THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE, October 7992

20
Volume 2O, No. 9
THE SANTA FEAN I{ACAZINE, October 1992'

The Convergence of
Cultures Begins
A burst of expansionism followed the initial
is
voyage of Crist6bal Col6n (Christopher Columbus
a latt-er-day Latinization he himself never heard) to
the New World in 1492. The following year, Col6n
established Spain's first colony in the New World on
the Island of Hispaniola (today Haiti and the
Dominican Republic). By 1515 Cuba had been con-
quered, and the cities of Santia$o and Habana
established. Both places would serve as bases for
further exploration. ln 1519 Herniin Cort6s swept
into Mexico, unveilin$ in the Aztec Empire a new
source of wealth for his country, his followers and
himself, in the gold and silver that the Aztecs had
accumulated over the centuries. A decade later
Francisco Pizarro be[an his even more lucrative
conquest of the Incas in Peru.
Vague information from various sources
including Alvar Nuflez Cabeza de Vaca, survivor of a
shipwrecked expedition to establish a colony on
Mexico's northeast coast in 1527, indicated that
large and wealthy lndian cities, with big houses,
surrounded by maize fields, existed in a land far to
the north. After Cort6s'and Pizarro's conquest of
the Aztecs and the Incas, and the wealth they looted
from these civilizations, was it not logical that simi-
lar riches existed in the area to the far north of the
central valley of Mexico?
Accordingly, a modest-sized reconnoitering
Franclsco V6equez de Coronado ae deplcted by Gerald Cassldy ln a
expedition was organized in Mexico to penetrate the
mUral at the Federal BUlldin€ ln Santa Fe. phoro*ourrcrrirur.lmof Ncrrlcd.
co, N.t, No. 20206 area of the far north. The governor of the Province
of Nueva Galicia, Francisco Viisquez de Coronado,
sent this expedition off in 1539. Leading the expe-
dition was a Franciscan friar, Marcos de Niza. The
expedition's scouts were guided by Est6ban, a Moor-
ish slave who, with Cabeza de Vaca, had also sur-
Story, Charles Bennett vived the earlier colonizing expedition, traversin$
much of the Southwest in order to get back to Mex-
ico.
Thus, the Marcos de Niza expedition traveled
north in search of the fabled wealth thought to be
there. Estdban, impatient with the slow progress of
the expedition, apparently was given permission to
go on ahead with a small party. In a short time
Est6ban was far ahead of the main body of the expe-
dition, which by this time was traveling north
a
Some of the Indians were forced to leave their villages;
demands were made on others throughout the co"urse
of the winter to provide the spaniards with food and
blankets. As a result there were many conflicts.
across what is today Arizona. When the main group
was told they were but three days from the ,,Seven
Cities of Cibola" (presumed to be Zuii Indian vil-
lages in present western New Mexico), the stupefu-
ing news of Est6ban's death was received. Evidently
Estdban had made himself an unwelcome guest in
one of the Zufri villages. Cautiously, the rest of the
expedition moved forward, but many of its mem-
bers deserted in the face of Est6ban's death and in
concern for their own welfare. Friar Marcos would
later claim that he and his remainingl followers had
gotten close enough to the Seven Cities of Cibola to
glimpse a city that rose from the heights and
appeared larger than the City ofMexico.
Back in Mexico, the friar's reports were all
that the Viceroy, the.King of Spain's official and
rankingl representative in Mexico, needed to hear.
Plans were immediately made for a full-scale expe-
dition to proceed to the Seven Cities of Cibola to
discover the fabulous riches certain to be there.
The expedition would be commanded by Gov-
ernor Viisquez (Francisco Viisquez de Coronado is
often referred to as "Coronado," yet his family name
was "Viisquez"). Viisquez, from here on referred to
as usual as "Coronado," was a nobleman and a good
friend of the Viceroy. Both men invested sizable
fortunes in the undertaking. They hoped to find
rich cities as Cortds had in Mexico and Pizarro had
in Peru. The expedition of more than 300
Spaniards and about 800 Mexican Indians took
some 1500 animals with them including 550 hors-
es. Twenty-three of the horses were Coronado's.
When the Spaniards finally reached the most
southwestern ofthe Zufri villages, thought to be the
village of Hiiwikuh, in July 1540, they followed the
prescribed ritual of announcing that they were tak-
ing possession for the King of Spain of that part of
the world, in the name of the Pope, as God's repre-
sentative on earth. It was also stated that all who
recognized the KinS's authority, and would
embrace Christianity, would be treated as friends.
