Background
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was born in 1510, in Salamanca. The second son of Juan Vásquez de Coronado, a wealthy nobleman.
(Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was born to an affluent fam...)
Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was born to an affluent family in Salamanca Spain in 1510. Coronado is most famous for his expedition to find the Seven Cities of Gold, starting in 1540. He explored much of the present-day Southwest United States and Northern Mexico.
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(TRANSLATION OF A LETTER FROM CORONADO TO THE KING, OCTOBE...)
TRANSLATION OF A LETTER FROM CORONADO TO THE KING, OCTOBER 20, 1541: Coronado gives an official report of his expedition to Quivira present day central Kansas.
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captain explorer governor leader Conquistador
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was born in 1510, in Salamanca. The second son of Juan Vásquez de Coronado, a wealthy nobleman.
As a younger son, Francisco could not inherit the family estates.
He therefore went to the court of Charles I, where he secured a place in the service of Don Antonio de Mendoza, newly appointed viceroy of Mexico.
After his arrival in Mexico in 1535 Coronado rose rapidly in viceregal favor.
These were exciting times.
The famous survivor of the Narváez expedition, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, arrived at the viceregal court with stories he had heard of seven great cities in "Cíbola, " far to the north.
The Nueva Galicia frontier was at that time a center of great excitement because of the return of Cabeza de Vaca from the interior in 1536 with stories of new kingdoms in the north, stories which presumably were verified by Fray Marcos de Niza in 1539 on an exploration as far as the present Zuñi, New Mexico, and his account of the seven wealthy cities of Cíbola.
In February 1540 the army of more than 230 mounted Spanish gentlemen, 62 foot soldiers, several friars, and nearly 1, 000 Indian allies headed north from Compostela.
After a long march across northern Mexico and southern Arizona the army reached the Zuñi pueblo of Hawikuh in July.
This spot Father de Niza identified as Cíbola, but to the disappointed Spaniards it was only "a little unattractive village" of mud and stone.
Although discouraged by the lack of golden cities, Coronado dispatched several small exploring parties.
One group marched west to the Colorado River, while another, under Pedro del Tovar, succeeded in reaching the Moqui (Hopi) pueblos north of Zuñi.
A third group under García López de Cárdenas pushed northwest to the Grand Canyon.
A fourth party under Hernando de Alvarado explored the upper Rio Grande.
In the winter of 1540 Coronado moved his army to the Rio Grande and conquered the Tiguex pueblos near present-day Albuquerque.
At the Tiguex villages the Spaniards heard of a rich land called Quivira somewhere to the north.
In the spring of 1541 Coronado set out to try to find this fabled kingdom.
Marching eastward across the Pecos River, he turned north onto the Llano Estacado, the great grassland plains of North America; but when he arrived at Quivira on the Arkansas River, he discovered only a poor Indian village.
Sickened by his failure to find gold and riches, Coronado left three missionaries to convert the Indians of Quivira and returned to Tiguex, where he gathered the remnants of his army and turned homeward.
He arrived in Mexico in 1542, a bitter and disappointed man.
For the next 2 decades the Spaniards forgot the northern lands and concentrated on developing their Mexican possessions.
In 1544 Coronado faced charges of neglect of duty and cruelty to the Indians and lost the governorship of Nueva Galicia. He returned to Mexico City, where he managed his estates and served as regidor, or member of the city council.
Even though Coronado's star sank rapidly after his return from New Mexico, he served as governor of Nueva Galicia until 1544.
He was acquitted of misconduct as leader of the expedition, but was fined on some charges growing out of his governorship.
During these years he was much troubled with illness stemming from his New Mexico injury.
Mendoza and Coronado remained firm friends until the viceroy left for Peru in 1551.
(TRANSLATION OF A LETTER FROM CORONADO TO THE KING, OCTOBE...)
(Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was born to an affluent fam...)
In 1537 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado married twelve-year-old Beatriz de Estrada, called "the Saint",
sister of Leonor de Estrada, ancestor of the de Alvarado family and daughter of Treasurer and Governor Alonso de Estrada y Hidalgo, Lord of Picón, and wife Marina Flores Gutiérrez de la Caballería, from a converso Jewish family. Vázquez de Coronado inherited a large portion of a Mexican encomendero estate through Beatriz and had eight children by her.