Quivira - Discovery

Discovery

In 1539, the Spaniard Francisco Vasquez de Coronado led a large expedition north from Mexico to search for wealth and the "Seven Cities of Cibola". Instead of wealth, he found farming peoples living in the flat-roofed adobe towns in what are today Arizona and New Mexico. These were the Hopi, Zuni, and Rio Grande Pueblo Indians of today. Coronado was disappointed by the lack of wealth among the Pueblos, but he heard from an Indian the Spanish called "the Turk" of a wealthy civilization named Quivira far to the east, where the chief supposedly drank from golden cups hanging from the trees. Following this tale he led his army of more than one thousand Spaniards and Indian allies onto the Great Plains in 1541. The Turk was his guide to Quivira.

Coronado traversed the panhandle of Texas. He found two groups of Indians, the Querechos and the Teyas. He was heading southeast when the Teyas told him that the Turk was taking him the wrong direction and that Quivira was to the north. It appears the Turk was luring the Spaniards away from New Mexico with tales of wealth in Quivira, hoping perhaps that they would get lost in the vastness of the Plains. Coronado sent most of his slow-moving army back to New Mexico. With 30 mounted Spaniards, priests and Indian followers, the Turk, and Teya guides he forced into service, he set off northward to Quivira. After a march of more than thirty days, he found a large river, probably the Arkansas, and soon met several Indians hunting buffalo. They led him to Quivira.