Early Spanish Exploration of the
Southwest
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 Hernán Cortés 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
shipwrecks 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 Estevan (also known as Estevan the Moor and
Estevanico), 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. Estevan went along as
the expedition’s guide.
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When the expedition approached what is
now southern Arizona, Estevan 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 Estevan had learned of a place called Cíbola, and
had been told this Cíbola 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 Estevan’s companions, who reported that their
colorful guide had been killed. Fray Marcos’ report tells us he was
determined to see Cíbola for himself, so despite the news of Estevan’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 Cíbola where Estevan was killed was in reality the
ancestral Zuñi 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 Cíbola 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 Vásquez de Coronado. This expedition, as all such
Spanish colonial enterprise of the time, was privately financed. Vásquez
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, Vásquez de Coronado
set out from Mexico to find these fabled cities of gold. The chronicles
tell us that when the expedition arrived at the outskirts of the
multi-storied, stone and mud village of Hawikah, many unkind words were
uttered about Fray Marcos, as the expectations conjured up by his
imaginative report were nowhere to be seen.
The Spanish were met by a line of Zuñi
warriors, intent on defending their home against these strange visitors.
Vásquez 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 Zuñi defenders. Casualties were few,
and after the battle, the Spanish replenished their supplies from captured
Zuñi 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
Vásquez 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,
Vásquez 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 Indian 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 same region
traversed four decades earlier by Vásquez de Coronado. One of these, led
by Fray Bernardo Beltrán and Antonio de Espejo in 1582, is credited with
the first official use of the term, la Nueva Mejico, 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.
