The Mystery of the Existence of the Golden City

gold city of eksistence

In the 15th century, the Age of Discovery began in Europe. The maritime kingdoms of Spain and Portugal lead the way by funding naval expeditions in all oceans of the world. A re-exploration of the New World, exploration of the West African coast, and exploration of the ocean route to the East brought enormous wealth to these two young maritime empires. Coupled with the desire to explore gold, so when local legends talk about Cibola, the seven golden cities, this will surely spur adventure conquerors to launch an expedition to search for this mysterious city.

The Cibola legend, the Seven Cities of Gold, probably originated from a previous legend about the fate of Don Rodrigo of Spain when he lost his kingdom to Muslims in the 8th century AD It is said that the king took seven bishops and a number of people and sailed to an island called Antilia. On the island, each bishop built a city, while ships and navigation equipment were burned to prevent people from returning to Spain.

The legend was revived in the 1530s when four survivors of the unfortunate Narváez expedition returned to New Spain. This expedition, which began in 1527, was intended for occupation in Florida. In 1528, while trying to sail from Mexico to Florida, the crew was stranded on the Texas coast. Survivors were captured by indigenous peoples. After four years in detention, the people managed to escape, and for the next four years walked through what is now in the southern United States. When they finally met the Spanish army at Sinaloa in modern Mexico, only four people remained, who had an initial power of 600. During their wandering years, the men encountered many indigenous tribes, and one of the legends they heard was about seven rich cities with gold, supposedly located somewhere in the Sonora Desert.

In 1539, the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, sent one survivor, a North African slave named Esteban de Dorantes, and a Franciscan priest, Marcos de Niza, on an expedition to find the Seven Cities. During this expedition, Esteban was reportedly killed by Zunis whom he met, while Marcos managed to return to Mexico City, where he reported that he had seen one of the cities of Cibola from a distance. He did not enter the city, however, because he feared he would suffer the same fate as Esteban.

Believing the priest's story, the Viceroy decided to undertake a larger expedition the following year, this time under the leadership of the conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. In February 1940, Coronado led 350 Spanish troops and between 900 and 1300 native allies to the north in search of the Seven Cities. The expedition, which lasted about two years, was a total failure. Instead of finding large cities with walls made of gold, Coronado and his men only found simple villages with mud and brick walls. As a result, many people, including Coronado himself, went bankrupt at the expedition because they returned to Mexico City empty-handed.
Although Coronado and his men failed in their quest to find the Seven Cities of Gold, they did not return empty-handed. Their journey took them through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas, which Coronado claimed to be for Spain, thus preventing other European powers from trying to colonize western Americans.

Even so, Coronado returned to the government with annoyance because he did not get the wealth he had promised. Coronado no longer held another expedition and died because he believed that he had experienced an embarrassing failure.

Read also The Mystery of Sinking City of Atlantis
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