CORONADO

The Coronado expedition was a wildly popular get-rich-quick undertaking, attracting Spaniards and Indians alike. Seeking to rebuff allegations that the planned expedition would sap New Spain of manpower, Coronado petitioned Viceroy Mendoza to hear testimony to the contrary. According to

Antonio de Mendoza, “Documento …,” trans. George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542, (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1940), p. 114:

[among the witnesses were] Pedro Almides Cherino, his Majesty’s inspector in this New Spain …. [who] stated that most of … the people were unattached individuals who had come to the country recently in search of a livelihood.

New Spain had attracted many who wanted a better life. Columbus’ discovery of America excited the whole of European civilization. A mere fifty-four days after his arrival in Lisbon on the return of his first voyage in 1493, Columbus’s letter to the King and Queen about his discoveries was printed in Latin in Italy. By the time Cortes’ sea captain, a man named Jimenez, by the time he discovered pearls in Baja California (which he thought was an island), there were even whimsical novels about it, such as Montalvo’s best-seller that historian Herbert Bolton cites:

Herbert E. Bolton, Coronado: Knight of Pueblos and Plains, (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1949): p. 7:

Know ye that at the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very close to that part of the Terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by black women without a single man among them, and they lived in the manner of Amazons. They were robust of body with strong, passionate hearts and great virtue. The island itself is one of the wildest in the world on account of its bold and craggy rocks.

These were the kinds of images that filled the minds of Europeans dreaming about America. Coronado headed an expedition made up largely of men like himself – young, but not first born. Primogeniture meant the bulk of inheritance and responsibility went to the eldest. So while Coronado’s elder brother Gonzalo inherited the family mayorazgo (which means entailed estate) back in Spain, Coronado and his other brother left for America. Juan became an official in Costa Rica, and Coronado followed Viceroy Mendoza to Mexico City.

● Get book