Major Richard Robert Wright Wright 1902; quotation, 225.
In the far northwest of Mexico This account of Esteban’s life draws on three main sources: Cabeza de Vaca [1542], Oviedo [c. 1557], and Niza [1539]. These sources are not cited hereafter.
“natural gangster” This evocative phrase is used by Parry 1948, 22.
he was as audacious, dynamic, and brave as he was bloody Arteaga 1932, 481.
Lázaro de Cebreros, to search for the trail to Culiacán Pérez de Ribas [1645], 103.
a grim story Troncoso 1905, 37–38.
Both wore feather headdresses Tello [1650], 187.
“Take me to your leader!” The exchange is described by Cabeza de Vaca in Shipwrecks. I have used both Shipwrecks and Oviedo’s History extensively in my account of the Narváez expedition and the first crossing of America, but references to those books are not supplied in the Notes, because to do so would be very cumbersome indeed.
Cebreros tenderly embraced Ibid., 186.
About 500 of these Opata Sauer [1932], 20.
mother-of-pearl crucifixes These details are from the account of Martín Pérez, a late-sixteenth-century misssionary to the area; see González Rodríguez and Anzures y Bolaños 1996, 188 and 199.
scarred, unnatural eyelids González Rodríguez and Anzures y Bolaños 1996, 179–184; Third Anonymous Conquistador’s account in López-Portillo y Weber 1935, 363.
Cebreros left them at the Indian town Tello [1650], 187.
Díaz must have been Ibid., 187. Although Tello is unreliable and may have romanticized this detail about their being old friends, it may equally well have been true: the conquistadors frequently knew each other from Spain or the New World.
whose mother’s name was Maldonado “Maldonado Bravo” is among the original settlers of Culiacán listed by López-Portillo y Weber 1935, 175 and 361.
embraced and wept together Cabeza de Vaca claims that Melchior Díaz wept. Weeping, although it was then a more usual form of greeting than it is today in the western world, still suggests a degree of emotion perhaps revealing a previous friendship.
the rivers were full of fish For the fish: González Rodríguez and Anzures y Bolaños 1996, 181.
“affable” Indians For the porches: ibid., 202 and 206.
carried in hammocks Diego de Guzmán met with chiefs in this area who were carried in hammocks; see Portillo 1935, 363.
This peculiar document Hunwick 1992, 7.
ritual gatherings González Rodríguez and Anzures y Bolaños 1996, 206–207.
One later missionary Ibid., 188–189.
trophies of their great journey This perspicacious observation about the psychology and symbolic importance of their Indian clothes is made by Tello [1650], 187.
Esteban was lodged Ibid., 189.
somewhere near Guadalajara There is no documentary evidence that this meeting ever took place. But these three men lived in Guadalajara, and it is difficult to believe that they would have failed to meet the four survivors if, as seems likely, they had the opportunity to do so. There is documentary evidence about what had happened to them, which informs what follows. Also see Goodwin 2007.
Juan Durán later reported AGI: Patronato 55 N 5 R 4, 1v–2r.
In Shipwrecks, Cabeza de Vaca reported For the theory that information was supplied see Goodwin 2007, 162–164.
A document I came across in Spain AGI: México 1088 L 3, 251r–251v.
“All they do is sleep, eat, and drink” CDI, 12:24.
This news was enough encouragement AGI: Patronato 157 N 2 R 4 1556.
They arrived as “defeated soldiers” AGI: Patronato, 65 N 1 R 4 1562, 18r; AGI: Patronato 55 N 5 R 4, 3v.
The panoply of produce Zorita [1585], 1:189–190.
Mexico reminded them of the Castle of Bradoid Gilman 1961, 111.
Bradiod was built on a rocky outcrop Rodríguez de Montalvo [1508], 1:332–334 (11).
with few exceptions Two important exceptions are Alegría 1990 and Restall 2003, 55–63.
“I state that I need” AGI: México 204 N 3.
a claim supported Gómara [1552], chap. 240.
