Coronado's Expedition: Seven Cities to Quivira

The expedition set out from Compostela with about 400 European men-at-arms, mostly Spaniards, heading for the fabled golden city of Cíbola. On the way north the party discovered a pass, now known as Montezuma Pass. The national memorial here commemorates the first organized expedition into the Southwest. Exactly where the army marched between Chichilticalli and the Zuni country is still disputed, so the pin marks the memorial rather than a proven campsite.

Location precision: The exact route between Chichilticalli and Zuni is disputed; the pin marks the memorial near Montezuma Pass, not a proven campsite.

Visitor guidance: A national memorial on the border; check current visitor information before you go.

Friar Marcos de Niza had told of a city of vast wealth, a golden city called Cíbola. What the army found was Hawikuh, a Zuni town. The residents refused the Spaniards entry, and in the battle that followed Coronado was injured. He did admire the town: 'they are very good houses, with three, four, and five stories,' he wrote. After the revolt of 1680 the Zuni permanently abandoned Hawikuh.

Captain García López de Cárdenas, with Hopi guides and a small group of Spanish soldiers, went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, somewhere between Desert View and Moran Point, becoming the first non-Native Americans to see it. Some of the men descended about a third of the way into the canyon until lack of water forced them to return. The pin marks Moran Point, one end of that stretch of rim.

Location precision: Sources place the viewpoint on the south rim between Desert View and Moran Point; the pin marks Moran Point.

Visitor guidance: Moran Point is a rim viewpoint on the South Rim; check park access information.

For the winter of 1540–41 Coronado took over a village across the river from present-day Bernalillo, near Albuquerque. Conflict with the Tiwa-speaking pueblos of the valley led to the brutal Tiguex War. The Coronado Historic Site preserves the ruins of Kuaua, one of several Tiwa-speaking pueblos in the area when the Spaniards arrived. Its visitor center displays fourteen of the restored kiva murals.

Location precision: The village Coronado used as winter quarters is not securely identified; the pin marks Kuaua Pueblo, a neighbouring Tiwa village nearby.

Visitor guidance: The visitor center displays restored kiva murals.

Coronado heard from a guide the Spaniards called the Turk of a wealthy nation called Quivira far to the east, and in spring 1541 the army set out across the plains. On the way a hailstorm broke many tents and tattered many helmets. Blanco Canyon, near Floydada in Texas, was only confirmed in the 1990s as one of the expedition's campsites, after searchers found more than forty crossbow points and dozens of horseshoe nails of Spanish manufacture there.

Location precision: The campsite is identified by archaeology only as likely; the pin marks Blanco Canyon near Floydada, Texas.

Coronado reached Quivira itself on 29 July 1541. Instead of a golden kingdom he found straw-thatched villages; a copper pendant was the only evidence of wealth, and Coronado found no gold. Before leaving he ordered the Turk garroted, and the army turned back. Coronado Heights, a hill near Lindsborg in central Kansas, is alleged to be near the place where he gave up his search; chain mail from Spanish armour was found at the nearby Sharps Creek Site in 1915.

Location precision: Quivira is believed to lie in central Kansas, but the hill's link to Coronado is only alleged; the pin marks Coronado Heights.

Visitor guidance: Coronado Heights is now a park on the hill northwest of Lindsborg.