The Zufri inhabitants of H;iwikuh were unim-
pressed, giving their response to the ceremony in
the form of a shower of arrows and stones. Fore-
most in the minds of the Spaniards was that
THE SANTA FEAN MACMTNS, October 1992,2t
Estdban had been killed in one of the Zufri villages,
probably Hiiwikuh. Desperately needing food, the
Spaniards attacked Hiiwikuh. In the fight that
ensued, Coronado, clad in one of the three suits of
armor that he had brought along on the expedition,
was knocked senseless by a huge stone. Neverthe-
Iess, the Zufris surrendered after a short skirmish,
and the Spaniards occupied the village, quickly
devouring much of the foodstores and many of the
turkeys that the Zunis kept penned for feathers.
The conquistadors were disappointed that no
wealth in European terms existed in the Zufri vil-
lages. Undaunted, the cheerful conclusion was
quickly reached that the golden treasure surely
existed in another place in the greater area. Mean-
while, Friar Marcos, who had accompanied the
expedition, decided at that juncture to return to
Mexico City, when the rest of the expedition real-
ized that he had greatly exaggerated his reports of
the Seven Cities of Cfbola, and obviously had not
seen any of them firsthand.
Coronado sent Pedro de Tovar, accompanied
by Zufii guides, to explore the Hopi villages to the
west. There they heard of a great western river.
Coronado ordered a follow-up expedition, and Gar-
cia L6pez de Cdrdenas and his men became the first
Europeans to see the Grand Canyon of the Colorado
River. While Coronado was in Zuni, a group from
Pecos Pueblo, led by a man called "Bigotes"
("Whiskers," because of the unusual fact that he
possessed facial hair unlike other male American
Indians at this time) came to greet him. The group
brought an invitation to visit their village, showing
the Spaniards an image of a bison painted on a
hide. Coronado subsequently sent Hernando de
Alvarado and twenty men to Pecos Pueblo.
Traveling east, Alvarado made contact with
the Acomas and the people of Tiguex province on
the Rio Grande in the present-day Bernalillo area.
This small group of Spaniards went on to pecos
Pueblo, where they were escorted into the village by
flute players and given presents of woven cloth and
turquoise. At Pecos the Spaniards met a native
whom they called "El Turco" ("The Turk"),
"because he looked like one," and were told that
 large settlements and riches lay in a land to the east.
The entire expedition wintered in the Tiguex village com-
plex on the Rio Grande during 1540-41. Some of the Indians
were forced to leave their villages; demands were made on oth-
ers throughout the course of the winter to provide the
Spaniards with food and blankets. As a result of these and oth-
er pressures there were many conflicts. One thing that kept
the Spaniards enthusiastic was the stories that the Turk told of
the riches of the land of Quivira. Bigotes cautioned the
Spaniards atainst believing the tales, and was promptly put
into chains. Coronado led a glroup of his men out onto the
plains in search of the riches of Quivira as soon as the weather
broke.
By midsummer, 1541, the Spaniards had reached the
place which the Turk had said was Quivira, thought today to be
somewhere in the vicinity of Lyons, Kansas. There were no
riches, except for a copper plate that a local chief wore around
his neck. The Turk confessed that he had lied to the Spaniards
at the instigation of the Pecos Ieaders. He had led Coronado
and his men out onto the plains to "lose them, so that the hors-
es would die when their provisions gave out, and they would be
so weak, if they ever returned to Pecos, that they could be
killed without any trouble." The Spaniards responded to the
Turk's confession by garroting him, and after a short time
returned to their camp on the Rio Grande near present-day
Bernalillo. While Coronado had been on the plains, the sol-
diers who remained behind in the Tiguex villages had explored
the native villages along the Rio Grande to the north.
After the winter of t54l-1542, many of the members of
the expedition wanted to return to New Spain. Coronado suf-
fered a serious riding accident while horse racing, and he soon
decided that it was time to return to Mexico City. Two of the
friars who had accompanied the expedition remained behind, to
beglin conversion of the Pueblo Indians to Christianity. Both
friars were soon dead. Back in Mexico, both Viisquez de Coron-
ado and Carcia L6pez de Ciirdenas were tried on charges of
mistreatment of the Indians. Coronado was exonerated, but
Ciirdenas was fined and sentenced to one year of frontier (dan-
gerous) service to the crown.
Though no extensive mineral wealth had been discovered
in New Mexico, there were many villages of sedentary Indians.
Thus, there were souls to convert to Christianitv. and labor to
be exploited. However, it was not until almost two generations
after the Vilsquez de Coronado expedition that Spaniards aSain
officially traveled north into New Mexico.
The Vi{squez de Coronado expedition was significant for
several reasons: it prepared the way for eventual European set-
tlement by documentingl the country through which it trav_
eled; it contributed geographical knowledge of North America
which led to a determination of the width of the North Anreri_
can continent (information from the Viisquez de Coronado
expedition, with that of two other Spanish explorations at the
same time, enabled Spanish officials to estimate the width of
the continent from sea-to-sea); it contributed new information
on American Indian cultures; and it described flora and fauna.
B.ut perhaps most importantty, the Coronado expedition
was
significant in the initiation of the cultural convergence
b,etween European and Indian cultures in the Southwest
and
the plains.
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