Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Hello! My name is Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, and I was an explorer from a country called Spain. I was born around the year 1510, and ever since I was a young boy, I dreamed of going on great adventures. In 1535, I finally got my chance to sail across the big ocean to a place called New Spain. Today, you know this land as the country of Mexico. It was a new world, and I was excited to see what I could find.

In New Spain, I heard amazing stories about the Seven Cities of Cíbola. People said these cities were built from gold and filled with treasure! The leader of New Spain, a man named Antonio de Mendoza, heard these stories too. He asked me to lead a big expedition to find these golden cities. I said yes! In the year 1540, my incredible journey began. I led a huge group of people, including hundreds of soldiers and friends. We also brought along many animals like horses, mules, and sheep to help us carry our supplies. We traveled north for a very long time, into lands that people from my part of the world had never seen before.

After many months of traveling, we finally reached the place we thought was Cíbola in July of 1540. But we had a big surprise! It was not a city of gold. It was a village where the Zuni people lived. I was disappointed, but our adventure was not over. I sent some of my men to explore the lands around us. They found something incredible: a giant canyon that was so deep and wide it looked like the earth had split open! They were the first Europeans to ever see the Grand Canyon. Our journey continued, and in 1541, we traveled across huge, flat grasslands called the Great Plains. We were searching for another special place called Quivira, but it did not have any gold either.

We returned to New Spain in 1542 without any gold or jewels, and some people said my trip was a failure. But I believe we discovered something much more important than treasure. We explored a giant part of the land that is now the Southwestern United States. I lived to be about 44 years old. Today, people remember me not for the gold I didn't find, but for the amazing lands I explored. My journey gave the world new knowledge about this beautiful region and its incredible sights, like the Grand Canyon.