In 1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado commanded a very large expedition of conquest for the Spanish crown in the New World. Two-hundred thirty mounted horsemen, armed foot soldiers and over 1000 Tlaxcalan Indians, 1500 horses, mules, cattle and sheep departed from the area know now as Compostela, Mexico. They began the trek by heading north into the lands of the present Southwest United States.
From Cibola (the Zuni pueblo of New Mexico), General Coronado dispatched young captain Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas with 25 mounted soldiers and servants in search of the great river.
They traveled northwest by crossing the lands inhabited by the Indigenous Navajo and Hopi. Hopi guides lead the Spanish Conquistadors to the wondrous edge of Grand Canyon. Here the first European and African eyes gazed into the mighty abyss. Cardenas and his men understood that this wild and grand place could not be controlled by man.
This moment happened sixty-seven years before the English arrived at Jamestown and two-hundred years before the birth of George Washington. Grand Canyon has become an iconic landscape not just for America, but to the entire world. Now it is time for Curt to tell this amazing Conquistador story on canvas. His travels and the research for this project are far and varied.
The articles written by Curt, photos from the travels, drawings, and paintings all created through his research can be found below.
