García López de Cárdenas

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García López de Cárdenas ( 16th century ) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador . Historical records of the city of Llerena in the province of Badajoz , Extremadura ( Spain ) list Llerena as his birthplace and name Don Alonso de Cárdenas, the Conde de la Puebla del Maestre , and Doña Elvira de Figueroa as his parents. Further personal life data are not known.

expedition

In April 1540 García López de Cárdenas was an officer on a large expedition in New Spain . On the orders of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and under the command of General Francisco Vásquez de Coronado , the expedition set out in search of the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola . In the southwest of North America, the Spaniards looked for the legendary cities. But all they found were the villages and towns of the Pueblo Indians. They conquered the pueblos and used Hawiku as a base.

Discovery of the Grand Canyon

When they heard of a great river to the west, Coronado sent thirteen men to find that river. He passed the leadership of this small troop to García López de Cárdenas. He was to return with his men within eighty days. He also had the assignment to contact Hernando de Alarcón . He had sailed north with his ships on the west coast of New Spain and wanted to support Coronado's expedition from the sea.

They crossed an area that is now called the " Painted Desert ". The Hopi Indians had given them supplies and a local guide. They were away for several weeks. Then when they stood at the Grand Canyon and looked down, they couldn't imagine that they were standing about 1,500 meters above the river. They thought they were standing in a tiny trickle. But their Indian guide assured them that this trickle was actually a great river.

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View of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim

At what point the Spaniards met the Grand Canyon cannot be said today. It was probably Navajo Point , but Desert View is also mentioned. Cárdenas and his men could see square fields and smoke from fireplaces down in the valley. So the bottom of the canyon was populated. But after three days they still hadn't found a way down. Three men wanted to try the dangerous descent anyway. It was Pablo de Melgrossa and Juan Galeras . The name of the third Spanish soldier is not known. The men descended for several hours but did not reach the bottom of the canyon. When it got too steep and they ran out of water, they had to turn back. In their report, they noted that some of the rocks in the gorge were larger than the great tower (the Giralda ) of Seville , and that the river was certainly as big as the Guadalquivir . López de Cárdenas probably gave the river its current name, Colorado . It was about 200 years before a European visited the Grand Canyon again.

After 86 days, the group returned to Coronado in Hawiku . Cárdenas had no loss of men or horses on his expedition. But he couldn't find Hernando de Alarcón. He had sailed north with his ships on the west coast. Then he had gone upstream in boats on the Colorado. Cárdenas only missed it by a few months and a few hundred kilometers.

responsibility

The following year, Cárdenas was in command of a dispute with the inhabitants of another pueblo. There was fighting and a riot. When the Spaniards had put down the uprising, Cárdenas had the surviving people shackled to stakes and erected stakes at their feet. He gave the order to burn the approximately 200 Indians alive. For this he had to answer in court after the campaign and was sentenced to a fine.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Archivo Histórico Municipal Llerena, Personas ilustres

See also

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME López de Cárdenas, García
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish explorer and conquistador
DATE OF BIRTH before 1540
DATE OF DEATH after 1540