Herbert Eugene Bolton’s classic of southwestern history, first published in 1949, delivers the epic account of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s sixteenth-century entrada to the North American frontier of the Spanish Empire. Leaving Mexico City in 1540 with some three hundred Spaniards and a large body of Indian allies, Coronado and his men—the first Europeans to explore what are now Arizona and New Mexico—continued on to the buffalo-covered plains of Texas and into Oklahoma and Kansas. With documents in hand, Bolton personally followed the path of the Coronado expedition, providing readers with unsurpassed storytelling and meticulous research.
About the author
John L. Kessell, professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico, is the author or editor of many books, including A Settling of Accounts: The Journals of don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico, 1700–1704 (UNM Press).