Introduction 
13 
in the present state of Kansas. Returning to the Rio Grande, the expedi¬ 
tion spent the winter of 1541-1542 there, and in the spring of 1542 re¬ 
turned to New Spain without having extended the frontier of settlement 
beyond Culiacán. The expedition brought to the Spaniards definite knowl¬ 
edge of a great expanse of territory and many native peoples but because 
no great natural wealth was encountered the expedition was disappointing, 
and for forty years Cibola, as the country of the Seven Cities came to be 
known, was not visited again by the Spaniards. On this expedition 
Coronado later claimed that he spent over fifty thousand ducats of his 
own money. 4 
Meanwhile the sea expedition under Alarcon in two vessels proceeded 
north from Acapulco. Following the route of Ulloa, Alarcon reached the 
head of the Gulf of California, crossed the shoals at the mouth of the 
Colorado River in small boats, and then ascended that river to a point 
near the junction of the Gila. Unable to enter into communication with 
the main party, which was inland to the east, Alarcon soon returned to 
New Spain. 
During the absence of Coronado in the north, Pedro de Alvarado 
arrived on the west coast of New Spain with his fleet. Viceroy Mendoza 
at once entered into negotiations with him and as a result the two men 
formed a partnership. Plans were then made for a naval expedition up 
the west coast of California, but before these plans could be carried out 
Alvarado lost his life 5 in the Mixton war—an uprising of the Indians 
of Nueva Galicia. As a result of the death of Alvarado’s wife soon after¬ 
ward, all of the vessels in the fleet built by Alvarado passed under the 
unquestionable jurisdiction of Viceroy Mendoza, who at once planned two 
naval expeditions. The first of these in 1542-1543, originally under the 
command of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and, after his death, under the 
command of Bartolomé Ferrelo, explored for the first time the entire 
Pacific Coast from Cabo del Engaño —the northern limit of Ulloa’s ex¬ 
plorations—to a point near the southern boundary of Oregon. In 
November 1542, or five months before the return of the Cabrillo-Ferrelo 
expedition, the other division of the fleet was sent west under Ruy López 
de Villalobos to explore the islands north of the Moluccas and to reach 
China. Though he reached and named the Philippines, Indian hostility 
prevented the founding of a settlement; finally hostility from the Portu¬ 
guese in the Moluccas caused the expedition to go to pieces after the 
death of the leader. The net results of the expedition were the naming 
of the Philippines and the securing of Spain’s claims to them. 
Such, between the years of 1535 and 1543, were the exploring activities 
of the Spaniards by way of the west coast and on the Pacific. But this 
was not the full story of Spanish achievement; from Florida as a point of 
departure the entire southeastern part of the present United States had in 
the same period been explored. A period of inactivity in the east had 
followed the Narváez disaster. But in 1537 Hernando de Soto was 
appointed governor of Cuba and at the same time was given the right to 
4 See p. 33 of this volume. 
5 The events leading up to the death of Alvarado are given on pp. 43, 45 of this volume. 
3 
