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Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
Pabellón Consistorial medallón 01 Francisco Vázquez Coronado.JPG
Francisco Vázquez Coronado in the Plaza Mayor de Salamanca
Governor of New Galicia
Monarch Charles I
Personal details
Born 1510
Salamanca, Crown of Castile
Died 22 September 1554
Mexico City, Viceroyalty of New Spain
Religion Catholic
Military service
Allegiance  Spain
Years of service 1535–1554
Battles/wars Spanish conquest of Mexico
Exploration of North America

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján (1510 – 22 September 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. Coronado had hoped to reach the Cities of Cíbola, often referred to now as the mythical Seven Cities of Gold, which is a term not invented until American gold-rush days in the 1800s. His expedition marked the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, among other landmarks. His name is often Anglicized as "Vasquez de Coronado".

Coronado was born into a noble family in Salamanca, Spain, in 1510 as the second son of Juan Vázquez de Coronado y Sosa de Ulloa and Isabel de Luján. Juan Vázquez held various positions in the administration of the recently captured Emirate of Granada under Iñigo López de Mendoza, its first Spanish governor.

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado went to New Spain (present-day Mexico) in 1535 at about age 25, in the entourage of its first Viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, the son of his father's patron and Coronado's personal friend. In New Spain, he married twelve-year-old Beatriz de Estrada, called "the Saint" (la Santa), sister of Leonor de Estrada, ancestor of the de Alvarado family and daughter of Treasurer and Governor Alonso de Estrada y Hidalgo, Lord of Picón, and wife Marina Flores Gutiérrez de la Caballería, from a converso Jewish family. Coronado inherited a large portion of a Mexican encomendero estate through Beatriz and had eight children by her.


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Wikipedia

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