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The Spanish came seeking treasure and later tried to convert Indians and control New World territory and trade. They introduced horses to the Plains Indians. Hispanic people continue to move to Nebraska to work today. Cataloging Information: Names: Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Fray Marcos de Niza, Esteban, the Turk, Juan de Padilla, Hernán de Soto, Juan de Oñate, Etienne de Bourgmont, Pedro de Villasur, Francisco Sistaca, Pierre and Paul Mallet; Hector Carondelet, James Mackay, John Evans, Pedro Vial, Juan Chalvert, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, James Wilkinson, Zebulon Pike, Fernando de Melgares, Manuel Lisa, William Becknell Place Names: Lindsborg, Kansas; Wichita, Kansas; El Cuartelejo, Scott County, Kansas; Santa Fe, New Mexico; St Louis, Missouri; Fort Carlos IV, Dakota County, Nebraska; Fort Atkinson, Nebraska Indians Bands and Tribes: Pueblo, Apache, Wichita, Pawnee, Kansa, Comanche, Osage, Blackfoot, Otoe, Arikara Keywords: Missouri River, Yellowstone Expedition, Adams-Oñis Treaty, Santa Fe Trail, Mexican War, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, the Turk, Juan de Oñate, Pedro de Villasur, James Mackay, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Zebulon Pike, Manuel Lisa, Cibola, Quivira, Harahey, Santa Fe Trail Photographs / Images: a shelterhouse constructed to resemble a Spanish fortification at Coronado Heights, near Lindsborg, Kansas; map showing how Spanish horses from the Southwest spread rapidly across the Plains through intertribal trade and horse stealing; Father Padilla monument at Herington, Kansas; grass house built by the Wichitas; excavation of the El Cuartelejo site in Scott County, Kansas; George Catlin sketch of Comanche horsemen about 1834; perpetual calendar of Spanish manufacture found at the site of Fort Atkinson; Spanish coins dating from 1767 to 1804 excavated at Fort Atkinson; hide painting of a 1720 battle showing Pueblos and Spanish soldiers guarding a horse herd; signed certificates that accompanied medals presented in the 1790s to an Omaha Indian to gain his allegiance to the Spanish crown; mysterious rock carving near White Clay, Nebraska; Spanish stirrup found in Franklin County, Nebraska, in 1874; Zebulon Pike; Manuel Lisa; detail from Perrin du Lac’s 1802 map of the Missouri River; Frederick Piercy’s 1853 sketch of Fort John (Fort Laramie); José Merivale; Mexican muleteers loading a pack train for the Santa Fe Trail; homes of Hispanic sugar beet workers near Scottsbluff in the 1920s; inset cover of “Coronado in Quivera” (Songs of the Ak-Sar-Ben Pageant, 1922) Coronado Heights (from southeast) near Lindsborg, Kansas. The structure on the hill is a shelterhouse constructed to resemble a Spanish fortification. Courtesy Kansas State Historical Society. p I o By James A. Hanson Spain laid claim to the New World intrepid Europeans. a Spanish soldier shipwrecked on the in 1492. In 1541 Vasquez de Coronado The movement of objects and ideas Texas coast in 1528, reached Mexico explored New Mexico, Texas, Okla­ and by inference, people, from the with three other survivors eight years homa, and Kansas. The first Spanish Southwest toward the Missouri River later. He repeated fabulous tales of settlers took up residence in New in prehistoric times canbe documented golden cities he had heard from Indi­ Mexico in 1598. In 106 years Spain had through archeology and anthropology. ans along the way, and these stories explored three thousand miles inland Sherds of broken southwestern pots eventually excited the cupidity and and established a permanent settle­ have been found in the Wildcat Hills of missionary zeal of higher authorities.' ment two thousand miles from the western Nebraska. Turquoise beads FrayMarcos de Nizawas so impressed coast. For the English to have equalled have been recovered from prehistoric by them that he purchased Cabeza de this feat, they would have had to have village sites ineasternNebraska. There Vaca's African slave, Esteban,who had reached California from Jamestown is an incredible and apparently not accompanied Cabeza de Vaca during by 1656 and established an English coincidental parallel between the bi­ his wanderings. settlement somewhere in Colorado by zarre Pawnee Morning Starceremony, FrayMarcos andEsteban,with over 1713. When we considerthe vast Span­ which included the sacrifice ofa virgin 300 Christian Indians, went north a ish colonial empire, extending from female captured from an enemy tribe, thousand miles to the pueblos of Tierra del Fuego in the south uninter­ and an Aztec sacrificialceremonyfrom present-dayNewMexicoin 