Marcos de Niza was the first explorer to report the Seven Cities of Cibola, and his report launched the Coronado expedition.
Marcos de Niza was a priest who was sent north from Mexico City by Viceroy Mendoza in 1538-39 to search for wealthy cities that were rumored to be somewhere north of the frontier of New Spain. In early 1539 he left the frontier at Compostela and journeyed north into the unknown for several months. In the summer of 1539 he returned and wrote a report saying he had discovered the cities - in a province called Cibola (the present-day native American pueblo of Zuni, New Mexico). He said he reached the first city and saw it from a distance, but because his companion had been killed there, he returned without entering it.
Most popular writers claim Marcos reported gold in Cibola, but his original report says nothing about gold. Nonetheless, conquistadors in Mexico city were exited by his news and assumed Cibola would be as wealthy as the conquered Aztec empire. Marcos led Coronado's army back to Cibola the next year, in 1540, but he became the scapegoat when Cibola turned out to have no gold, and the soldiers said he was a liar.
The Controversy Rages On
Marco died in 1558 in disgrace, everyone having blamed him for leading Coronado's army on a fruitless quest under false pretenses. The actual personality of the man is very unclear, and it is exciting to go back through the documents and try to understand what really happened. The French scholar Bandelier (1886, 1890 -- see reference list) re-examined the case and concluded Marcos had told the truth. Carl Sauer (1932) published a thorough but hard-to-find analysis of Marcos and his route in "The Road to Cibola." Other crucial studies of Marcos and his journey were published in the New Mexico Historical Review by Henry Wagner (1934), Carl Sauer (1937, 1941), claiming that Marcos was a complete fraud, having turned back near the present-day border without reaching Cibola, and that he was part of a secret conspiracy with Viceroy Mendoza to promote exploration of the north. Lansing Bloom (1940, 1941) attacked the faulty claim by Wagner and Sauer that Marcos had inadequate time to reach Cibola. William Hartmann (1997) argued from more modern archaeological data that Marcos was on well-known trade routes and did complete his journey, essentially as he described it.
Purposes of Marcos' Journey
Viceroy Mendoza gave Marcos a specific list of instructions which we still have. The main goal was to find news of any wealthy northern cities, rumors of which had been reported 1536 by Cabeza de Vaca when he and his party, wandered near the present US-Mexico border.
Many scholars ignore that a second general goal of Mendoza was to get information about the coast, because he believed it might be possible to mount a conquest of that area by sea. In fact, Cortés, conqueror of the Aztecs, was already building ships in a race to reach the north before Mendoza! Cabeza de Vaca had speculated that the northern trading center might be near the coast. Remember that many Spaniards still thought Mexico was an island, and thus that, somewhere in the north, the western coastline would curve around to the east.
A third goal was to report on the land route, the people, minerals and products, etc.
Many scholars, especially Hallenbeck (1949), berate Marcos for not following these orders. Hallenbeck claims he ignored virtually all of them, which is overly pessimistic. It is true that Marcos did not report as much detail as modern scholars would like, but from the vantage point of modern archaeology and geology, we can see that his brief Relación , or report, was correct in describing the location of Cibola, the architecture and customs, the turn of the coastline (to the west, not east), and some habits of natives in Sonora. The Relación also notes that Marcos provided a list of names of islands and possibly other geographic information in a separate document, now lost. The existence of this second document, with its list of names, may explain why the main Relacion is sketchy about geography.
So enthused were the natives of this last valley, that they organized a second party of "chiefs" from various villages to accompany Marcos to Cibola. On May 9, they entered the final 15-day despoblado , expecting to be reunited with Estevan around May 24 in the wondrous city of Cibola.
In a dramatic turn of events, Marcos' party met a handful of bloodied refugees a few days south of Cibola. Impetuous Estevan, they reported, had ignored orders from the governor of Cibola not to approach or enter the city. Apparently the governor was apprehensive about Estevan, who appeared as a strange, dark-skinned shaman, traveling with two Castillian greyhounds. Estevan, full of confidence from his experiences five years earlier, had laughed off the governor's orders and approached anyway where he was held for at least one night in a building outside the city. A skirmish ensued. Some of the southern Arizona natives in the entourage were killed or injured, and Estevan, too, was reported killed. (The death of Estevan in this way was confirmed a year later by Coronado's army.)
Marcos' entourage from southern Arizona almost turned on him, but after prayer and a distribution of gifts, Marcos talked his way out of the situation.
- I proceeded to
distribute what I had left of the garments and trade articles, to calm
them, and I urged them to realize that even if they killed me, they
could really not harm me because I would die a Christian, and would go
to heaven. But those who killed me would suffer for it, because more
Christians would come in search for me and kill all of them, even
thought that would be against my own wishes. These words and my other
speeches appeased them, though they still were angry over the people who
had been killed.
