In 1540 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, the governor of Nueva Galicia in western Mexico, led an expedition of reconnaissance and expansion to a place called Cíbola, far to the north in what is now New Mexico. The essays collected in this book bring multidisciplinary expertise to the study of that expedition. Although scholars have been examining the Coronado expedition for over 460 years, it left a rich documentary record that still offers myriad research opportunities from a variety of approaches.
Volume contributors are from a range of disciplines including history, archaeology, Latin American studies, anthropology, astronomy, and geology. Each addresses as aspect of the Coronado Expedition from the perspectives of his/her field, examining topics that include analyses of Spanish material culture in the New World; historical documentation of finances, provisioning, and muster rolls; Spanish exploration in the Borderlands; Native American contact with Spanish explorers; and determining the geographic routes of the Expedition.
Richard Flint is the author of No Settlement, No Conquest, The Coronado Expedition: From the Distance of 460 Years (UNM Press); Great Cruelties Have Been Reported: The 1544 Investigation of the Coronado Expedition and The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva.
Shirley Cushing Flint is the co-editor and author of numerous articles and books. Her latest book project is No Mere Shadow: Faces of Widowhood in Early Colonial Mexico.
