However, in the case of Cibola, it is curious that Marcos never mentions gold, or showing his gold samples. He does, however, correctly report that many turquoises were traded from that area, and that turquoises were embedded in some door frames. Once again, Marcos was charged with lying. However, once again, his report was literally correct. As ethnologists confirmed in the s, the Zunis sometimes worked a good luck turquoise into the entryway of a home, but as Coronado was sadly to learn, they had no great transportable wealth, either in turquoise, gold, or any other material precious to the Spanish.
Marcos must have continued to ask about the configuration of the coast, because nearly two weeks after heading north out of Vacapa, he picked up information that the coast turned west.
Now he had a dilemma. Should he try to catch up with Estevan on the Cibola trail, or should he make a side trip to the west to bring the Viceroy information about the coastline? He opted for the latter. Perhaps it was a half-hearted diversion, because he gives it only a few vague lines:.
This is generally regarded as an overstatement, because the coast at the north end of the gulf is harsh and barren desert country, and there is no single spot from which one can clearly visually confirm the major curve to the west toward the mouth of the Colorado river.
Perhaps the sense of it is that Marcos made the downstream trip toward the coast and from talking to many villagers "came to understand clearly that, at about latitude 35 , it turns to the west" - which was essentially true, though a more accurate latitude measure would have been 31 to In a few more vague lines of text, Marcos has returned to the Cibola trail, in pursuit of Estevan, who, to his distress, gathered a large band of admirers along the last populated valley before the day wilderness probably the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona , and plunged ahead into the mountainous country the White Mountains of east central Arizona, north of the Gila River.
Incidentally, Marcos' account makes it clear that throughout this journey, the enthused natives acted as his guides and bearers on the Cibola trail, arranging his overnight stops. At least some of the time they used traditional campsites, and Marcos remarks on seeing campsites that had been used by Estevan. This proves Marcos was on a well-known route with natives carrying most of his supplies - not bushwhacking through unknown wilderness.
So enthused were the natives of this last valley, that they organized a second party of "chiefs" from various villages to accompany Marcos to Cibola. On May 9, they entered the final day despoblado , expecting to be reunited with Estevan around May 24 in the wondrous city of Cibola. In a dramatic turn of events, Marcos' party met a handful of bloodied refugees a few days south of Cibola.
Impetuous Estevan, they reported, had ignored orders from the governor of Cibola not to approach or enter the city. Apparently the governor was apprehensive about Estevan, who appeared as a strange, dark-skinned shaman, traveling with two Castillian greyhounds. Estevan, full of confidence from his experiences five years earlier, had laughed off the governor's orders and approached anyway where he was held for at least one night in a building outside the city.
A skirmish ensued. Some of the southern Arizona natives in the entourage were killed or injured, and Estevan, too, was reported killed. The death of Estevan in this way was confirmed a year later by Coronado's army. Marcos' entourage from southern Arizona almost turned on him, but after prayer and a distribution of gifts, Marcos talked his way out of the situation. At this point, Marcos retreated as fast as possible, "more full of fear than food," as he said ironically.
In the last populated valleys, of southern Arizona, he found the people now hostile, because of the debacle - a fact that was to cause Coronado a less than joyous reception a year later. Marcos gives few details of his return trip. Apparently he turned up in Mexico City in mid to late August.
On August 23, Bishop Zumarraga, in Mexico City, wrote a letter with some details of Marcos' discoveries, possibly after chatting with him. On September 2, it was delivered in person to the Viceroy at a court function where Marcos answered questions in front of various witnesses.
The return of Marcos initiated a period of intense rumor-mongering in Mexico City, as attested by various historians. Many writers say that Marcos claimed that Cibola had gold and fabulous wealth, and that this was the cause of the Coronado expedition.
It is clear that Coronado's expedition expected to find gold, and people invested heavily in it for that reason, but it is difficult to prove that Marcos himself promised gold. The fact that Cibola turned out not to have gold caused the soldiers of Coronado to call him a liar. This charge was magnified in later centuries especially when Sauer, Wagner, and Hallenbeck in the s and 40s concluded that Marcos simply did not have time to get to Cibola and back to Mexico City in the available weeks.