- I proposed that some of
them should go on with me to Cibola, to see if any others had escaped,
and to learn what we could about Estevan. I could get nowhere with this
idea. At last, two of the chiefs, seeing me determined to go on, said
they would go with me.
- With these and my
own Indians and interpreters, I pursued my journey until within sight of
Cíbola, which is situated on a plain at the skirt of a round hill. It
has the appearance of a very beautiful town, the best I have seen in
these parts. The houses are of the style that the Indians had described
to me, all of stone, with stories and terraces, as well as I could see
from a hill where I was able to view it. The city is bigger than Mexico
City. At times, I was tempted to go on to the city itself, because I
knew I risked only life, which I had offered to God on the day I started
the journey. But, in the end, I was afraid to try it, realizing my
danger and that if I died, I would not be able to make a report on this
country, which to me appears the greatest and best of the discoveries I
have made.
- When I remarked to the chiefs
about how beautiful this city was, they replied that this one was the
least of the seven cities. Furthermore, Totonteac, the still more
distant kingdom, is even better than these seven. They said it has so
many houses and people that it has no end.
- Viewing the geographic setting of the city, I thought it appropriate to name this country the new kingdom of Saint Francis. There, with the aid of the Indians, I made a great heap of stones, and on top of it I placed a cross, small and light because I lacked the equipment to make it larger. I announced that I was erecting this cross and monument in the name of Don Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, for our lord the Emperor, in token of possession and conforming to the instructions. I proclaimed that in this act of possession I was taking all of the seven cities... and that the reason I didn't proceed onward to them was to return and give an account of what I did and what I saw
Marcos gives few details of his return trip. Apparently he turned up in Mexico City in mid to late August. On August 23, Bishop Zumarraga, in Mexico City, wrote a letter with some details of Marcos' discoveries, possibly after chatting with him. On August 26, a copy of his Relación was certified and dated by the superiors of his Franciscan order. On September 2, it was delivered in person to the Viceroy at a court function where Marcos answered questions in front of various witnesses.
The
return of Marcos initiated a period of intense rumor-mongering in
Mexico City, as attested by various historians. Many writers say that
Marcos claimed that Cibola had gold and fabulous wealth
Around 1650s the North American Continent suffered the same fate the
rest of the world did. To reference what I'm talking about use these
links:
Anyways, the North American Continent went through the following major stages. The below compilation is an approximate transformation progression. For more details please visit this link. There could have been an additional stage, but that one is much harder to work with.
Sometime around 1650s, an event of great magnitude took place. This event drastically changed the outline of the Pacific North West area of the North America. Whether the area was entirely, or partially flooded, but the outline of the Continent did change. Some of the known coastal areas vanished with no trace.
The Seven Cities of CibolaThe
Seven Cities of Gold, also known as the Seven Cities of Cibola, is a
myth that was popular in the 16th century. It is also featured in
several works of popular culture. According to legend, the seven cities
of gold could be found throughout the pueblos of the New Mexico
Territory. The cities were Hawikuh, Halona, Matsaki, Quivira, Kiakima,
Cibola, and Kwakina. While there have always been mentions of a seventh city, no evidence of a site has been found.
- In the 16th century, the Spaniards in New Spain (now Mexico) began to hear rumors of "Seven Cities of Gold" called "Cíbola" located across the desert, hundreds of miles to the north. The stories may have their root in an earlier Portuguese legend about seven cities founded on the island of Antillia by a Catholic expedition in the 8th century, or one based on the capture of Mérida, Spain by the Moors in 1150.
- The later Spanish tales were largely caused by reports given by the four shipwrecked survivors of the failed Narváez expedition, which included Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and a black moorish slave named Esteban Dorantes, or Estevanico. Eventually returning to New Spain, the adventurers said they had heard stories from natives about cities with great and limitless riches. However, when conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado finally arrived at Cíbola in 1540, he discovered that the stories were unfounded and that there were, in fact, no treasures as the friar had described - only adobe towns.
- While among the towns, Coronado heard an additional rumor from a native he called "the Turk" that there was a city with plenty of gold called Quivira located on the other side of the great plains. However, when at last he reached this place (variously conjectured to be in modern Kansas, Nebraska or Missouri), he found little more than straw-thatched villages.
- n 1539, Friar Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan priest, reported to Spanish colonial officials in Mexico City that he’d seen the legendary city of Cibola in what is now New Mexico. It was an electrifying statement - Spanish explorers who were scouring the New World for Native American treasure had heard persistent tales of the fantastic wealth of the so-called Seven Cities of Cibola.