A document I uncovered at the Archivo de Indias AGI: Indiferente 423 L 20, ff.528v–529r, 550r–550v, 752v–754r; AGI: Justicia 1173 N 5.
The division was plain to see The observer is Bernaldo de Valbuena, in Kubler 1948, 75.
In 1555 Tomson and Chilton are quoted ibid.
In 1531 This commentator was Diego Proaño de Hurtado, ibid., 28.
building blocks and paving stones Ibid., 163.
Calle Tacuba ran straight The description of Mexico City draws extensively on Cervantes de Salazar [1554], 37–67.
a royal decree was sent to the viceroy Mendoza to the Crown, 1537, in CDI, 2:182
Thomas Gage Quoted in Bennett 2003, 18–19.
Doña Nufla and Doña Zangamanga Rojas Villandrando [1604], 217.
Alonso de la Barrera AGI: Patronato 57 N 4 R 1 1547, 11v.
One missionary describes Motolinía [c. 1541], 200–201.
During the Corpus Christi processions Ibid., 213.
But these festivities García Icazbalceta 1877, xxvii–xxviii.
the true pride of a founding father Díaz del Castillo [c. 1568], chap. 204.
“We have learned of the ungoverned greed” “Provisión Real sobre el buen tratamiento de los indios, dada en Granada á 27 de noviembre de 1526,” in CDI, 1:450–469.
They were sent like convicts Quoted by Benítez [1953], 88–89.
Juan de Zumárraga’s career Greenleaf 1961, 112.
model their lives on Saint Francis Cervantes 1991, 4.
Zumárraga was one of the key religious figures Hartmann 1997, 83–84.
influenced by Bartolomé de Las Casas The argument for peaceful evangelization was most forcefully laid out in Las Casas [1537].
According to Las Casas From Las Casas [c. 1566], 3:1865–1881.
On another occasion Las Casas [1552], 43.
Las Casas was so horrified Ibid.
That year, in an aggressive letter ‘Parecer al Virey sobre esclavos de rescate y guerra,’ in García Icazbalceta 1947, 3:90–94.
the devil’s work Cervantes 1991, 6–7.
Zumárraga could be a brutal Inquisitor Greenleaf 1978.
Zumárraga now wrote for Mendoza a report García Icazbalceta 1947, 3:90–94.
“I am quite persuaded” Quoted ibid.
a “messiah”; the prodigal son Peña Fernández 2007.
Another scholar points out López Grigera 1999, 931. See also Adorno 1992, 220–227; Silva 1999.
Antonio de Mendoza treated the four survivors AGI: Mexico 212 N 45.
Mendoza’s viceregal palace Benítez [1953], 16–17.
“Indeed it seems clear” Wright 1902, 225.
In the first place, Logan Logan 1940, 306.
Cleve Hallenbeck, a meteorologist Hallenbeck 1940.
a Christian brotherhood Moreno 1997, 45.
In fact, although the Catalan uses negre Lesques [1375], 63; the original is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Cat. No. Esp. 30.
In the 1450s an Italian merchant Cadamosto [1507], 17.
a Portuguese history Fernandes [c. 1507], f. 338r.
Near the end of the 1500s Torres 1586, 1–2.
a grant made in 1594 Cortés López 1989, 43.
“85 When it comes to talking about slaves” Quoted in Castellano 1961, 57.
By contrast, most examples Cortés 1964, 56–57.
For there is at least one reference Ibid., 221 doc 27; 442 doc 1, 397.
Many years later, Cortés explained Cortés 1989, 86.
Aurelia Martín has researched Martín Casares 2000.
universally accepted by scholars Another is Cortés López 1989.
as many sub-Saharans were forcibly removed Hunwick 1992, 5.
Gomes Eannes de Zurara’s famous Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea The account follows Zurara [c. 1453], 30–61.
to quote Zurara’s description Ibid., 80–83).
In the late 1510s The suggestion was first made, so far as I am aware, in Maura 2002.
