Tales of Pueblo Villages Drew Friar, Companions Into Wilderness
The Journal is publishing a series of history articles to commemorate the settlement of New Mexico by Juan de Oñate in 1598. This one covers the Fray Marcos de Niza expedition of 1539.

By Miguel Encinias
For the Journal
History scholars disagree whether Cabeza de Vaca and his companions actually passed through what today comprises New Mexico in the 1530s. They do agree he didn't see any New Mexico Pueblo Indian villages.
But he heard enough about the lifestyle in the upper Rio del Norte region to kindle excitement about it and to set the stage for meaningful contact with its people.
Since the stories told by Cabeza de Vaca and his companions as well as by nomadic Indians of the wondrous cities to the north were still based on hearsay and imagination, Fray Marcos de Niza was selected by default to verify them. Three of the four survivors of Cabeza de Vaca's harrowing eight-year experience were reluctant to go out again into the wilderness.
Only Esteban, the slave, was available to accompany the friar.
Niza, Brother Onorato and Esteban, with a modest contingent of local Indians, left Culiacán, Mexico, in early March 1539. The lay brother fell sick very early in the journey, and at Petatlán he was left behind to be carried by litter to Culiacall.
When the small expedition reached Vacapa, in or near Pima territory, Niza sent Esteban up ahead with a local guide and some of the expedition Indians.
Esteban, now a leader, was given instructions to send messengers back with crosses signifying by their size the importance of his discoveries. Four days later, although he was still far away from the legendary cities, Esteban sent back a large cross based on the word of a local native, who claimed he had seen them. According to eminent Western historian Herbert Eugene Bolton, this occasion was the first time the word "Cibola" (or something sounding like it) was ever heard by a Spaniard.
Niza set out to catch up with Esteban, who wouldn't wait for him. Instead, Esteban left other crosses in his wake as he rushed on to the magical land.
After several days, Niza encountered several fleeing expedition Indians who told him excitedly that Esteban had been killed. They said that as Esteban approached the first city he was not allowed to enter, and that the following morning as Esteban started out to Hawikuh, near Zuni Pueblo, he was met by a large number of denizens who shot arrows at him and his men.
A story has it that this first encounter between the Pueblos and the Old World turned deadly because Esteban first irritated the chief with a rattle and staff he had acquired during the long trek and was using as a symbol of his greatness and angered him again when he demanded turquoise and women, as he had done at other villages encountered on the expedition.
Opinions are mixed on what happened next.
Some historians hold that Fray Marcos, after learning of Esteban's fate, turned back and never advanced far enough to see the Cities of Cibola.
Others believe the story he told upon his return to Mexico: that he saw Hawikuh from afar and that it was a great city, comparable to any in Spain.
In any case, his assessment was wrong and he suffered the consequences the following year when Coronado and his followers experienced a great disappointment with the Cities of Cibola.
NEXT: Coronado

Miguel Encinias is an Albuquerque historian. His novel "Two Lives for Oñate" is scheduled for publication by the University of New Mexico.