poor health as for his misdeeds. Coronado thereafter lived in Mexico City, serving on the city council and administering his estates. He died on September 22, 1554.

Significance

As a leader, Coronado pales in comparison with someone such as Cortés. He owed his appointment to head the expedition to Mendoza; others, such as Melchior Díaz, were better qualified and more experienced. Perhaps his greatest weakness was his naïve acceptance of Fray Marcos’s and Turk’s lies. Still, Coronado endured the same hardships as his men, fought in the front ranks, and lost only about twenty men over the course of the entire expedition. Although a strict disciplinarian, he was not a tyrant but usually consulted with his men before making important decisions. Despite the Arenal atrocities, for which he was at least indirectly responsible, Coronado was remarkably humane in comparison with other Spaniards of his day.

Coronado’s expedition was a major step in the exploration of North America. Although the Spaniards considered his mission a huge disappointment because it produced no gold, Coronado made important contributions by other standards. The trails he blazed, following the old Mexican Indian paths, served later Spanish parties as they moved north to settle and colonize the Southwest. He proved that the continent was much wider than previously thought and discovered the continental divide. His expedition brought back valuable information about the Indian tribes, wildlife, and geography of the region and added vast territories to the Spanish crown.

Bibliography

Aiton, Arthur S. Antonio de Mendoza: First Viceroy of New Spain. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1927. Reprint. New York: Russell & Russell, 1967. A scholarly biography of Coronado’s patron. Discusses Coronado’s expedition and provides valuable information on contemporary New Spain.

Aiton, Arthur S. “The Later Career of Coronado.” American Historical Review 30 (January, 1925): 298-304. By Mendoza’s biographer, this article analyzes the period after the great expedition. Probably too critical of Coronado.

Bolton, Herbert Eugene. Coronado on the Turquoise Trail: Knight of the Pueblos and Plains. 1949. Reprint. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1964. A masterpiece based on a thorough use of archival records and the accounts left by its members. Bolton traveled the entire Coronado trail.

Flint, Richard, and Shirley Cushing Flint, eds. The Coronado Expedition: From the Distance of 460 Years. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003. Anthology studying all aspects of Coronado’s expedition, from the names of its members to the technical design of their horseshoes to the interactions with Native Americans.

Flint, Richard, and Shirley Cushing Flint, eds. The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540-1542 Route Across the Southwest. 1997. Reprint. Niwot, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, 2004. A companion to the anthology above, this multidisciplinary study provides archaeological, ethnographic, historical, and geographic research into the specific route followed by Coronado’s expedition. Explains the evidence, details the most likely route, and discusses the importance of these findings.

Hammond, George Peter, and Agapito Rey, eds. Narratives of the Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1977. Extremely useful collection of English translations of reports, dispatches, and correspondence by Coronado, Mendoza, Alarcón, and others relating to Coronado’s expedition and trail.

Correggio, Frederick W., ed. Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, 1528-1543. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907. Reprint. Austin: Texas State Historical Association and the Center for Studies in Texas History, University of Texas at Austin, 1984. Contains a translation of the account of Coronado’s expedition written by Pedro de Castañeda, a participant, although he was not present at all the important events. Also contains a translation of Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative.

Ortiz, Alfonso, ed. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 9. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1979. Deals specifically with the Zuni, Pueblo, and Hopi Indians and contains historical, anthropological, and archaeological studies by experts in the various fields. Also contains an extensive bibliography.

Sauer, Carl O. Sixteenth-Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen by the Europeans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. The leading historical geographer of sixteenth century North America includes a chapter on the Coronado expedition, focusing on the environment rather than the man.

Udall, Stewart L. Majestic Journey: Coronado’s Inland Empire. Rev. ed. Sante Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1995. The former Secretary of the Interior leads the reader through a retracing of Coronado’s route in order the demonstrate the historical importance of his expedition. Includes photographs by Jerry Jacka, maps, and index.