Peter O. Koch - Imaginary Cities of Gold : The Spanish Quest for Treasure in North America

ALSO BY PETER O. KOCH

AND FROM MCFARLAND

The Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire (2008)

The Aztecs, the Conquistadors, and the Making of Mexican Culture (2006)

To the Ends of the Earth: The Age of the European Explorers (2003)

Imaginary Cities of Gold

The Spanish Quest for Treasure in North America

PETER O. KOCH

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Koch, Peter O., 1953

Imaginary cities of gold : the Spanish quest for treasure in North America / Peter O. Koch.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7864-4381-9

softcover : 50# alkaline paper

1. AmericaDiscovery and explorationSpanish. 2. Nez Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar, 16th cent. 3. Coronado, Francisco Vsquez de, 15101554. 4. Soto, Hernando de, ca. 15001542. 5. ExplorersAmericaBiography. 6. Explorers SpainBiography. 7. Geographical myths. I. Title. E123.K65 2009

970.01'6dc22 2009006678

British Library cataloguing data are available

2009 Peter O. Koch. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover image 2009 Shutterstock

Manufactured in the United States of America

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

Let the curious reader consider whether there is not much to ponder in this that I am writing. What men have there been in the world who have shown such daring?

Bernal Diaz del Castillo

They were all groping in the darkness, because they did not understand what the Indians were saying.

Fray Bartolom de Las Casas

PREFACE

Nearly a century before a small company of hopeful English colonists sought to plant a permanent settlement at Jamestown, Spanish colonists, who had already established a foothold in North America, were busy planning expeditions to explore, conquer, and settle the mysterious lands that lay just to the north of Cuba and Mexico. Their curiosity piqued by native tales of lands teeming with a natural supply of precious metals and gems, and uncharted regions that were home to many strange and wondrous sights, some of which seemed to correspond with ancient European lore, a great many Spaniards were willing to risk everything, including their lives, for the chance to find treasures said to surpass even their wildest dreams.

A mere twenty years after Christopher Columbus established the first truly permanent European settlement in the Americas, a conquistador by the name of Juan Ponce de Len sailed from Puerto Rico in search of the island of Bimini, a land that the natives had told him was rich with gold and home to a magical spring of water that could revive both body and soul. While he failed to find either of these attractive items, this legendary explorer did happen to discover an unfamiliar territory that he christened Pascua Florida, a region that soon became the focus of intense Spanish speculation, most of which was fueled by native stories of extraordinarily wealthy kingdoms just waiting to be claimed for the greater glory of Spain.

Rumors of Hernn Cortss discovery of Tenochtitlan, a New World city that surpassed the size and magnificence of any contemporary Old World city, spread quickly throughout the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. It stood to reason that if there was one such opulent kingdom then surely there must be others just waiting to be discovered. Such reasoning rekindled Juan Ponce de Lens desire to return to Pascua Florida. This renewed quest for gold and glory came to an abrupt end when the Spanish commander suffered an arrow wound that proved fatal.

The dream of finding Floridas legendary wealth did not, however, die with the passing of Juan Ponce de Len. There would soon follow a successive number of expeditions to this region, all of which were led by Spanish commanders who were thoroughly convinced that they possessed the wherewithal to succeed where their predecessors had failed. Pnfilo de Narvez, a Spanish conquistador blinded by greed, arrogance, and the loss of one eye, was next in line to take up the search for the ever-elusive rich empires of Florida, especially a wealthy realm the natives called Apalachee. This ill-fated expedition suffered one loss after another until there were but four survivors, one of whom was an officer by the name of lvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca.