Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. Vázquez de Coronado had hoped to reach the Cities of Cíbola, often referred to now as the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. His expedition marked the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, among other landmarks. His name is often Anglicized as Vasquez de Coronado or just Coronado.
The Coronado Expedition (1540–1542) from Mexico north through the future U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Coronado Sets Out to the North (Frederic Remington, c. 1900)
La conquista del Colorado, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicts Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon.
Episode from the Conquest of America by Jan Mostaert (c. 1545), probably Vázquez de Coronado in New Mexico
Kansas is a landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River, in turn named after the Kansa people. Its capital is Topeka, and its most populous city is Wichita, however the largest urban area is the bi-state Kansas City, MO–KS metropolitan area.
Samuel Seymour's 1819 illustration of a Kansa lodge and dance is the oldest drawing known to have been done in Kansas.
The Great Plains of Kansas
Kanopolis State Park
Spring River, Kansas