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48-564: Mission San Cayetano del Tumacácori was established by Jesuits in 1691 in a location near a Sobaipuri settlement on the east side of the Santa Cruz River . Services were held in a small adobe structure built by the inhabitants of the village. After the O'odham rebellion of 1751 the mission was abandoned for a time. In 1752, the village was reestablished and in 1753 the church of the Mission San José de Tumacácori began construction at

96-468: A distance. Marcos described it as "very pretty" and "more extensive than Mexico [City]". The Indians who accompanied him assured Marcos that this was "the smallest of the seven cities". Then, following Mendoza's instructions, he raised a large pile of stones, placed a cross upon it and took possession of the discovered lands in the name of the Spanish Crown. After staking claim to the country, Marcos made

144-533: A great upset among the Sonoran natives in the Marcos party. Many had kinsmen who were apparently killed along with Estevanico. When Marcos tried to calm them, they retorted "How can we be quiet...knowing that three hundred of our fathers, our sons, and our brothers...have been killed?" Some blamed Marcos for the deaths of their family members and threatened to kill him. In hopes of regaining their support, Marcos distributed all

192-449: A group of Indians ahead to explore the country for fifty or sixty leagues to the north. Estevanico was instructed to communicate by sending back crosses, where the size of the cross indicated the importance of his discoveries. Four days later, a cross arrived that was as tall as a person. Estevanico had heard reports of seven large and wealthy cities in a land to the north called Cíbola. The messengers urged Marcos to come at once and meet with

240-407: A guide for this expedition but when they failed to find the wealth they expected, Coronado blamed Marcos, called him a liar and sent the friar back to Mexico in disgrace. Marcos remains a controversial historical figure and historians have argued without resolution over the veracity of his report and the itinerary of his expedition. Almost nothing is known about the background of Marcos de Niza. He

288-467: A hasty retreat. He found that the local Indians who were once friendly had turned hostile. He provides few details of his return trip except to say that he was "more full of fear than food". Marcos reached Mexico City in August 1539 and turned over a copy of his report to his Franciscan superiors on 26 August. On 2 September, Marcos personally delivered his report to Viceroy Mendoza. Marcos de Niza's expedition

336-624: A house, a kitchen, and one for saying mass (Bolton 1948). This visit to this first of the Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert north of the current international border made this native Sobaipuri settlement the first mission in southern Arizona, or the first Jesuit mission in Arizona, but, contrary to popular notions, not the first mission in Arizona. This original native Sobaipuri settlement of San Cayetano del Tumacácori has been located archaeologically on

384-468: A letter being written. For years, rumours had circulated of wealthy civilizations to the north of Mexico. In 1536 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions reached Mexico City as the only survivors of the Narváez expedition . Their account included references to possible cities in the north where great wealth might be found. Inspired by these reports, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza decided to send

432-530: A small reconnaissance expedition northward in hopes of confirming the rumours. When the three surviving Spaniards from the Narváez expedition declined to lead the effort, Mendoza appointed Marcos de Niza as the leader and ordered Estevanico , the African slave who was the fourth companion of the survivors, to serve as a guide. Marco had been recommended by his superior, Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo , who noted that he

480-401: A true scholar and he did define the first archaeological Sobaipuri site, making key contributions to the field, some of which are only recently being recognized. The other sites he thought might be Sobaipuri turned out to be late prehistoric sites representing Puebloan and other culture groups or the remnants of a later Spanish fort Santa Cruz de Terrenate. Archaeologist Deni Seymour has studied

528-528: The Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial México) and returned to Spain. They were replaced by Franciscan missionaries. Alejo García Conde, intendant -governor of Arizpe , officially granted the mission land to the resident O'odham in response to an 1806 petition. The initial grant, made on December 17, 1806, included a fundo legal  [ es ] and an estancia . A series of interviews with natives and legal decisions in 1807 clarified and extended

