Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Inspired by Marcos de Niza's description of the Seven Cities of Cibola in what is now Arizona, Coronado led the first entrada in 1540. Then the Governor of Nueva Calicia in western Mexico, Coronado led 300 Spaniards and 1000 Indians into an expedition of the southwestern United States. Their journeys took them from the southern Nayarit to central Kansas, his lieutenants journeys stretched even further. Melchor Diaz crossed the Colorado River and entered California, Pedro de Tovar fought against the Hopi, Garcia Lopez de Cardenas became the first European to see the Grand Canyon. Hernando de Alarcon sailed up the Gulf of California and navigated the lower Colorado, his journeys are given more detail under his section. Coronado, with all his men, systematically made the first exploration of the southwestern United States. The specific areas they journeyed into are not well documented, but the failure to find the Seven Cities of Cibola led to the disinterest of the Spaniards to investigate the area for some time. The next expedition did not occur until 1583 with Antonio de Espejo.

Websites

PBS.org-The West, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/coronado.htm

Route of Cornado
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/places/trails_ter/coronado.htm

Catholic Encylopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04379e.htm

DesertUSA
http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/papr/coronado.html

Handbook of Texas
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/VV/fvawt.html

From Technical University at Eindhoven. Also has a list of internet sites regarding Coronado
http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/coronado.html

Paul R. Machula
http://www.geocities.com/~zybt/coronado.htm
 

Books/Manuscripts

The journey of Coronado, 1540-1542, from the city of Mexico to the Grand Canon of the Colorado and the buffalo plains of Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, as told by himself and his followers, translated and edited with an introd., by George Parker Winship. New York, Allerton Book Co., 1922.
E125.V3  W6 1973

Narratives of the Coronado expedition, 1540-1542 [edited and translated by] George P. Hammond ... and Agapito Rey ...
E125 .V3 H4

Coronado's quest; the discovery of the southwestern states, by A.Grove Day.
 E125 .V3 D28

Coronado's seven cities, by George P. Hammond, foreword by Clinton P. Anderson.
E125 .V3 H34

In Coronado's footsteps / by Stewart Udall, with an essay by Emil W. Haury ; photography by Jerry Jacka.
E125.V3  U324x 1991

The true route of Coronado's march. by Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel
E125 .V3 D4x

Cities of gold / Douglas Preston.
F787  .P74 1992

Coronado, knight of pueblos and plains. by Bolton, Herbert Eugene
E125 .V3 B6

Coronado's march in search of the "seven cities of Cibola" : and discussion of their probable location / by General J.H.
Simpson.
E125 .V3 S6x 1884