We study the American sweep of history from east to west. Insofar as our language is English and our laws and institutions are largely British in origin, it makes sense. However, every time I travel to the Southwest, I'm reminded that early history of much of the United States stems not from the British, but from the Spanish who came north from New Spain (Mexico).
I would wager that few American high school students - even college students for that matter - realize that major Spanish forays into the American Southwest and the Great Plains predate the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock (1620) by some 80 years, and even the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown (1607) by 67 years.
It was in 1521, a mere 29 years after the Columbus voyage of 1492, that Hernando Cortez and his Spanish Contistatores conquered the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City. The Spanish found Mexico rich with gold. They destroyed the Aztec civilization, looted the gold, sending much of it back to Europe. Along with the gold looted from the Incas in South America, the massive influx of gold to the Old World was responsible for the European inflation of the 16th Century. But that's another story, of interest mainly to economists.
The rich finds of gold in the New World attracted soldiers and adventurers, along with missionaries dedicated to converting indigenous heathens to Christianity - and making the colonies safe for the Spanish.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was born of Spanish nobility in 1510. He arrived in New Spain (Mexico) in 1535 at age 25. He married a daughter of nobility and inherited a large portion of a Mexican estate. He was named Governor of Nueva Galicia, in contemporary northwestern Mexico.
A survivor of an expedition to the north told of a golden city of Cibola that appeared wealthy and as large as Mexico City. Surely, considering the treasures of gold found in Mexico, and rumors of the "Seven Cities of Gold" to the north, there were untold riches yet to be found.
Coronado pawned his wife's estates and borrowed additional money to assemble an expedition with the objective of finding the "Seven Cities of Cibola." His expedition consisted of 300 well-armed horsemen and foot soldiers, light artillery, nearly 1,000 Indians and servants, 1,200 horses and pack mules, and droves of cattle, sheep, and swine. The expedition included four Franciscan monks, including Juan de Padilla.
The expedition left in February of 1540, following the coast of the Sea of Cortez, present day Gulf of California. Scholars debate his exact route north through what is now Arizona and New Mexico. Eventually reaching the Zuni River, he found "Cibola," the region inhabited by Zuni Indians. As the expedition was exhausted, they demanded entrance to the village. When the Zunis refused, the soldiers attacked, constituting what is now called the Spanish "Conquest of Cibola."
There was no gold to be found in Cibola and the Zuni pueblos. This drove the Spanish to make even more arduous journeys. Coronado sent out a party that reached the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, the first Europeans to lay eyes on that piece of real estate.
Coronado wintered near present-day Bernalillo on the Rio Grande, populated by Tiguex villages. Coronado's insistence that the natives pay homage to the Pope and to the king of Spain made for a hostile reception. During the winter his army fought with the indigenous peoples, destroying the Tiguex pueblos and killing hundreds of Native Americans.
An Indian the Spanish called the "Turk" told of a wealthy civilization called Quivira, far to the east. In spring of 1541, Coronado led a portion of his expedition across the Llano Estacado, into what is now the Texas Panhandle. He came upon Indian settlements of Querechos.
He left that settlement behind, continuing southeast, finding enemies of Querchos, the Teyas. The Teyas told Coronado he was going in the wrong direction and that Quivira lay to the north. Losing confidence in the venture, Coronado sent most of his expedition back, continuing on with only 40 soldiers and an unknown number of servants.
After more than 30 days, Coronado found a larger river, believed to be the Arkansas, near present day Dodge City. Following the Arkansas to the bend in the river, he found Quivira, populated by a farming people. Coronado spent several weeks among the Quivirans hoping to learn of richer kingdoms just over the horizon. He found nothing but straw-thatched villages and fields of corn, beans, and squash.
He was escorted farther east, around present day Lyons, Kansas, only to find more native peoples who were obviously not wealthy. Before heading back west, he ordered the "Turk" garroted for his disinformation.
Coronado returned to Mexico where his expedition was branded an abject failure. He managed to resume his governorship but was removed from office in 1544, bankrupt and with war crimes charges brought against him. He died in 1554 at the age of 44.
Franciscan Friar Juan de Padilla returned to Quivira in 1542. At first well received, he was later killed by natives. Padilla became revered as a Christian martyr, although presumably not by the Native Americans who were unenthused over the prospect of conversion to Christianity.
It would be another half century until another adventurer, Juan de Onate in 1598, led an expedition from Mexico City, through the Paso del Norte, now El Paso, Texas, up the Rio Grande to northern New Mexico. The city of Santa Fe was founded in 1610 where the Pilgrims, had they arrived there instead of on the rocky barren coast of New England, could have stayed in a hotel in Santa Fe.