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576-468: The 15th century. This question is sometimes phrased as the "Hohokam-Pima" or "Salado-Pima continuum", a phraseology that questions whether there is a connection between the prehistoric Hohokam and the first historic groups cited in the area. A key piece of the puzzle has recently been found when it was discovered that there was Sobaipuri (O'odham) present in the late prehistoric period (Seymour 2007a, 2011a, 2011b, 2014). Chronometric dates from multiple sites on

624-573: The 15th–19th centuries. They were a subgroup of the O'odham or Pima , surviving members of which include the residents of San Xavier del Bac which is now part of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Akimel O'odham . Debate sometimes still arises as to whether the Sobaipuri and other O'odham groups are related to the prehistoric Hohokam who occupied a portion of the same geographic area and were present until about

672-597: The Cemetery grounds. 31°34′06″N 111°03′03″W  /  31.568430°N 111.050883°W  / 31.568430; -111.050883 Sobaipuri The Sobaipuri were one of many indigenous groups occupying Sonora and what is now Arizona at the time Europeans first entered the American Southwest. They were a Piman or O'odham group who occupied southern Arizona and northern Sonora (the Pimería Alta ) in

720-841: The Franciscan order in Nice, he followed customs and became known by his first name and place of origin. He is known in French as Frère Marc de Nice and in Italian as Marco da Nizza, but in the service of Spain, he came to be known as Fray Marcos de Niza. His surname is unknown. In 1530, Marcos travelled to Spain and then went on to the Americas. The details of his early travels in the New World are unclear. He may have first landed in Nicaragua but then soon joined Pizarro for

768-471: The San Pedro and Santa Cruz rivers have produced evidence of Sobaipuri occupation in the 14th century (Seymour 2007, 2008, 2011a, 2011b) and some even earlier, perhaps as early as the 13th century. The position is no longer defensible that no one was present after 1400 CE and that there was a substantial population decline in the prehistoric period (Seymour 2007c,d, 2011a, 2011b). Traditional stories help confirm

816-408: The Sobaipuri for 30 years, revisiting some of the issues raised by Di Peso. On the San Pedro, Santa Cruz, and tributary drainages of Sonoita creek, Babocomari, and Aravaipi Seymour has documented more than 80 archaeological sites occupied by the Sobaipuri (Seymour 1989, 1990, 1993a). She has mapped portions of their extensive irrigation systems and noted how their agriculture-based villages drifted along

864-456: The area in 1691 he was greeted by leaders of this group. Headmen from San Cayetano del Tumacácori and perhaps other villages had come to Saric, Mexico from the north to ask that Kino visit them. Kino traveled north along the Santa Cruz River to San Cayetano de Tumacácori (later moved to the modern location of Tumacácori National Historical Park and renamed), where he found three native-made structures that had been constructed specially for him:

912-554: The area in the middle 16th century, thereby playing an important role in European contact and later the European colonization of Arizona. Marcos de Niza probably encountered this group along the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona in 1539, although when Francisco Vázquez de Coronado followed less than a year later his party of explorers seems to have turned before reaching the Sobaipuri settlements (Seymour 2009a, 2011a). Toward

960-422: The boundaries of the mission. The deed to Tumacácori was lost in 1841. The mission was declared abandoned in 1843, and accordingly auctioned in 1844. Francisco Alejandro de Aguilar purchased it for five hundred pesos, on behalf of his brother-in-law, Manuel María Gándara . A small O'odham community continued to live and farm on the mission, until an 1848 Apache attack killed nine of them and the survivors abandoned

1008-432: The city of Cibola. Some theories state that Marcos simply would not have had enough time actually to reach Cibola. Another scholar came to the conclusion that he must have turned back way before he even came close to seeing the city based on the timeline and political complexities of exploration. Yet other researchers and scholars believe he did reach the long-lost city of Cibola. In the 1920s Matthew E. Bellew announced

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1056-555: The conquest of the Incas. According to Bartolomé de las Casas , Marcos later testified to many Spanish atrocities he had witnessed in Peru. He also worked in Guatemala and accompanied Pedro de Alvarado to Ecuador. Documents show that he was back in Guatemala by 1536 where he testified in a trial involving Alvarado. Meanwhile, his superiors must have been pleased with his work for he progressed through

