Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján (1510 – 22 September 1554) was a Spanish conquistador, most famous for his expedition into what is now New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. Coronado had hoped to conquer the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. However, the only city of "gold" that fit that description was the Zuni village Hawikuh, which did fall to Coronado.
Coronado continued on north on his quest for legendary cities of great wealth, chasing a variety of reports brought to him by the Native Americans he encountered. While parts of his expedition traveled to the Grand Canyon, Kansas, and New Mexico, and fought brutal wars with a variety of Native American groups, the expedition was deamed a failure, and Coronado returned home after falling from his horse and injuring himself in 1541. He returned to New Spain bankrupted. He died in 1544. His chronicle of the expedition was published posthumously.
After surviving the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, Moorish slaveEstevánico was assigned to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's expedition in 1539. In Estevánico's estimation, Coronado appeared to be a capable man, certainly more capable than Pánfilo de Narváez had been, although not quite as capable as Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.
