A Muted Legacy: O’odham Encounters with the Coronado Expedition

Abstract

Archaeological research related to the Coronado expedition of 1539–42 in southern Arizona is revealing evidence that has substantial implications for our understanding of the regional Natives, specifically the Sobaipuri O’odham. Most researchers have thought that these earliest Europeans encountered, described, and stayed among the Ópata, but new research is beginning to provide insights into the role the relatively unknown O’odham played in the outcome of this earliest period of intercultural contact. For a century now the consensus has been that the trail descended the San Pedro River in Arizona, having proceeded up the Río Sonora in Mexico. In this reconstruction, the expedition somehow avoided the Sobaipuri O’odham settlements. Yet, evidence for the route has been found farther west, and proceeds northeast through the heart of O’odham territory. Evidence of 12 Coronado expedition sites in Arizona demonstrate that the expedition trail went through areas with the most important and highest densities of Sobaipuri O’odham occupation. Marcos de Niza visited these residents and then, late in 1539 the Díaz-Zaldívar reconnaissance camped for an extended period in the area of one of the highest density distributions of Sobaipuri O’odham village sites. The Sobaipuri O'odham attacked both this place called Chichilticale and a later (1541) Spanish townsite, San Geronimo III/Suya established in their homeland. This is just one of the ways the Sobaipuri O’odham had an impact on the expedition.