In 1540, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado took an army of 1,500 men and headed north from the territory of New Spain in search of a rich kingdom to conquer. He found a scattering of Indian villages across a vast, uncharted land.
It was the first European exploration of the American Southwest, but the expedition was considered a failure. Few historical records of it exist, and large portions of the route remain a blank. The “lost trail of Francisco Coronado” remains a scholarly puzzle.
Donald J. Blakeslee, an archaeologist at Wichita State University, put a piece of it in place last year, when he and a group of colleagues discovered a campsite used by Coronado and his men in a canyon near Lubbock, Tex.
We're sorry. Something went wrong.
We are unable to fully display the content of this page.
The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network.
Please allow access to our site, and then refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.
If you continue to experience issues, please contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com