Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado died of an infectious disease on September 22, 1554, in New Mexico.

In 1952, the United States established Coronado National Memorial near Sierra Vista, Arizona to commemorate his expedition.

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was born into an aristocratic family in Salamanca, Spain c.1510. He was the second son of Juan Vázquez de Coronado y Sosa de Ulloa and Isabel de Luján. His father held various government positions.

Coronado travelled to New Spain (present-day Mexico) in 1535 as a young man of 25 with the support of his friend, Antonio de Mendoza, who was the first viceroy of New Spain.

While in New Spain he got married to the daughter of the colonial treasurer and managed to land a position with the government. Eventually he rose up through the ranks and was appointed as the Governor of the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia (New Galicia), a province of New Spain located northwest of Mexico in 1538.

In the 1530s, stories were rife that there were cities abundant in gold and precious gems located to the north of Mexico. Coronado sent Friar Marcos de Niza and Estevanico on an expedition in 1539 to see if there was any truth to these tales.

Only de Niza returned alive from the expedition and he told the governor about a golden city called Cibola whose residents were assumed to have killed Estevanico. De Niza mentioned that the golden city was very wealthy and stood on a high hill.

Excited about the existence of such a wealthy place, Coronado started planning for an expedition to seek out the riches. He, along with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, invested their own money in funding the expedition with the mission of finding the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.

The expedition led by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado from Mexico to present-day Kansas between 1540 and 1542 marked the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Even though the expedition failed to find the cities of gold it primarily sought, it was of significant historical importance.