Renaissance · North America · Exploration

1540

Coronado Marches for Cibola

1540

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado led a glittering expedition of three hundred Spaniards and thirteen hundred native allies out of Compostela in search of the Seven Cities of Gold. He found dusty Pueblo villages instead and pushed on into Kansas, dragging disappointment across half a continent. His expedition produced the first European descriptions of the Grand Canyon, the Pueblo peoples, and the great bison herds of the prairie.