Drought came first, in 1517 Rosenberger and Triki 1973, 117–121. I suggest that plague may have come from Spain because Daza 1523 describes it at Jerez de la Frontera in 1518 and Rosenberger and Triki first note it in Morocco in 1519.
A chronicler of the period Sousa [c. 1632], 59.
Bernardo was so struck For the following, Rodrigues [c. 1560], 326–330.
a young Spanish chronicler This account follows Daza [1523].
this has been eloquently disputed Arens 1978.
He had betrayed his humanity The enslavement of Africans had long been justfied by racist tradition, but the indigenous population of the New World presented a more complex problem for sixteenth-century European philosophers and moralists. There were many who believed the Indians to be in a prelapsarian state, an innocent population untouched by original sin. Others argued that they might be descended from a lost tribe of Israel. Theologians argued that their souls had become the moral responsibility of their European sovereigns.
the first religious brotherhood Sancho de Sopranis 1958, 11.
In Seville, in the spring of 1522 Ortiz de Zúñiga 1677, 479.
Without documentary proof Franco Silva 2000, 585; Martín Casares 2005.
Moors, Berbers, and Turks Gestoso y Pérez 1910, 87.
marked with an S Graullera Sanz 1978, 119.
Ironically, these steps Domínguez Ortiz 2003, 10.
An Italian ambassador Navagero [c. 1526], 53–55.
A contemporary Sevillian commentator Morgado [1587], 168–169.
The Italian ambassador remembered Navagero [c. 1526],
Seville had a long tradition Rout 1976, 13–15.
foreigners compared the city to a game of chess The observation was made by Alonso Cortés in his “Diálogo en alabanza de Valladolid”: see Domínguez Ortiz 2003, 10. Interestingly, the same was said of Lisbon by an anonymous Italian author; see Oliveira Marques 1987, 240.
Information from later censuses A census for 1565 gives a figure of 6,327 slaves out of a total of 85,538 people. In the 1520s the population of the city was probably more than half of 85,000, so there may have been as many as 3,500 or so slaves in total. Pike 1967, 345, suggests that by the second half of the sixteenth century over half the slaves in Seville were black.
many horros and their children Franco Silva 2000, 574–578.
this black minority was highly visible Pike 1967, 353.
One flabbergasted Flemish scholar This was Nicolas Clénard, quoted in Fonseca 2005, 114.
According to one theory This may be inferred from observations on the Renaissance habit of using black slaves as a means of display, in Lowe 2005, 24–25.
We know from Juan Daza Daza [c 1523].
One very reliable modern scholar Jean Bodin, quoted in Pike 1967, 45.
Peter Martyr argued that Peter Martyr 1525, 186 and 187.
another influential Spanish writer Mercado 1571, book 2, chap. 21.
The view of some Cortés López 1989, 90.
In 1569 they issued Chaves 1904, 37–38.
a widespread distrust of taverns Goodwin 2001, 124–138.
one Italian visitor to Lisbon Oliveira Marques 1987, 240.
A character in this comedy For the following, see Lotarelo y Mori 1911.
the unpleasant banter Cortés López 1989, 95.
the first marquis of Tarifa Palomero Páramo 1981, 315.
125 Los Negritos rose to prominence Moreno 1997, 25–26.
as night fell Chaves 1904, 104–105.
festival of Corpus Christi Ibid., 223.
eight men with tambourines Moreno 1997, 54.
127Spaniards had always embraced Saunders 1982, 89.
As early as 1451 Russell 1973, 383.
they dressed as demons Moreno 1997, 54.
it was a common practice Lowe 2005, 20.
In Lisbon, for example Lahon 2005, 265.
In Jaén, in eastern Andalusia Ortega Sagrista 1957, 5.
“house of blacks” Blumenthal 2005.
calle del Conde Negro Ortiz de Zúñiga 1677, 374.
Oviedo was born Bolaños 1990, 577, 625–632.
That silence has led Peña y Cámara 1957, 603–606.
He met Margarita in Madird Oviedo [c. 1557], 1:198.
