FRANCISCO VÁZQUEZ DE CORONADO (1547)

Spanish explorer of the North American Southwest whose expeditions resulted in discovery of many physical landmarks, including the Grand Canyon, but failed to find the treasure-laden cities he sought.

Coronado went to New Spain (Mexico) with Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish viceroy, in 1535 and earned early distinction in pacifying Indians.

He was appointed governor of Nuevo Galicia in 1538. Fray Marcos de Niza,, sent north in 1539 by Mendoza to explore, had come back with reports of vast riches in the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola which were actually the Zuni Pueblos (now present-day New Mexico). Mendoza organized an ambitious expedition to make a more thorough exploration. It consisted of some 300 Spaniards, hundreds of Indians and native slaves, horses, and herds of sheep, pigs and cattle, in addittion to two ships under the command of Hernando de Alarcón, who sailed up the Gulf of California to discover the mouth of the Colorado River on Aug. 26, 1540. Another side exploration made García López de Cárdenas, the first white man to view the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona.

In February 1540 the main force under Coronado left Compostela and proceeded up the west coast of Mexico to Culiacán. A smaller unit moved north from there and captured the Pueblos of Zuni, July 1540, but found no great wealth or treasure. The two groups again united to spend the winter on the Rio Grande at Tiguez (near modern Santa Fe). Several Indian groups attempted to attack them there but were beaten back with severe reprisals.

In the spring of 1541, the force moved into Palo Duro Canyon in Texas. There Coronado left ost of his men and proceeded north with 30 horsemen to another supposedly fabulously wealthy country, Quivira (Kansas), only to find a semi-nomadic Indian village and disillusionment again. Though the expedition failed to find the treasure it sought, it brought back factual information on the physical realities of the American Southwest.