Quivira is a place named by Spanish conquistador
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541, for the mythical
Seven Cities of Gold
The myth of the Seven Cities of Gold, also known as the Seven Cities of Cibola (), was popular in the 16th century and later featured in several works of popular culture. According to legend, the seven cities of gold referred to Aztec mythology r ...
that he never found.
Quivira was a province of the ancestral
Wichita people
The Wichita people or Kitikiti'sh are a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes. Historically they spoke the Wichita language and Kichai language, both Caddoan languages. They are indigenous to Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.
To ...
,
located near the Great Bend of the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...
in central Kansas,
The exact site may be near present-day
Lyons extending northeast to
Salina.
The Wichita city of
Etzanoa, which flourished between 1450 and 1700, is likely part of Quivira.
Expedition
In 1540, Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led a large expedition north from
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
to search for wealth and the
Seven Cities of Cibola
The myth of the Seven Cities of Gold, also known as the Seven Cities of Cibola (), was popular in the 16th century and later featured in several works of popular culture. According to legend, the seven cities of gold referred to Aztec mythology r ...
. Instead of wealth, he found Indigenous farmers living in an array of communities and villages in what are today
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
. These were the
Hopi,
Zuni,
Rio Grande Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
,
Apache, and
Navajo peoples.
As Coronado arrived at the Rio Grande, he was disappointed by the lack of wealth among the Pueblo people, but he heard from a
Plains Indian
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of ...
informant dubbed “The Turk” of a wealthy nation named Quivira far to the east, whose leader supposedly drank from golden cups hanging from the trees. Hearing of this, Coronado led an expedition of more than 1000 Spanish and Indigenous individuals onto the
Great Plains in 1541. The Turk served as the expedition’s adviser.
On his journey, Coronado traversed the
Staked Plains
The Llano Estacado (), sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North A ...
, home to two Indigenous nations: the
Querecho
The Querechos were a Native American people.
In 1541 the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his army journeyed east from the Rio Grande Valley in search of a rich land called Quivira. Passing through what would later be the ...
and
Teya. He was heading southeast when the Teyas told him that the Turk was taking him in the wrong direction and that Quivira was to the north. It appears the Turk was luring the Spaniards away from New Mexico with tales of wealth in Quivira, hoping perhaps that they would get lost in the vastness of the Great Plains. Coronado sent most of his slow-moving expeditionary force back to New Mexico. With 30 mounted Spaniards, Indigenous persons, priests, the Turk and Teya captives forced into service, Coronado changed course northward in search of Quivira. After a march of more than 30 days, he found a large river, probably the Arkansas, and soon met several Indigenous bison hunters, who led him to Quivira.
Description
Coronado found Quivira "well settled.... The land itself being very fat and black and being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and rivers. I found prunes like those of Spain, and nuts and very good sweet grapes and mulberries." It was, he said, the best land he had seen during his long trek north from Mexico. Coronado spent 25 days in Quivira and traveled about 25 leagues from one end of the country to the other. He found nothing more than straw-thatched villages of up to 200 houses each and fields of
corn, beans, and squash. He found no gold, other than a single small piece, which he speculated the Indigenous owner acquired from a member of his own expedition.
The Spaniards described the locals as being a "large people of good build" with many of the men being more than and seemed like giants to the Spaniards. Both sexes wore minimal attire.
Coronado was escorted to the border of Quivira at an area called Tabas where the neighboring nation of Harahey began. He summoned the "Lord of Harahey" who, with a retinue of nearly 200, came to meet the Spanish. The Harahey delegation were "all naked — with bows and some sort of things on their heads, and their privy parts slightly covered. It was the same sort of place ... and of about the same size as Quivira." Disappointed at his failure to find wealth, Coronado turned his face toward New Mexico and marched back across the plains, met up with the rest of his army there, and the following year returned to Mexico. Before leaving Quivira, Coronado ordered the Turk executed by strangulation. The Coronado expedition had failed in its quest for gold.
Coronado left behind in New Mexico several Catholic priests and their helpers, including Friar
Juan de Padilla
Juan de Padilla, OFM (1500–1542) was a Spanish Catholic priest and missionary who spent much of his life exploring North America with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. He was killed in what would become Kansas by Native Americans in 1542.
...
. Padilla journeyed back to Quivira with a Portuguese assistant and several Indigenous converts. The friar and most of his companions were soon killed by people from Quivira, apparently because he wished to leave their country to visit their enemies, the Guas. Portuguese and Native survivors reported the story.
Later expeditions
In 1594,
Francisco Leyba (Leyva) Bonilla and Antonio de Humana (Umana) made another attempt to find the Quivira of Coronado, though it was denounced as unauthorized by Spanish officials. Only
Jusepe Gutierrez, a Nahua returned from this journey. He related that Leyba had killed Umana in a quarrel and that he (Jusepe) had deserted the expedition.
Following this, in 1601, the governor of New Mexico,
Juan de Oñate
Juan de Oñate y Salazar (; 1550–1626) was a Spanish conquistador from New Spain, explorer, and colonial governor of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in the viceroyalty of New Spain. He led early Spanish expeditions to the Great ...
, undertook another expedition in search of Quivira. He found settlements of the
Escanjaque and
Rayado in the
Central Great Plains, but no gold or silver. He learned that Leyba and other members of the Umana and Lebya expedition had been killed by Indians. In 1606, 800 people from Quivira reportedly visited Oñate in New Mexico to trade.
