Free ebooks ==> http://www.Ebook777.com

11

{

Francisco Coronado’s failure to dis-

cover riches like those wrenched from

the Aztec and Inca empires damp-

ened enthusiasm for expeditions north from

Mexico. Fortune hunters instead converged

around the central Mexican town of Zacate-

cas, where rich veins of silver were discovered

in the mid-1500s. The poorer lands of the

Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts were forgot-

ten by most Spaniards, with the exception of

slave hunters, whose raids prompted new

royal regulations intended to avoid provoking

Indians. Without authorization from the

Spanish king, exploration or settlement above

the northern frontier became a treasonous

offense punishable by death.

Missionaries from the Roman Catholic

Franciscan order, however, were exempt

from the prohibition. They began to venture

north into the arid landscape, usually from

Nueva Vizcaya, the future state of Chi-

huahua. In June 1581 Franciscans Agustín

Rodríguez, Francisco López, and Juan de

Santa María headed north along the Con-

chos River, accompanied by a tiny armed

escort commanded by Francisco Sánchez

Chamuscado. The Rodríguez-Chamuscado

expedition, as it has since come to be known,

met the Río Grande far to the east of Coron-

ado’s route. By following the river northward,

however, they arrived at the same pueblos

found by Coronado and again claimed the

land for Spain.

The leaders of the expedition fared badly.

FraySanta María was killed by Indians while

returning to Nueva Vizcaya. Sánchez Chamus-

cado died of illness. Word reached Nueva Viz-

caya that Rodríguez and López, who had

insisted upon staying in New Mexico to con-

tinue missionary work when their escort

132

New Mexico and the

Gulf Coast

The 1600s

\

http://www.Ebook777.com