Upon examination, this charge turns out to be based on conclusion by Sauer and Wagner , p. Sauer and Wagner assumed that Marcos himself had arrived by that time. However, Bloom , , Hartmann , and Nallino and Hartmann in press developed seemingly conclusive proof that Marcos, following Mendoza's orders, sent back messengers with news of his discoveries.
Thus, it was the good news gathered by Marcos on his way north, not Marcos himself with his more sobering final outcome, that arrived in Mexico City by messenger in July. This is supported by letters of Coronado which remark on the arrival of a message from Marcos, and in one crucial letter written in Compostela July 15 even refer to the good treatment given Estevan. At the time of this letter, Estevan was dead, which Coronado would have known if Marcos had arrived, but would not have known if the news was in a message sent back by Marcos on the way north.
The conclusion that Marcos did not arrive in Mexico until mid to late August essentially removes the time constraint and negates any claim that he had inadequate time. Furthermore, if as part of a conspiracy with Mendoza Marcos never traveled beyond the region of the modern border, as claimed by Sauer, it seems beyond belief that he would turn around and volunteer to lead the Coronado army all the way to Cibola - and expect to get away with the fraud. In any case, Marcos remains an intriguing and enigmatic character: priest, accused charlatan, courageous traveler, and first methodical purposeful explorer of the American southwest.
Perhaps one day, some lucky scholar studying the archives in Seville, Spain, or the archives in Mexico City, or some musty documents in a small village church somewhere in Mexico, will turn up more documents that finally reveal the truth about this first explorer to document the unknown lands of the U.
All Rights Reserved. Skip to main content. Login Register. You are here Home. The Controversy Rages On Marco died in in disgrace, everyone having blamed him for leading Coronado's army on a fruitless quest under false pretenses. Purposes of Marcos' Journey Viceroy Mendoza gave Marcos a specific list of instructions which we still have. The Mysterious Journey of Marcos de Niza The route of Marcos in is known in very rough outline, but scholars have grand arguments over the details.
Hypothetical reconstruction of Marcos de Niza's route to the north. The journey started from the old location of Culiocon and worked north along the coast, turning inland to the village of Vacapa. Details of the route are sketchy and controversial. The extent of his reported foray west, to explore the head of the Gulf, is uncertain. Origin of the Name "Cibola" Marcos de Niza was the first person to record the name Cibola, reported to him by Estevan the Moor, who learned it from native informants.
Marcos de Niza collected what he called "cow hides" from the Indians in Sonora, Mexico, who first told him about Cibola. After leaving Culiacan, Niza travelled through south-eastern parts of Arizona. After this successful expedition, he returned to Culiacan again in September of the same year. In his travels, he followed the journey of Estevanico. Prior to his next expedition and adventure in Zuni, Fray Marcos Niza became the Provincial Superior in Mexico with respect to his own order.
However, at the end of this second adventure, he returned to Culiacan, his capital without any success. His adventures in Zuni had ended in a complete failure and Niza had not acquired the wealth and success that he had set out to bring back for his native folks. After he returned in he died in Culiacan on the 25th of March, in the year Fray Marcos was accompanied by two principal people in his expedition — Honorato, who was a second priest and Estevan Dorantes, a Moorish servant.
Estevan, who was popularly known as Estevan the black, was accustomed to the native customs and practices. He was also the first African man to explore the modern Southwest. Except these three, there were hundreds of native travellers who admired Fray Marcos and revered his as a great emancipator who carried the news that Viceroy Medoza had freed Sinoloa and Sonora from Spanish slave traders.
Marcos had arrived in America in and worked in Peru, Guatemala and Mexico. He also freed many slaves from the northern regions because of which he was greatly respected by them. Marcos de Niza was a friar with a great reputation. But the soldiers were enraged on finding nothing but a poor Indian village. They cursed the friar so vehemently that Coronado, not wishing to have the blood of a churchman on his hands, sent him back to Mexico City.
The accompanying message stated, "Friar Marcos has not told the truth in a single thing that he said. The rest of the friar's career proved uneventful. He apparently became stricken with paralysis and lived first at Jalapa and then in a monastery at Xochimilco. Nothing more is known other than that the friar died on March 25, Mendoza's instructions to Marcos de Niza and the friar's report of Hawikuh were edited and translated by George P.
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