Cortés, Hernán of Mexico During the preceding years, rumors had circulated in Mexico of a fabulously rich kingdom of seven cities called Cibola in the American Southwest In 1539, Mendoza determined to send an expedition into that area to find the Seven Cities of Cibola, and he named Coronado to command the expedition The expedition set out on April 22, 1540, and headed where the first of the cities was supposedly located Arriving on July 7, Coronado discovered only an unimpressive pueblo village Attacking the village Coronado was knocked out by a stone and almost killed, but was saved by two of his officers The Spanish eventually captured the village, and Coronado made the pueblo his temporary camp from which he sent out parties to scout the surrounding area in hopes of finding Cibola These parties scouted a large part of the American Southwest and were the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon In November 1540, the main body of the expedition caught up with Coronado He then moved his base camp into the valley of the Rio Grande in December, where they spent the winter forcing the local natives to give them food and warm clothing The expedition set out again in spring, leaving camp on April 22, 1541 They moved east into Texas and then southwest They picked up a local guide, who told them of rich kingdoms to the north Coronado sent most of the expedition back to the previous winter’s camp and headed north with a small group of horsemen to try to find these kingdoms The rich villages turned out to be Wichita Indian villages made up of grass huts along the Arkansas River in what would become Kansas Finding no gold, Coronado returned to his camp In December 1541, Coronado was thrown from his horse under another horse and nearly killed The following April, Coronado decided to return to Mexico Upon returning to Mexico, Coronado lost his governorship and was charged with incompetence and mistreating the local natives He was cleared of both charges but never held another command or office He died in 1542 See also Mexico, conquest of Further reading: Bedini, Silvio A., ed The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia News York: Simon & Schuster, 1992; Flint, Richard, and Shirley Cushing Flint, eds The Coronado Expedition: From the Distance of 460 Years Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003; Golay, Michael, and John S Bowman North American Exploration Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003; Hammond, George P., and Agapito Rey Narratives of the Coronado Expedition, 89 1540–1542 Brooklyn, NY, and Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940 Dallace W Unger, Jr Cortés, Hernán (1485–1547) Spanish conqueror Famed for his ruthlessly brilliant leadership in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Hernán Cortés (Hernando [or Fernando] Cortez) occupies a peculiar position in Mexican national memory, remembered by all but revered by none A contemporary of Niccolò Machiavelli, Cortés through his exploits in Mexico earned the reputation as one of the early modern era’s most Machiavellian of historical actors Born in Medellín, Estremadura, Spain, in 1485, of minor nobility, his mother related to the family of Francisco Pizarro, Cortés studied briefly at the University of Salamanca before opting for a life of militarism and adventure in the recently discovered Americas In 1504, he journeyed to Hispaniola, and soon after, from 1511, participated in the conquest of Cuba under Governor Diego Velázquez His successes earned him a substantial encomienda, sufficient to provide a steady stream of revenue for the rest of his life, though his adventures and conquests had only begun In 1518, after much behind the scenes maneuvering by Cortés, Governor Velásquez appointed him to head an exploratory expedition to the Mexican mainland Over the next three years (1519–21), Cortés revealed the extraordinary courage, ambition, single-minded determination, and political cunning for which he became justly renowned Time and again, faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, he managed to turn the political and military tide to his favor Among his most brilliant maneuvers were his swift recognition and deft exploitation of the political divisions between the Aztecs and their subject polities; his keen perception of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II’s psychological weaknesses and the stratagems he devised to exploit them; his instillation of a sense of unity of purpose and inevitability of victory among his men; his winning over of members of the Narváez expedition sent by Governor Velázquez to bring him to heel; and his successful representation of himself to King Charles V and the court as a loyal subject acting only on behalf of church and king This latter capacity is especially apparent in the five lengthy letters Cortés dispatched to King Charles from 1519 to 1526, reporting on and justifying his actions