Coronado's North American Expedition

Timeline

1. 1540Culiacán—northern Sonora frontier · New SpainIn early 1540, Coronado assembled hundreds of Spanish soldiers, Indian allies, and livestock in the governorship of New Galicia, marching north from Culiacán along the route previously scouted by Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza into the present-day American Southwest, formally launching the quest for the golden cities.
2. 1540–1541Hawikuh (Cíbola) / Zuni Pueblo · New MexicoIn July 1540 the expedition reached Hawikuh (the legendary Cíbola), finding not a golden city but a stone-built Pueblo village; they captured the Zuni region and explored neighboring pueblos such as Tusayan (Hopi). Expedition member García López de Cárdenas became the first European to behold the Grand Canyon during this period. With the golden city legend debunked, Coronado pressed on eastward in search of the more distant Quivira.
3. 1541–1542Quivira (Great Plains) · QuiviraIn spring 1541, Coronado led a picked detachment east from New Mexico, crossing present-day Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle deep into the North American Great Plains, reaching Quivira with Indian guides. The local Wichita settlements lived in grass houses by farming, with no golden wealth. In 1542 the expedition returned defeated to New Spain; though it failed to find the golden city, it was the first to extend European vision into the heart of the North American Great Plains.