Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado is
lauded with the discovery of the Grand Canyon as well as credited with the exploration of the American Southwest. His story begins in 1510 in Salamanca, Spain born to a prosperous
and wealthy family. However, seeing that he was the youngest and would not
inherit the family estate Coronado decided to go to New Spain. There, Francisco Vasquez
earned a position in the colonial government and soon enough met his wife, Dona
Beatriz who was the daughter of the colonial treasurer.
Through
the explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Vasquez found out about the Seven Gold
Cities of Cibola. European explorers believed that due to the immense wealth
discovered in the Aztec and Inca empires, the same amount of treasures would be
found in the Americas. In 1539, he decided to go out and find Cibola. Coronado
set out with 300 soldiers and 1,000 Indians. He ended up encountering Indians
in New Mexico. He destructed the tribe of the Zunis that offered no type of
wealth or luxuries and also encountered other tribes such as the Hopi. Continuing on his exploration, one of Coronado’s men,
Garcia Lopez de Cardenas spotted the Grand Canyon located in Arizona. Coronado
continued on his search to Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
He
returned to Spain in 1542 and became the governor of Nueva Galicia. The
inability to find wealth in the explored lands broke off the friendship between
Coronado and Antonio de Mendoza. Coronado was removed from his position as
governor due to his cruel treatment towards the natives. He later lived in
Mexico City where he ended up passing away on September 22nd in
1554. After Coronado's attempt to find the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, many Spanish
explorers branded him a failure. He is one of the first Europeans to explore
the American west.
Great Job! Please add an image of the explorer or a map of his explorations for full credit.
ReplyDeleteMany conquistadores set out to find gold; however, the result is finding tribes who were not as advanced as the Mayans or Aztecs
ReplyDelete*was
DeleteMost of the explores that were European mainly went to the Americas to find wealth/riches and ended up enslaving the Indians or destroying there way of life as Francisco Vasquez de Coronado did to the Zunis and other tribes he visted.
ReplyDeleteDid this explorer named the Grand Canyon?
ReplyDeleteI think that in my eyes he can be considered a failure. He did make the discovery of the Grand Canyon; however, his greed overcame him when he began to look for more. He did not leave much of a legacy behind him apart from the Grand Canyon.
ReplyDeleteSince it was on of Coronado's men who first spotted the Grand Canyon, is her or should he be creditted for it's discovery?
ReplyDeleteHe was born into a wealthy family as many explorers are.
ReplyDeletehe really doesn't seem all that of a great explorer to me he may have discovered the grand canyon but it isn't that much of a big deal in my opinion
ReplyDelete