The Spanish Explore Texas

Cabeza de Vaca’s Report About Texas

• Huge furry “cows” with small horns (buffalo)

• Described land as vast and fertile

• No gold• Heard tales of cities with

magnificent houses and lands rich with copper, emeralds, and turquoise

•Viceroy - a person appointed to rule an area as the representative of the king.

•Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza wanted to send an expedition to search for these riches.

Gold, I tell you! Bring me GOLD!

Fray Marcos Expedition• Estevanico went along as a guide

• Estevanico sent back word that he had found the Seven Cities of Cibola with gold, silver, and precious stones

• He was soon killed by the Zuni Indians in New Mexico

• Fray Marcos saw the cities from a distance at sunset & thought it was covered in gold.

• It was really adobe buildings covered with straw

Coronado Expedition•Francisco Coronado, Fray

Marcos, & 300 soldiers•Found Cibola in 1540 – NO

GOLD! – only angry Zuni Indians in adobe huts

•Divided his forces and kept exploring.

•Small group discovered the Grand Canyon in New Mexico & Arizona.

•Met “the Turk” in Tiguex, New Mexico

•The Turk told him of a fabulous place called “Quivera” that was filled with riches.

Coronado Explores Texas looking for Quivera

•Plains as flat as a bowl, high grasses, horizon all around them

•Put wooden stakes in the ground so they could find their way back. “Staked Plains” – - - - “Llano Estacado”

•Explored Palo Duro Canyon

•Finally made their way into Kansas.

•Found no wealth; killed the Turk

•Reported that Texas was a country of fine appearance and had good soil for farming, but NO GOLD!

Hernando De Soto * Led an expedition from Florida to the Mississippi River lookingfor gold

* Killed by Indians nearMississippi River.

Moscoso Explores East Texas

• Part of De Soto’s exploration from Florida to the Mississippi River

• First time a European expedition reached the Mississippi River

• When De Soto died, Moscoso led the expedition as far as the lower Brazos River in Texas, but found no riches

• Went back to the Mississippi, built boats, and sailed to Mexico

Luis de Moscoso

Luis de Moscoso

Establishment of

New Mexico• Because no gold or treasures were found in Texas, Spain lost interest in exploring Texas

• 1609 a group of Spaniards set up a permanent settlement at the mouth of the Rio Grande where Native Americans had also settled.

• They named it New Mexico and established its capital at Santa Fe.

Lady in BlueMaria de Jesus de Agreda•Spanish nun who claimed

that her spirit made 500 trips from 1620 to 1631 without physically leaving Spain

• Jumanos in eastern new Mexico and west Texas and Caddos in East Texas told numerous stories about having been taught by the Lady in Blue.