During that awful birth Quoted in Pérez de Tudela 1959, xxxix.
“136 God lent Margarita” Oviedo [c. 1557], 1:198.
the first American novel So described in Turner 1964; Arrom 1983, 134, has disagreed.
“138 first historian of natural history” Bolaños 1990, 590; Gerbi 1978, 268.
first European historian of America Bolaños 1990, 578.
144 Malhado was the name of a fictional island González 1999.
a man’s birth was a matter of luck Bolaños 1990, 582.
Anne of Aragon sued for divorce Maura 2001, 21–22.
the prodigal son Peña Fernández 2007.
He is a missionary Maura 2001 is one of the few convincing critics of this sanctified image.
Charles V ordered his officials AGI: Indiferente 1962 L 5, ff.273v–267v
a Portuguese nobleman commented Elvas 1965 38–39.
The document which seemed to me to prove AGI: Méxcio 212 N 45.
some kind of report Dorantes de Carranza [1604].
“erstwhile palace of the Moorish kings” Navagero [c. 1526],
a Spanish dictionary that was published in 1611 Covarrubias 1611, 947.
Alonso de Santa Cruz had reported Santa Cruz [c.1540], 479.
some reason, which Granado does not record AGI: Mexico 212 N 45.
innocent passengers CDI 2:189–190.
Mendoza also stated in his letter Ibid., 206–207.
Mendoza later reported Hammond and Rey 1940, 2:51–52.
the whole business had failed Ibid.
Pedro de Benevides knew only too well AGI: Mexico 212 N 45.
we can see the hand of the powerful Archbishop García Icazbalceta 1947, 3:90–94.
The Dorantes Report contains AGI: Mexico 212 N 45.
we know that Dorantes was still in Mexico CDI, 15:375
we also know AGI: Mexico 212 N 45.
a royal decree dated December 1539 AGI: Lima 565 L 3, f.161v.
between February and November of 1541 For this argument in detail, see Goodwin 2007, 162–164. Castillo had returned by November, when he acted as a witness in Puebla; see Boyd-Bowman 1988, 1:38.
Oviedo was clear about Oviedo [c. 1557], 2:402.
given permission to take four black slaves AGI: Indiferente 421 L 12, 50v–50r and 71v–72r.
They were headed for the Atlantic port AGI: Patronato 55 N 5 R 4, 1v.
The contract may have stated These instructions relating to the quality of the wine for a late-sixteenth-century voyage are quoted in Mena García 2004, 451.
Many passengers brought their own food For rations supplied to Pedro Menéndez de Avilés’s expedition to Florida in 1568, see Pérez-Malaína 1988, 141.
One English traveler recalled Teonge [c. 1679], 233.
coffinlike cabins Pérez-Malaína 1988, 138.
the young Alonso del Castillo Maldonado CDI 41:272–273.
Eugenio de Salazar recited Salazar [c. 1573], 35–36.
Zumárraga complained Cuevas and Genero 1975, 55–56.
a friar who accompanied Bartolomé de las Casas Pérez-Malaína 1988, 129 and 136, quotes Tomás de la Torre, “Diario del viaje de Salamanca a Ciudad Real (Chiapas), 1544–1545.”
Salazar recalled how he squeezed This description is closely based on Salazar [c. 1573], 36–38.
working the pumps Pérez-Malaína 1988, 71.
Salazar now turned his sarcasm Salazar [c. 1573], 43–46.
the best-selling novel Amadis of Gaul Leonard 1949.
his moral censure Pérez-Malaína 1988, 168.
A boy called Pedro Merino Ibid., 172–174.
on one seventeenth-century crossing Gutiérrez de Medina 1947, 21–22.
possibly written by Castillo The argument that Castillo contributed in some way to the final chapter of Shipwrecks is laid out in Goodwin 2007, 162–164.
A century and a half later Weddle 1973, 2.
The intrepid English traveler Robert Tomson Tomson [c. 1560], 6.