1104-459: The discovery of a petroglyph on his land near Phoenix that appeared to have been left by Marcos de Niza. The inscription, written in Spanish, translates to “Fray Marcos de Niza crowned all of New Mexico at his expense in the year of 1539.” Most contemporary historians quickly called it a fraud, pointing out that the reference to "New Mexico" was an anachronism in 1539 and also noting that the expedition

1152-601: The east side of the river (as shown on Kino's historic maps), providing evidence of a densely packed, well-planned, long-occupied village (Seymour 2007a, 2011a). Kino then stopped by Guevavi (later referred to as Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi ), which is located to the south along the Santa Cruz River. Here he later (1701) established a church which he ordered whitewashed. The location of this native settlement and this formal church has been identified (Seymour 1993, 1997, 2008b, 2011a). This native settlement later became

1200-514: The ecclesiastical hierarchy from comisario to custodio and then provincia of the Mexican province. In 1537, Marcos wrote to Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga in Mexico City to complain about the atrocities he had witnessed in Peru. Zumárraga requested his presence in Mexico City and suggested that Marcos write a report to the king in an effort to prevent further cruelties. There is no record of such

1248-828: The end of Coronado's incursion into the American southwest, a temporary settlement associated with the Coronado expedition, San Geronimo III apparently was attacked and destroyed by the Sobaipuri O’odham people. Recent archaeological findings supporting this interpretation include what is thought to be the oldest firearm in the American Southwest. After this period, the Spanish did not re-enter the area for approximately 150 years (Seymour, D., Mapoles, W.P. Coronado’s Cannon: A 1539-42 Coronado Expedition Cannon Discovered in Arizona. Int J Histor Archaeol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-024-00761-7 ). When Father Eusebio Kino first arrived in

1296-458: The expedition began they encountered one of their first native villages, Petatlan, where Brother Onorato fell ill and was left behind to recover. As the two remaining explorers ventured inland, they came to a village called Vacapa where Marcos celebrated Easter mass. The natives received the priest warmly and referred to him as Satoya , or "man from heaven". While in Vacapa, Marcos sent Estevanico and

1344-456: The gifts and trade goods he had been carrying and asked only that he be allowed to proceed to Cibola. A few of the Sonorans finally agreed to accompany him on a secret reconnaissance of the city. Around 5 June 1539, Marcos came within sight of the city. Instead of risking his life and forfeiting the opportunity to report the information, Marcos decided not to go into Cibola but only observe it from

1392-566: The head mission for this region. The Sobaipuris were initially friendly with their neighbors, including the Apache, Jocome, and Jano (Seymour 2007b, 2008a). They traded with one another and they were cited sometimes raiding together. They even intermarried, probably creating the unique character of the Sobaipuri. Later they sided with the Europeans which stressed their relationship with the unconverted tribes, because Sobaipuris then went into battle against

1440-503: The idea that there was likely a clash between the newly arriving O'odham, including the Sobaipuri-O'odham and the extant groups including the Hohokam and Western Puebloan groups. The issue of a continuum is implausible because archaeological and oral histories demonstrate that the local residents intermixed with and became O'odham. The Sobaipuri were present when the first Europeans visited

1488-537: The newly appointed governor of the frontier province Nueva Galicia at the northern edge of New Spain. By 15 December, they were in Compostela, the provincial capital of Nueva Galicia. Once there, Coronado recruited nearly 100 Indians from the region to join the Marcos expedition. They proceeded north along the coast until reaching Culiacan, the northernmost Spanish outpost. Marcos and his party left Culiacan on March 7, 1539, and began their exploration. A week or so after

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1536-403: The others. The Sobaipuri are one of the most-studied protohistoric (or late prehistoric and early historic) groups in southern Arizona, although this is not saying much as the protohistoric (late prehistoric and early historic) are less studied than most other time periods, especially in this area. The accompanying list of references shows the upsurge of research in this group by archaeologists in