In his 1634 expedition, Captain Alonzo Vaca found Quivira 300
leagues east of New Mexico (this suggests more than ). Another reputed expedition was undertaken in 1662 by Diego Dionisio de Penalosa, who allegedly found a large settlement he called a city, but an modern re-examination of his account concluded that the story is fanciful.
Spanish accounts said Quivirans were enemies of the
Escanjaques. In 1675 and 1678 came "two Spanish royal orders for the conquest of Quivira."
Location and ethnic identity
Archaeological evidence suggests that Quivira was located near the Great Bend of the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...
in central Kansas.
The remains of several Indigenous communities have been found near
Lyons along Cow Creek and the
Little Arkansas River
The Little Arkansas River ( ) is a river in the central Great Plains of North America. A tributary of the Arkansas River, its entire length lies within the United States, American state of Kansas.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Datas ...
along with articles of Spanish manufacture dating from Coronado's time.
The Quivirans were almost certainly the
Wichita.
Coronado's meager descriptions of Quivira resemble more recent post-contact Wichita communities. The Quivirans seem to have been numerous, based on the number of settlements Coronado visited, with a population of at least 10,000 persons. They were good farmers as well as hunters. Judging from Coronado's description, they were a healthy, peaceful people.
The nation of Harahey Coronado found on the borders of Quivira may have been located on the
Smoky Hill River
The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas.Smoky Hill River. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.br ...
near the present city of
Salina, Kansas
Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889.
In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...
.
The next confirmed European visitor to the Great Bend region after Coronado was
Étienne de Bourgmont. In 1724, along with a company of
Kaw
Kaw or KAW may refer to:
Mythology
* Kaw (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
* Johnny Kaw, mythical settler of Kansas, US
* Kaw (character), in ''The Chronicles of Prydain''
People
* Kaw people, a Native American tribe
Places
* Kaw, Fr ...
and other Indigenous explorers, de Bourgmont traveled westward from the Missouri River to a large Indigenous community believed to have an
Plains Apache population. The village was near Lyons, precisely where Quivira had been almost 200 years earlier.
The original inhabitants of Quivira migrated to eastern Kansas and south to
Oklahoma. Their reasons for moving may have been to escape the encroachment of the Plains Apache, whose expansion created war and hostilities among the nations of the Great Plains. It also appears that the 18th-century Wichita of the 18th century were fewer in number than in the 16th century. This decrease is likely due to
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and other European diseases.
Etymology
The origin of the word "Quivira" is uncertain. The inhabitants of Coronado's Quivira called themselves "''Tancoa''" and "''Tabas''. These two names are similar to the Wichita tribes, the
Tawakonis and
Taovayas.
In cartography
On early 16th- and 17th-century maps of North America, a large region including what is now
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
,
Oklahoma, southeastern
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, northeastern
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
and the
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...
was called "Quivira".
Legacy
The last remnants of the formerly extensive cartographic region of Quivira today is the city of
Lake Quivira and the
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge is located in south central Kansas near the town of Stafford. It lies mostly in northeastern Stafford County, but small parts extend into southwestern Rice and northwestern Reno Counties. Its proximity to the Ce ...
in Kansas. In addition, the "Quivira Council" of the
Boy Scouts serves the area of southwestern Kansas around
Wichita; the central part of the area that was traditionally called Quivira.
Quivira Council of the Boy Scouts:
The first several yearbooks printed by the University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
were entitled ''Quivira'' Also, a major arterial road runs through the Johnson County suburbs of Kansas City named "Quivira Road".
A large abandoned pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
in Torrance County
Torrance County is a county located in the center of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,383. The county seat is Estancia.
The geographic center of New Mexico is located in Torrance County, southwest of ...
, New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, was named "La Gran Quivira" ("the Great Quivira"). The community was located within Tompiro-speaking Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
territory. During the early period of the Spanish conquest, when the town was called Pueblo de Las Humanas, a mission was built here. In the 1670s, the Tompiro communities were abandoned and absorbed into other Pueblos. The remains of Gran Quivira Pueblo and the mission are today part of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
See also
* City of the Caesars
* El Dorado
*Fountain of Youth
The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring which allegedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in the writings of Herod ...
*La Canela La Canela, the Valley of Cinnamon, is a legendary location in South America. As with El Dorado, its legend grew out of expectations aroused by the voyage of Christopher Columbus. He had demonstrated to the satisfaction of his backers that gold and s ...
*Paititi Paititi is a legendary Inca lost city or utopian rich land. It allegedly lies east of the Andes, hidden somewhere within the remote rainforests of southeast Peru, northern Bolivia or northwest Brazil. The Paititi legend in Peru revolves around the s ...
*Sierra de la Plata
The Sierra de la Plata ("Mountain of Silver") was a mythical source of silver in the interior of South America. The legend began in the early 16th century when castaways from the Juan Díaz de Solís expedition heard indigenous stories of a mount ...
References
External links
''The journey of Coronado, 1540-1542, from the city of Mexico to the Grand Canon of the Colorado and the buffalo plains of Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, as told by himself and his followers''
- Complete primary documents pertaining to Coronado's expeditions, translated by George Parker Winship, a
Portal to Texas History
{{Authority control
Mythological populated places
Native American history of Kansas
Native American history of Nebraska
Colonial United States (Spanish)
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Plains tribes
Wichita tribe
Colonial New Mexico
simple:Quivira and Cíbola