Interest in the Spanish Caribbean islands Adorno and Pautz 1999, 2:41; this three-volume edition and study of Shipwrecks is an essential, almost encyclopedic reference work, a comprehensive survey of sources that has informed much of my research.
One deserter, Francisco Diaz AGI: Patronato 157 N 2 R 4.
Santo Domingo was also a terrifyingly expensive place Rodríguez Morel 1999, 72, 76, 58, 60, and 72–73.
Antonio de Aguayo Goodwin 2007, 154–157; AGI: Patronato 65 N 1 R 4.
Pedro de Valdivieso Boyd-Bowman 1985, No. 2565.
It is Oviedo who tells us the sorry tale Oviedo [c. 1557], 4:322–330.
Paul Hoffman Hoffman 1990, 78 n.43.
one of his cronies, a local official Vasco Porcallo was a regidor; AGI: Indiferente 421 L 11, f77v.
“A pilot is to a ship” Quoted in Smith 1993, 138.
Velasco wrote Quoted in Lawson 1946, 22 n.56.
Paul Hoffman offers Hoffman 1994, 56.
As the Karankawa had always done Ricklis 1996, 107–108.
constantly referred to by travelers For details about the Karankawa: ibid., 9–14. Archaeological finds show Karankawa skeletal remains to be especially large, according to Woodbury and Woodbury 1935, 43.
“211 maze of islands” Ricklis 1996, 11.
Jéronimo de Alanís AGI: Indiferente 419 L 4, 106r–107v and 138v; 420 L 8, 193r–v.
It is far from clear Oviedo says they left both Cabeza de Vaca and León behind, but Shipwrecks says they took León with them.
Friar Juan Suárez AGI: Indiferente 421 L 13, 60r.
Oviedo’s History reports E allí se quedaron en aquel rancho estos dos hidalgos e un negro que les pareció que bastaba para lo que los indios los querían que era para que les acarreasen a cuestas leña e agua e servirse dellos como de esclavos. Quoted from the Colombina manuscript.
that representation of the situation Theisen 1972.
the survivors were forced to do women’s work See Armas Wilson 1993.
common among the Karankawa Schaedel 1949, 125.
This is perhaps the earliest description This summary of the berdache is derived from Callender and Kochems 1983.
In the summer of 1530 The published edition of Oviedo commonly used (Pérez Tudela, ed., 1959) is confusing, but the manuscript in the Colombina Library makes this date clear.
Esteban and Castillo sucked and chewed I have supplemented the account in Shipwrecks with a description by the nineteenth-century frontierswoman Alice Cooper; see Gatschet 1891.
inspired by a decree Konetzke 1953, 169. The decree was issued in 1535 and again in 1538.
a black witch doctor called Lucas Olola For the following account of Olola see Aguirre Beltrán 1963, 68–69.
Guatesco Indians Newcomb 1961,
Esteban had fallen out Pedro de Castañeda’s narrative; see Flint and Flint 2005, 439.
John Sibley Sibley 1806, 72–73.
the lone voice of Henry Dobyns Dobyns 1966, 1983.
“It may be no exaggeration” Dobyns 1983, 102.
Cabeza de Vaca might as well have been describing Maura 2001, 181 n.85.
Alex Krieger, a keen sleuth of the route Krieger [1955], 67–68.
Scientists have since found Olsen et al. 1997.
discovery of a similar bell Haury 1947, 80–81.
Casas Grandes site Epstein 1991, 478.
“wings like a fluke” Sibley 1806, 73.
They danced to the rhythm of haunting voices Luján [1583], 67.
“283 skins attached to a vessel in the form of a tambourine” Hernán Gallegos’s account, in Hammond and Rey 1966, 78.
The naked dancers Obregón [1584], 235.
To the Spaniards this dance Hammond and Rey 1966, 78.
It would have been unwise Driver 1961, 111–113, map 13.
The indians warmly welcomed Luján [1583], 62; Hammond and Rey 1966, 77.
