CORONADO, FRANCISCO VASQUEZ DE (c. 15oo 1554), Spanish explorer of the American southwest, accompanied Antonio de Mendoza to New Spain in 1535, and became a lead ing grandee. In 1538 he was chosen a regidor, or member of the town council, of Mexico City, and in 1539 was appointed gov ernor of the province of New Galicia. In the same year Melchior Diaz reaffirmed the fabulous report of Fray Marcos de Niza con cerning the "seven cities of Cibola" (now identified almost cer tainly with the Zuni pueblos of New Mexico), and in February of 154o Coronado left Compostela, at the head of an expedition of 2 5o horsemen, 7o Spanish footmen, and several hundred friendly Indians with baggage animals and herds of cattle, for their exploration and conquest. Coronado with a part of his force captured the "seven cities" in July. The fabled wealth, however, was not there, and he moved westward, to the Rio Grande, where in the autumn (154o) he was joined by the rest of his force. Exploring parties visited Tusayan (the Hopi or Moqui country of northeastern Arizona), the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and the Rio Grande (Tuguez). Having wintered here, the expedition, reinspirited by stories of an Eldorado called "Quivira" far to the northeast, advanced onto the plains of Texas in April, 1541. Finding nothing but prairie and bison, most of them retraced their steps, but Coronado with about 3o horsemen penetrated to the central part of Kansas, explored the misnamed Eldorado—a village of Wichita tepees—and in October rejoined his forces on the Rio Grande. In the spring of 1542 he led a tattered remnant of his army home, to taste the bitter cup of incompetence and failure. He nevertheless continued in his ca pacity of governor of New Galicia until 1544, when his residencies was taken and he was convicted of "general neglect of duty . . . rank favoritism and numerous irregularities," was fined and for a short time was actually imprisoned. He retired to Mexico City where he still held the post of regidor, and rose to petty prom inence in the municipal routine. In 1549 he received a small encomienda (a grant of land and the Indians residing on it) in recognition of "meritorious services in discovery and conquest," but his health began to give way, and sometime about the first of November, 1554, he died. Though Coronado is one of the least of the conquistadors, his march looms up as one of the feats of the Spanish conquest in America, both on its own merits and by its consequences a tribute to the genius of Antonio de Mendoza. In connection with it, Hernando de Alarcon in 154o ascended the Gulf of California to its head, and the Colorado river for a long distance above its mouth.
See G. P. Winship, "The Coronado Expedition" in the i4th Report of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology (1896). (W. B. P.)