Yeah sure, if you say so it must be true...
The New Mexico Genealogical Society, founded in 1960, is composed entirely of volunteers. 2010 will be our 50th year of providing research materials and networking opportunities for family historians.
A Cuarto Centennial History of New Mexico
by Robert J. Torrez
|  | Chapter One: 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 Hernan Cortes 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 ship wrecks 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 Estévan (also known as Estévan the Moor and Estevánico), 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. Estévan went along as the expedition's guide.
When the expedition approached what is now southern Arizona, Estévan 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 Estévan had learned of a place called Cibola, and had been told this Cibola 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 Estévan's companions, who reported that their colorful guide had been killed. Fray Marcos' report tells us he was determined to see Cibola for himself, so despite the news of Estévan'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 Cibola where Estévan was killed was in reality the ancestral Zuni 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 Cibola 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 Vasquez de Coronado. This expedition, as all such Spanish colonial enterprises of the time, was privately financed. Vasquez 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, Vasquez de Coronado set out from Mexico to find these fabled cities of gold. The chronicles tell us that when arrived at the outskirts of the multi-storied, stone and mud village of Hawikah, many unkind words were uttered about Frey Marcos, as the expectations conjured up by his imaginative report were nowhere to be seen
The Spanish were met by a line of Zuni warriors, intent on defending their home against these strange visitors. Vasquez 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 Zuni defenders. Casualties were few, and after the battle, the Spanish replenished their supplies from captured Zuni 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 Vasquez 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, Vasquez 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 lndian 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 the same region traversed four decades earlier by Vasquez de Coronado. One of these, led by Fray Bernardo Beltran and Antonio de Espejo in 1582, is credited with the first official use of the term, la Nueva Mexico, 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.
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