García López de Cárdenas y Figueroa was a Spanish conquistador who was the first European to see the
Grand Canyon.
Life
Cárdenas was born in
Llerena,
Crown of Castile, second son to Alonso de Cárdenas, 1st Count of
La Puebla del Maestre, and wife Maria García Osorio. He was the
Encomiendador of
Caravaca.
López de Cárdenas was a
conquistador attached to the exploits of
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. Expeditions, including one led by
Pedro de Tovar
Pedro de Tovar (born 1501) was a Spanish explorer, military man and colonial administrator. He was part of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado's expedition and led the first expedition to Cibola in 1540. Tovar was also the first European to hear abo ...
, had heard reports of a large river north of
Cíbola (Zuñi). Cárdenas was dispatched in September 1540 by the general stationed in Cíbola with the express mission of locating such a river and returning within 80 days.
Pedro de Sotomayor accompanied him to record the event as a ''cronista''. After some twenty days of marching in a northerly direction, he was successful; but his band found difficulties in reaching the river (which was the current
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
, that they called River Tizon), owing to the sheer vertical distance down from their position. They were standing on the South Rim of the
Grand Canyon. After several days of failed attempts to descend to the water (his men were suffering from
dehydration
In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
), his party was forced to return to Cíbola.
Cárdenas was the only member of the Coronado Expedition to be convicted of war crimes afterward because of his role in the brutal
Tiguex War
The Tiguex War was the first named war between Europeans and Native Americans in what is now part of the United States. The war took place in New Spain, during the colonization of Nuevo México. It was fought in the winter of 1540-41 by the ...
.
[Herrick, Dennis. (2013) ''Winter of the Metal People: The Untold Story of America's First Indian War''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Sunbury Press, 240.]
See also
*
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
*
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
References
* Winship, George Parker. (1990) ''The Journey of Coronado, 1540-1542 (Fulcrum Series in American History)''. p. 12. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez de Cardenas, Garcia
People from Campiña Sur (Badajoz)
Spanish explorers of North America
Extremaduran conquistadors
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
16th-century Spanish people
Spanish conquistadors
Explorers of the United States