The chroniclers of both these later forays Luján [1583], 60; Hammond and Rey 1966, 75–77.
pits like a prickly pear Luján [1583], 65 n.45.
“They also grew cotton” Hammond and Rey 1966, 78–79.
They passed through Arizpe Obregón [1584], 159.
north of modern Baviácora Reff 1981, 104.
described by Las Casas Las Casas [1566], 3:1160.
Deer, hare, wolves Ibid.
“Nearby,” he said Tello [1650], 184.
One Spanish conquistador Alarcón and Castañeda, in Flint and Flint 2005, 216, 439.
“297 Seven Portuguese Bishops” See, e.g., Lowery 1901, 256.
a story told to Nuño de Guzmán Flint and Flint 2005, 386.
In 1527, as Narváez prepared Luís de Cárdenas; see Sauer 1937, 271.
In 1537, as Mendoza Ruíz Medrano 2006, 117–120.
Mendoza was firm The words are reported in Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s testimony to Tello de Sandoval’s judicial enquiry into the running of New Spain; see Aiton and Rey 1937, 311.
In February of the following year AGI: Patronato 184 R 27.
Castillo was very young CDI, 41:272–273.
Mendoza arranged for Castillo to marry AGI: Patronato 275 R 39.
Puebla de los Angeles, where his wife was a landower He is referred to in a number of legal documents; see Boyd-Bowman 1988, 1:19; as a landowner, see AGI: Patronato 278 N 2 R 230.
Mendoza wrote to Charles V CDI, 2:206–207.
Obregón reported that he then agreed Obregón [1584], 48.
One would-be biographer Nakayama (1975, 25), who is quoted by Montañé Martí 1995, 19 n.13.
Equally, we would do well These two reports of Esteban as a womanizer (and sexual predator) cannot be dismissed, but should be treated with particular caution. One is Castañeda’s comment, mentioned above; see Flint and Flint 2005, 439. The other is in Coronado’s account of his arrival at “Cíbola,” written to Mendoza under stressful circumstances in 1540; see Flint and Flint 2005, 270.
pioneer African-Americans See, e.g., Aguirre Beltrán [1946], 15.
Astonishingly it is an argument Ibid., 157.
A royal decree explained AGI: Indiferente 427 R 30, f.248.
enslaved Africans also managed to own property Konetzke 1953, 502.
Africans frequently appear in legal documents Gibson 1964, 279.
In 1541, the Spanish authorities Konetzke 1953, 206.
The Spanish government reacted Gibson 1964, 147.
In practice, attempts to separate The Crown time and again reiterated the ban against blacks living among Indians, each new repetition of the rules indicating the extent to which they were being infringed. Konetzke 1953 records new promulgations of the laws in 1541, 1551, 1554, 1567, 1578, 1580, and 1587 (pp. 213, 291, 297, 321, 422, 513, 527, 566, 584).
The Crown had decreed Ibid., 163.
In such a climate CDI, 2:198–199.
Years later, in 1612 For the account of events in 1612, see Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin 1998, 1:521–525.
An angry colonial official The official was Lope de Samaniego; see AGI: México 95 N 39.
a royal decree from Charles V Cited in Flint and Flint 2005, 45.
a good navigator and geographer For Marcos’s report and instructions I have followed AGI: Patronato 20 N 5 R 10; see also Flint and Flint 2005, 65–77.
On April 4, 1537 Cuevas and Genero 1975, 83–84.
how deeply Zumárraga trusted Marcos For the correspondence, see García Icazbalceta 1947, 3:263–265.
from the pulpit and in the barbers’ shops CDI 5:397; Flint and Flint 2005, 104.
“home to elephants and camels” García Icazbalceta 1886, 1:194–195.
Even the shrewd Zumárraga was taken in García Icazbalceta 1947, 3:186.
In late 1538, Coronado set out AGI: Patronato 20 N 5 R 10.
their own estates and private purposes Coronado to Crown, 1538; in Flint and Flint 2005, 27.
“Exhort and encourage” AGI: Patronato 20 N 5 R 10.
