García López de Cárdenas

García López de Cárdenas (16th century) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. Historical records of the town of Llerena in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura (Spain ) recorded Llerena as his place of birth and name Don Alonso de Cárdenas, the Conde de la Puebla del Maestre, and Doña Elvira de Figueroa as his parents. Other personal life data are not known.

Expedition

García López de Cárdenas was 1540 officers on a large expedition to New Spain in April. On the orders of the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and under the command of General Francisco Vásquez de Coronado expedition went in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. In the southwest of North America, the Spaniards searched for the legendary cities. But all they found were the towns and villages of the Pueblo Indians. They conquered the Pueblos and use Hawiku as a base.

Discovery of the Grand Canyon

When she heard of a great river in the west, Coronado sent out thirteen men to find this river. The leadership of this small force he handed García López de Cárdenas. Within eighty days, he would return with his men. He also had the task to make contact with Hernando de Alarcón. The had gone with his ships on the west coast of New Spain to the north and wanted to Coronado's expedition support from the sea.

They passed through an area that is now called " Painted Desert ". The Hopi Indians had given them supplies and a local guide. For several weeks they were traveling. When they were at the Grand Canyon and looked down, she could not imagine that they were about 1500 meters above the river. They believed to be at a tiny trickle. But their Indian guides assured them that this trickle is in reality a great river.

At which point the Spaniards met the Grand Canyon, can no longer tell. It was probably Navajo Point, but also Desert View is called. Cárdenas and his men could see down in the valley quadratic fields and the smoke from fireplaces. So the bottom of the canyon was settled. But after three days they still had not found a way down. Three men wanted to try the dangerous descent anyway. It was Pablo de Melgrossa and Juan Galeras. The name of the third Spanish soldiers is not known. Several hours went down the men, however, did not reach the bottom of the canyon. When it became too steep and they had no water, they had to turn back. In their report, they noticed that some rocks in the gorge would be greater than the great tower ( the Giralda ) Seville, and the river is safe just as large as the Guadalquivir. Probably López de Cárdenas gave the river its current name in Colorado. It took about 200 years until a Europeans visited the Grand Canyon.

After 86 days, the group came back at Coronado in Hawiku. Cárdenas had to complain on his expedition no loss of men or horses. But Hernando de Alarcón he had been unable to find. Who had sailed with his ships on the west coast to the north. Then he had gone with boats on the Colorado upstream. Cárdenas missed him by only a few months and a few hundred kilometers.

Responsibility

The following year, Cárdenas had the command in a dispute with the inhabitants of other pueblos. There was fighting and a riot. When the Spaniards had fought down the rebellion, Cárdenas had the surviving people tie to stakes and build bonfires at her feet. He gave the order to burn about 200 Indians alive. For this he had to answer to the court after the campaign and was sentenced to a fine.