Coronado’s Conquistadors
Coronado led 336 conquistadors-rugged Spanish adventurers, explorers, and warriors-and a few hundred Indian allies across the American Southwest. Displaying the cool vision and leadership that motivated wealthy men to financially back his expedition and other men to follow him through danger, suffering, and battle, he constantly assessed the unfamiliar terrain of present-day northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S., deploying groups of men at strategic points for communication, reconnaissance, and mutual protection, based on their individual capabilities. He staggered their movements, waiting to advance one company until the natural resources consumed by the previous one had time to replenish themselves.
The conquistadors defeated the Zuni and Pueblo Indians in bloody battles, during one of which Coronado fell wounded and nearly perished.
They endured broiling desert temperatures, freezing mountains, dangerous animals, hunger, and thirst.
Coronado’s Expedition through Northwest Oklahoma, by G. N. Taylor. Coronado’s expedition of conquistadors included several hundred Indians and a captured Native guide called “The Turk.” The ever-present Catholic priest accompanies Coronado in his search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. (www.gntayloroklaart.com)
Read the entire Oklahoma story in John J. Dwyer's The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma and Its People volume 1 of a 2-part series on the 46th state and the people who make this state very special. |