Coronado Comes Back Empty-handed

            Brave explorer Francisco Coronado returned to Mexico City to report that there are no Seven Cities of Cibola. .
             He left in 1539 going north with about 300 Spaniards, and hundreds of Indians and native slaves. He was made commander of the land expedition to seize the treasure in what were said to be cities with streets paved in gold. .
             He followed rumors of the cities to the Zuni pueblo of Hawikuh, but he found no great wealth there. .
             He continued northeast for months, and sent scouting parties in all directions. One party was sent northwest, and they were the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon. .
             In the spring of 1541, he moved into Palo Duro Canyon, in what is now Texas. He left most of his men there and traveled north with horsemen to another reportedly weathy city. There he found only the found the Wichita tribe in what is now Kansas. .
             He realized that the Seven Cities of Cibola were just rumors. He returned to Mexico City with 100 of his 300 men, and no riches. .
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             Francisco Coronado was born in 1510 in Salamanca, Spain. When he was 25 he came to Mexico as the assistant to the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza. It was Mendoza who sent him on his mission to explore the northern territories and to look for the seven golden cities. .
             When Coronado returned from his expedition, Mendoza called him a failure, and wanted nothing more to do with him. Coronado returned to New Galicia to resume his post as governor. A court later convicted him of corruption and the mistreatment of natives.He died that same year, 1544, in Mexico City.
             Despite his famous failure, Coronado is still remembered as one of the great explorers of the Americas. He was the first European to visit much of what is now the southwestern United States - Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Many landmarks in those states are named after him.
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