- “It is situated on a level stretch on the brow of a roundish hill,” the friar said. “It appears to be a very beautiful city, the best that I have seen in these parts.” The priest acknowledged, however, that he had only seen the city from a distance and had not entered it because he thought the Zuni Indian inhabitants would kill him if he approached.
- But when a large and expensive Spanish expedition returned to the area in 1541, they found only a modest adobe pueblo that wasn’t anything resembling what the priest described. The expedition turned out to be a ruinous misadventure for those involved - including famed conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, who led it.
- “Virtually everyone, including the leader, returned to Mexico City heavily in debt,” says New Mexico author Richard Flint, who, with his wife, Shirley Cushing Flint, has written five books about Coronado. “A number of those people never recovered financially.”
- For five centuries, scholars have debated what de Niza saw when he claimed he’d found Cibola - or whether he simply told Spanish officials what they wanted to hear.
- The Seven Cities of Cibola
Area 51 a.k.a. TotonteacWhile there have always been mentions of a seventh city, no evidence of a site has been found.Totonteac and CibolaI have seen four various English language spellings of this city: Tonteac, Tototeac, Totonteac and Tontonteac. The actual city appears to have been a part of the Totonteac Regnum. Well, let us see what the older books have to offer in reference to our Totonteac and the Seven Cities of Cibola.
In 1714, approximately 75 years after the area cities got destroyed, the following was published. Interesting that a lake was mentioned. Could it be our Groom Lake?
But it's texts like the 1628 one below, which have nothing to do with our Totonteac, but have the location mentioned due to the author's associations, that make me believe that Totonteac did exist.
Or like this 1664 text written in the language I do not know, yet the mere inclusion of Totonteac in this list gives its existence a certain credibility.
Or like these grid coordinates mentioned in 1677.
It sounds like our Totonteac had better constructed buildings as compared to Cibola.
And here is what the city of Cibola was described as.
Could this be an innocent mistake? I don't know. That would be like some
Mercedes misspelling its own name on their AMG class cars. It's not
only Columbus's 1492 date which is wrong on there.
- Vespucci died in 1512.
- Columbus died in 1506.
- General Info:
- Coordinates - 37°14′06″N : 115°48′40″W
- The base's current primary purpose is publicly unknown.
- The intense secrecy surrounding the base has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component to the UFO folklore.
- Although the base has never been declared a secret base, all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information.
- On 25 June 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2005, the CIA publicly acknowledged the existence of the base for the first time, declassifying documents detailing the history and purpose of Area 51.
- The Mercator changed the position to Equator to make Africa smaller in the conscience of people when they show the projection maps in the text books.Also North is South and South is North somehow.Mar del Sud Pacifico and Mar del Tartaria in a map of 1776Another map from 1781 with details about North American Continent the Arctic and Siberia.
1785 Zatta Map of North America
Tahugluak and Mozeemlek were two, apparently white, nations/tribes of Native American people.
Here is a couple of instances I found intriguing, "Tahuglauk wear
their beards two fingers' breadth long; that their garments reach down
to their knees; that they cover their heads with a sharp-pointed cap;
that they always wear a long stick or cane in their hands, which is
tipped, not unlike what we use in Europe; that they wear a sort of boot
upon their legs which reach up to their knee; that their women never
show themselves, which perhaps proceeds from the same principle that
prevails in Italy and Spain;"
The other one was, "the lower part of that river is adorned with six
noble cities, surrounded with stone cemented with fat earth; that the
houses of these cities have no roofs, but are open above, like a
platform, as you see them drawn in the map; that besides the
above-mentioned cities, there are above an hundred towns".
I thought about sharing the info I came upon, but felt that a certain prerequisite was missing, so I put this little article together: Bizarre transformation of the North American Continent: 16th through 19th centuries. Please go over it first before continuing. I think it might contribute to those few possible reasons why the people of Tahugluak and Mozeemlek were never found.
1703 Tahuglauk Skeme a river in North America
Map from 1570 - Tipus Orbis Terarum
Map from 1611 - Pieter van den Keeres
Map from 1630
Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula
Mercator Septentrionalium Terrarum
1595 Mercator map.
Columbus set foot on Hispaniola in 1492. Cortez overthrew the entire Aztec Empire by 1521. Pizarro
conquered Peru and defeated Incas by 1535. Yet the North American
settlers barely made it to the Mississippi river by 1820. 300 year
difference is bizarre. Did North American natives have better defensive
equipment?
Links
https://www.stolenhistory.org/articles/area-51-a-k-a-totonteac-the-seventh-city-of-cibola.257/
https://www.psi.edu/about/staff/hartmann/coronado/journeyofmarcosdeniza.html