The landowners proposed moving Compostela Coronado to Crown, 1538; in Flint and Flint 2005, 29.
steep, craggy roads The description is based on a an early-seventeenth-century account by Marcos de Tapia, official of the Audiencia of New Galicia, quoted in Navarro García 1967, 41.
As Coronado reported to his sovereign The following draws on Coronado’s letter to the king, in Flint and Flint 2005, 42–44.
After twenty days of discussion For this and the following: Flint and Flint 2005, 43 (Coronado) and 50 (Mendoza).
a quite bizarre letter The letter was published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1555), an Italian who collected and edited travel accounts; see Flint and Flint 2005, 31–36. Ramusio’s versions of texts were sometimes embellished and are not completely reliable. Flint and Flint (32) argue that the first of these was fabricated. On the other hand, if Coronado and Mendoza were engaged in propaganda, that would also explain why the first account is so exaggerated.
the two Franciscans set out Sauer [1932], 3.
found indecent and immoral Flint and Flint 2005, 439.
the rough-and-ready world The description is based on “Segunda relación anónima,” in García Icazbalceta 1866, 2:296.
the accusation that he was a “liar” Bloom 1941 asks this question: “Was Fray Marcos a Liar?”
Baltazar Obregón summed up Obregón [1584], 51.
As Sauer put it Sauer [1932]; quotation from Sauer 1937, 279.
The same conclusion was reached by Cleve Hallenbeck Hallenbeck 1949.
Lansing Bloom noticed Bloom 1940, 1941.
Sauer then retorted Sauer 1941.
every historian who attempts However, it is relatively easy to show that Vacapa probably lay much farther south than the defense would like us to believe. Marcos said that he left the Spanish colony of San Miguel de Culiacán on March 7 and arrived at Vacapa on March 21, a journey of fourteen days, of which three were spent at Petatlán. The various sources state that the distance from San Miguel, which was on the San Lorenzo River, to Petatlán was between thirty and fifty leagues. None of the sources suggest that it was more than fifty. Marcos tells us that it was twenty-five or thirty leagues from Petatlán to Vacapa. Vacapa was therefore eighty leagues from San Miguel. There were about three leagues to a mile, but precise accuracy is not important, because Marcos had no way of accurately measuring the distances and it is not entirely clear whether the figures he gives refer to road miles or estimates of distances “as the crow flies.” Vacapa should be about 240 miles north of San Miguel. At that point, not far from the town of El Fuerte, on the Fuerte River, where the spectacular Copper Canyon railway line begins its tortuous ascent into the Sierra Madre, is a place called Vaca, which Carl Otwin Sauer long ago identified as Vacapa.
Another investigator Wagner 1934, 184.
Coronado found himself forced Coronado to Mendoza, August 3, 1540, in Flint and Flint 2005, 252.
Sauer argued that Mendoza ensured Sauer 1937, 270, 287.
There are scholars who disagree Flint and Flint 2005, 60.
some mildly alcoholic drink made from mesquite As reported in “Segunda relación anónima,” García Icazbalceta 1886, 2:304.
The chronicler Pedro de Castañeda Flint and Flint 2005, 439.
Alarcón’s account of his exploration “Narrative of Alarcón’s Voyage, 1540,” in Flint and Flint 2005, 185–205.
Years later, Castañeda reported that Flint and Flint 2005, 439–440.
As early as April 1540, after Coronado Mendoza to Crown, 1540, in Flint and Flint 2005, 241.
“Should I die” Girón [1530]; translated by the author.
Coronado reported to Mendoza Coronado to Mendoza, 1540, in Flint and Flint 2005, 270.
During his peace negotiations, Coronado heard that Flint 2002, 180.
A group of elder Zunis told Cushing Cushing 1920, 362–363.
“Like the teller of Indian tales” Cushing 1885.
Cushing told his Boston audience See Green’s comments in Cushing 1885, 172.
some have implied that in this way McDonald 1998.
“when Esteban reached the Mayo River” Sauer [1932], 32 n. 37.