Our American history books and courses go from east to west - logically enough, I suppose. But in the process, a lot of American history predating Jamestown and Plymouth Rock is given short shrift.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
I would wager that few American high school students - even college students for that matter - realize that major Spanish forays into the American Southwest and the Great Plains predate the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock (1620) by some 80 years, and even the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown (1607) by 67 years.
It was in 1521, a mere 29 years after the Columbus voyage of 1492, that Hernando Cortez and his Spanish Contistatores conquered the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City. The Spanish found Mexico rich with gold. They destroyed the Aztec civilization, looted the gold, sending much of it back to Europe. Along with the gold looted from the Incas in South America, the massive influx of gold to the Old World was responsible for the European inflation of the 16th Century. But that's another story, of interest mainly to economists.
The rich finds of gold in the New World attracted soldiers and adventurers, along with missionaries dedicated to converting indigenous heathens to Christianity - and making the colonies safe for the Spanish.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was born of Spanish nobility in 1510. He arrived in New Spain (Mexico) in 1535 at age 25. He married a daughter of nobility and inherited a large portion of a Mexican estate. He was named Governor of Nueva Galicia, in contemporary northwestern Mexico.
A survivor of an expedition to the north told of a golden city of Cibola that appeared wealthy and as large as Mexico City. Surely, considering the treasures of gold found in Mexico, and rumors of the "Seven Cities of Gold" to the north, there were untold riches yet to be found.
Coronado pawned his wife's estates and borrowed additional money to assemble an expedition with the objective of finding the "Seven Cities of Cibola." His expedition consisted of 300 well-armed horsemen and foot soldiers, light artillery, nearly 1,000 Indians and servants, 1,200 horses and pack mules, and droves of cattle, sheep, and swine. The expedition included four Franciscan monks, including Juan de Padilla.
The expedition left in February of 1540, following the coast of the Sea of Cortez, present day Gulf of California. Scholars debate his exact route north through what is now Arizona and New Mexico. Eventually reaching the Zuni River, he found "Cibola," the region inhabited by Zuni Indians. As the expedition was exhausted, they demanded entrance to the village. When the Zunis refused, the soldiers attacked, constituting what is now called the Spanish "Conquest of Cibola."
There was no gold to be found in Cibola and the Zuni pueblos. This drove the Spanish to make even more arduous journeys. Coronado sent out a party that reached the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, the first Europeans to lay eyes on that piece of real estate.
Coronado wintered near present-day Bernalillo on the Rio Grande, populated by Tiguex villages. Coronado's insistence that the natives pay homage to the Pope and to the king of Spain made for a hostile reception. During the winter his army fought with the indigenous peoples, destroying the Tiguex pueblos and killing hundreds of Native Americans.
An Indian the Spanish called the "Turk" told of a wealthy civilization called Quivira, far to the east. In spring of 1541, Coronado led a portion of his expedition across the Llano Estacado, into what is now the Texas Panhandle. He came upon Indian settlements of Querechos.
He left that settlement behind, continuing southeast, finding enemies of Querchos, the Teyas. The Teyas told Coronado he was going in the wrong direction and that Quivira lay to the north. Losing confidence in the venture, Coronado sent most of his expedition back, continuing on with only 40 soldiers and an unknown number of servants.
After more than 30 days, Coronado found a larger river, believed to be the Arkansas, near present day Dodge City. Following the Arkansas to the bend in the river, he found Quivira, populated by a farming people. Coronado spent several weeks among the Quivirans hoping to learn of richer kingdoms just over the horizon. He found nothing but straw-thatched villages and fields of corn, beans, and squash.
He was escorted farther east, around present day Lyons, Kansas, only to find more native peoples who were obviously not wealthy. Before heading back west, he ordered the "Turk" garroted for his disinformation.
Coronado returned to Mexico where his expedition was branded an abject failure. He managed to resume his governorship but was removed from office in 1544, bankrupt and with war crimes charges brought against him. He died in 1554 at the age of 44.
Franciscan Friar Juan de Padilla returned to Quivira in 1542. At first well received, he was later killed by natives. Padilla became revered as a Christian martyr, although presumably not by the Native Americans who were unenthused over the prospect of conversion to Christianity.
It would be another half century until another adventurer, Juan de Onate in 1598, led an expedition from Mexico City, through the Paso del Norte, now El Paso, Texas, up the Rio Grande to northern New Mexico. The city of Santa Fe was founded in 1610 where the Pilgrims, had they arrived there instead of on the rocky barren coast of New England, could have stayed in a hotel in Santa Fe.
Our American history books and courses go from east to west - logically enough, I suppose. But in the process, a lot of American history predating Jamestown and Plymouth Rock is given short shrift.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
