CORONADO

Cortes was the man of the hour: With fierce energy he had subjugated Mexico in the name of the crown, and his cousin Pizzaro had brought Peru under its sway. Cortes had accomplished what Columbus’ tried and failed to do: send a ship to the Moluccas oriental spice islands by going west (albeit from the Mexico). Despite all this (and indeed, because of it), the King had issues with Cortes. His Highness summoned Cortes to Spain to defend his rights in America.

And the Crown dispatched Mendoza to America. He carried with him a royal cedula authorizing him to name explorers for the north where Cortes heretofore claimed exclusive rights.

Upon his return to America, Cortes carried on as before, this time leading a colony north to the Island of Pearls (California) in 1539. Such initiative was not to be rewarded again; This time Cortes was recalled, colony and all, in one of Mendoza’s first acts as New Spain’s first viceroy.

Herbert E. Bolton, Coronado: Knight of Pueblos and Plains (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1949), p.14:

"Mendoza had come as viceroy primarily to estab­lish royal authority on this seething American frontier, and to put a check on anybody whose ambitions and power might make him dangerous to the interests of the Crown. He was especially instructed to end rampant Indian slavery and other abuses practiced by the conquistadors.… [such as Cortes’ encomendero over 23,000 Indian households.]

Cortes acted too much on his own to suit the King – he was a threat: When the Cuban governor earlier sent an envoy to recall him from Mexico while he was conquering it, he persuaded the envoy to abandon his purpose and join him.

Coronado, on the other hand, was brand new, having never been in Mexico before meeting Mendoza. And he proved loyal: He undertook assignments as Mendoza offered them, and he did not undertake to go beyond their completion. He was a company man.

Herbert E. Bolton, Coronado: Knight of Pueblos and Plains (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1949 p. 49:

"[As Bishop Zumárraga (writing to his nephew) said:] The Marques [Cortes] claims the conquest of [Cibola] belongs to him, but the viceroy [Mendoza] is taking it for the Emperor … that the conquest may be Christian and apostolic, and not a butchery."

What better man to carry out Mendoza’s plan than Coronado?

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