Documents of the Coronado Expedition

Documents of the Coronado Expedition, 1539-1542: "They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty, nor Did They Wish to Become His Subject" edited by Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 2005.

This fairly massive volume contains transcriptions (very important, as many earlier translations contain significant errors) and new translations of all of the known documents related to the expedition of discovery launched from New Spain in 1539 with the objective of finding and conquering for Spain the Seven Cities of Cibola, located in what is now New Mexico, USA.

My biggest take-aways were:

1. The enigma of Fray Marcos de Niza. He'd been sent north by Viceroy Mendoza to follow-up on reports from the far-traveling survivors of the disastrous Panfilo de Narvaez expedition (Cabeza de Vaca and companions) who arrived at San Miguel de Culiacan on April 1, 1536. They'd heard from native informants about large cities with multi-storied buildings to the north of their route. Marcos had the Moor, Esteban, one of the most intelligent and adept of the survivors, with him as guide. Among the many unanswered questions regarding Marcos are: after receiving word of the the latter's death at the hands of the Zuni at Hawikku, did Marcos actually see the Zuni villages and then just exaggerate their size and importance? Or did he simply flee south in fear of his life and invent the whole thing? And why on earth would he then accompany the Vazquesz de Coronado expedition back north, if he knew it would only result in him being exposed as a fraud? 
2. Vazquez de Coronado had good intelligence that the Zuni villages were much less than Marcos related, from an advance guard under Melchior Diaz and Juan de Zaldivar, sent out by Viceroy Mendoza in 1539, to follow-up on Marcos' report. While they did not reach Cibola (their northward progress was halted by snow at Chichilticale, in what is now southeastern Arizona), they interviewed numerous natives who had been there. Diaz' description, which he sent to Mendoza, based on this, is astonishingly accurate and objective and belies Marcos' tales of precious metals and wealth. This begs the question: why did Vazquez de Coronado and Mendoza, his principal backer, persist?
3. The size and importance of Hernando de Alarcon's parallel voyage up the Sea of Cortez and the lower Colorado River, designed to meet up with Vazquez de Coronado and re-supply him.
4. The number (estimated at 1,300) and importance of Mexican Indian allies to the expedition. My review of Return to Aztlan, by Dana Levin Rojo, gives more information on the importance of this factor to all of the Spanish expeditions northward.
5. There has been a lot of time, effort and ink spent on trying to trace Vazquez de Coronado's route from Sonora (Corazones) to Zuni, but, given the size of the expedition (both men and animals) there are some very simple constraints that limit the possibilities. Firstly; there had to be enough water to keep this massive group alive. In my opinion this limits the route north to the San Pedro River Valley, followed by a jump north (across the first "gran despoblado") to the Gila, followed by another jump north ("segundo gran despoblado") to the San Francisco. Hand-in-hand with availability of water is having enough grass to keep the animals alive....again the corridor described above provides this. Thirdly, is having enough food for the men. The latter is actually pretty easy if you've got the first two.
6. The clever strategy used by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, after they realized the strength and brutality of the Spaniards, to decoy the invaders away from their villages. They invented a new city, Gran Quivira, larger and richer than their towns, and far away from them, and provided a guide ("The Turk") to the expedition to lead them off into the Great Plains to find it, in hopes that they'd perish in the process. Unfortunately they underestimated the Iberian's toughness and tenacity.

The Flints have done a fantastic job of compiling, transcribing and translating these documents into one tome, which I read cover-to-cover, including footnotes. This book is definitely a volume for specialists, whether academics or devoted amateurs, who want to read the primary sources relating to this first great Spanish incursion into the southwestern US.