Cibola
Cibola is the name of one of the legendary seven cities made of gold and at the same time the general term for this myth .
History of origin
The myth was inadvertently brought to life by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca . On his flight from the captivity of Indians, he crossed the North American continent from east to west with his companions Alonso del Castillo, Andrés Dorantes and the Moors Estevanico . On their way, in the villages of the Pueblo Indians , the men met people who lived in permanent houses and grew corn. After the hard-hitting march, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions found this area to be very wealthy. His reports were written truthfully, but were falsified: the villages of the Pueblo Indians became seven golden cities.
Rumors
In 1539 Antonio de Mendoza , the viceroy of New Spain , sent the priest Marcos de Niza of Mexico City to the north. Under the guidance of the Moorish Estevanico, he was supposed to find the cities and explore whether an expedition there was worthwhile. Estevanico died on this trip and Marcos de Niza did not get close enough to the villages of the pueblos. He could only look at her from a distance. The very existence of these places was sufficient reason for an expedition. Marcos de Niza also did not report on cities made of gold. His reports have also been falsified.
expedition
An expedition led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was looking for these cities in 1540 and reached and conquered Hawiku , one of the Zuñi villages . Another Zuñidorf was actually called Cibola and still exists today as an American city. After the conquest of Hawiku, Marcos de Niza was almost lynched when the Spaniards discovered they had captured mud huts.
After the unsuccessful search, Coronado turned to another myth, the gold country Quivira , east of Cibola.
Trivia
- The treasure of Cibola is the main target in the film Legacy of the Secret Book and is located inside Mount Rushmore .
- Carl Barks wrote the story The Seven Cities of Cibola in 1954 , which he immortalized a few decades later in one of his famous oil paintings.
See also
literature
- Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Shipwrecks . Strecker & Schröder, Stuttgart 1925.