Eight years after being stranded on the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a Moorish slave named Esteban, and two companions reach Spanish-held lands in what is now western Mexico (see entry for 1528). They tell the Spaniards they meet of their years of living among Indians and their 6,000-mile trek across western North America. Cabeza de Vaca will publish these tales in 1555 in Naufagios (Shipwrecks), one of the earliest works to provide information about the region’s Indian groups, geography, and animal and plant life.
The Spanish are particularly entranced by one of the survivors’ stories—the tale told by some
“I am king in my land, and it is unnecessary for me to become the subject of a person who has no more vassals than I. I regard those men as vile and contemptible who subject them-selves to the yoke of someone else when they can live as free men. Accordingly, I and all my people have vowed to die a hundred deaths to maintain the freedom of our land. This is our answer, both the present and forevermore.”
—Timucua leader Acuera in a message to Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto
Two years, de Soto’s soldiers will travel north through present-day Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina before turning west. They will then journey through the Appalachian Mountains and finally cross the Mississippi River into modern Arkansas and Louisiana.
Along their 4,000-mile trek they spread terror through the Indian groups they meet. The Spaniards attack Indians whether they are friendly or not. In addition to plundering the Indians’ villages, the invaders take captives and force them to carry their baggage. Unknowingly, the Spanish also introduce the Indians they encounter to non-Indian diseases, such as smallpox, that will soon decimate their populations. (See also entries for 1540 and for MAY 21, 1542.)
Dominican intellectual Francisco de Victoria defends Indian rights.
One of the first European intellectuals to examine the rights of Indians, Dominican priest Francisco de Victoria argues in On the Indians Lately Discovered that the Spanish have no moral grounds to force Christianity on Indians or to take their lands if they refuse to convert. Victoria, however, does defend warring with Indians if they break natural law, an idea that the Spanish use to justify their violence against Indians.
Explorer Marcos de Niza claims a Zuni pueblo is one of the Seven Cities of Cibola.
Picturing the great wealth plundered from the Aztec (see entries for 1519 and for 1521) and the Inca, Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy of New Spain, sends a small party in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola. According to Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (see entry for 1536), several Indians have told of seven cities full of riches located somewhere to the north of present-day Mexico.
Friar Marcos de Niza is chosen to head the expedition, and Esteban, a black slave, is hired as its guide. Having spent six years living among Gulf Coast Indians (see entry for 1528), Esteban is valued for his diplomatic skills and experience in dealing with Indian peoples. De Niza sends the guide ahead to scout the route, while he follows with the rest of the exploratory party. As De Niza’s men travel through present-day Arizona and New Mexico, an Indian messenger tells them that Esteban is dead at the hands of the Zuni Indians. De Niza proceeds far enough to see the Indians’ village and then returns to Mexico. He claims he has found one of the great seven cities, fueling the viceroy’s growing thirst for fortune.
World History