1539.When ruptedto Vancouver Islandinthe north the valley of Mexico. These and other they came in sight ofHawikuh Pueblo, and from Florida on the east to Califor­ instances point to a very ancient con­ Fray Marcos sent Esteban and the nia on the west, it is with respect and nection between the High Plains and entourage ahead, where he and most admiration for the tenacity of these Desert Southwest. ofthe followers were put to death. Fray The history of the Great Plains be­ Marcos fled back to Mexico, stating Dr. James A. Hanson served as director of gins with the fabled reconnaissance of that he had seen Cibola, with its doors the Nebraska State Historical Society from Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in sheathed in goldand turquoise." 1985 to 1992. 1540-41. AlvarNunez Cabeza de Vaca, The viceroy ofNew Spain wasted no 2 Spain on the Plains time organizing an expedition to pick was especially engaging with his sto­ He was seriouslyinjured on the return this fabulous plum. He selected Fran­ ries. When the Spaniards showed him trip to Mexico and was later tried but cisco Vasquez de Coronado, a personal gold, he assured them that it could be acquitted on a variety of charges relat­ friend and governor of the important found in Quivira. ingto the expedition's failure. He never province of Nueva Galicia." Only Coronado and his flying column recovered from the physical and men­ twenty-eight, Coronado was a gifted reached the "Province of Quivira" in tal strain and died in 1554 atthe age of administrator with a well-connected central Kansas nearpresentLindsborg. forty-four. wife and an influential father. He was It turned out to be a series of small It is perhaps helpful to one's sense a man on the rise, and this expedition Wichita Indian villages along the Ar­ of historical chronology to note that was the opportunity of a lifetime. He kansas River.5 The Wichitas lived in while Coronado's army was exploring marched out of Compostela, Mexico, in fascinating conical houses made of the Southwest, a Spanish army of 600 February 1540 with 230 soldiers and poles and grass, and relied upon gar­ menunder Hernan de Soto was search­ 800 servants to find Cibola and the dening and hunting for their suste­ ing for gold in the Southeast. Begin­ seven golden cities. nance. There were several related ning in 1539, de Soto's army marched Instead, Coronado found a series of bands, sometimes confederated and from Florida to North Carolina to Mis­ Pueblo Indian villages in present New sometimes at war with one another. souri and finally to Texas before turn­ Mexico. There was not the smallest Theyrangedover much of Texas, Okla­ ing back. De Soto died offever andwas piece of gold or silver, and no great homa, and Kansas. buried in the Mississippi River; the quantity of turquoise. Each commu­ East of Quivira, near present Fort 311 disheartened survivors sailed for nity did have extensive gardens, but Riley, Kansas, was the "province" of Mexico in 1543. Curiously, a woman no livestock except for turkeys, dogs, Harahey,which Coronado didnotvisit, actually united these two fabled expe­ and parrots. The Pueblos carriedon an but a delegation from there came to ditions. She was an Indian slave be­ active trade with the "Vaquero" Indi­ him. These Indians were related to the longing to Juan de Zaldivar, and she ans to the east, exchangingcorn, beans, Wichitas and were possibly Pawnees. had escaped from the Coronado expe­ squash, and tobacco for meat, skins, Of course there was no gold any­ dition in the Texas Panhandle. The and slaves. where, and by this time, Coronado woman fled to east Texas, where she These "Vaqueros" were Apaches, surelysawhis future crumblingto dust. was captured by de Soto's men. They divided into several groups, and in­ The Turk was strangled for lying, but believedher storywhen she recited the habiting the Plains from Nebraska and modern scholarship may have vindi­ names of various captains in Wyoming to Texas and New Mexico. cated him. When shown gold, he had Coronado's army. The two armies had They were entirely on foot and used used the Wichita word meaning metal. beenjust 300 miles apart at one time, dogs to haul their leather tents and The Quivirans did possess native cop­ and the slave woman said her travel otherpossessions. The Spaniardsfound per from the Great Lakes, and the had taken only nine days." the Apaches friendly and helpful, and Turk may not have understood it was Although Coronado's failure brought maintained generally good relations different from gold." The conquista­ a temporary halt to official Spanish with them for nearly two centuries.' dors returnedempty-handedto Mexico.