1584-470: The past 30 years. Prior to this most of the research was conducted by historians. The first archaeological work was initiated by Charles C. Di Peso (1953, 1956) of the Amerind Foundation who established a program designed to understand the transition from prehistory to history. Although most of his conclusions about sites visited by Father Eusebio Kino have been discredited, Di Peso is recognized as

1632-515: The present site on the west side of the Santa Cruz River. This first church structure was erected for use by the mission in 1757. The architectural style of the church is Spanish Colonial . Rumors spread within the Spanish kingdom that the Jesuit priests had amassed a fortune on the peninsula and were becoming very powerful. On February 3, 1768 King Carlos III ordered the Jesuits forcibly expelled from

1680-434: The river margins as groups grew and splintered through time (Seymour 1990, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2011a, 2011b, 2013). Excavations on several Sobaipuri sites have led her to revise conclusions that have arisen from use of the documentary record alone. In the early 1980s, archaeologist Bruce Masse (1981) excavated Sobaipuri sites on the lower (northern) San Pedro River, revising many of Di Peso's original perspectives and summarizing

1728-553: The scouting party. Despite instructions from Marcos to wait for him, Estevanico and his party hurried forward, while Marcos travelled at a more leisurely pace, stopping often to rest, speak with the locals, and perform religious ceremonies. After several days, Marcos came upon a pueblo where the people dressed in cotton robes and wore turquoise jewellery. They claimed to know about Cibola, a wealthy land with buildings ten stories high. Marcos continued to follow Estevanico who occasionally sent back messengers bearing large crosses. Along

1776-525: The site. The mission is now part of the 360 acres (1.5 km) of Tumacácori National Historical Park , which contains three separate sections and is open to the public daily. Like most missions in New Spain, Tumacácori was staffed by Jesuit missionaries until the 1768 Jesuit expulsion from Mexico, and Franciscan missionaries afterwards. These are images of the inside of the Tumacacori Mission and of

1824-464: The soil and the availability of water. In addition, Marcos was to inquire about the proximity of the ocean in the hope that a gulf or inlet might be found to provide access to the interior. Finally, the viceroy emphasized that Marcos "always try to travel as safely as possible" and "avoid giving [the natives] any cause to take action against your person". The expedition left Mexico City in the autumn of 1538, accompanied by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado ,

1872-606: The state of knowledge about this group to that date. Only a few residential sites have been found away from the rivers. Archaeologist Bruce Huckell (1994) documented three archaeological sites in the shadow of the Santa Rita Mountains north of Sonoita , Arizona. These sites were probably used seasonally for hunting and gathering or possibly as refuge sites to escape Spanish, or possibly Apache , domination. Marcos de Niza Marcos de Niza , OFM (or Marco da Nizza ; c.  1495  – 25 March 1558)

1920-448: The way, Marcos attracted a group of native followers who accompanied him on the journey to Cibola. These companions reinforced the idea that a great city was ahead of them. Sometime in late May, Marcos encountered two men from Estevanico's party. Bloody from wounds and greatly agitated, they brought news that Estevanico and his men had been attacked by the inhabitants of Cibola and many were killed, including Estevanico. The report caused

1968-457: Was a Franciscan friar and missionary from the city of Nice in the Duchy of Savoy . Marcos led the first Spanish expedition to explore what is now the American Southwest. His report of finding a "beautiful city", "more extensive than that of Mexico [City]", induced Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza to organize a large-scale entrada under the leadership of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado . Marcos served as

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2016-595: Was a pious priest, familiar with "cosmography and navigation" and capable of leading a journey of discovery. In addition to Estevanico, a lay Franciscan friar, Onorato was assigned to the expedition, as well as a half-dozen Indians whom Marco had been teaching the rudiments of Spanish and Christianity. The Indians were natives of Sinaloa in northern Mexico and it was hoped they could serve as translators and guides. The viceroy provided Marcos with written instructions, telling him to take careful note of everything he encounters, including Indian tribes, flora and fauna, fertility of

2064-457: Was born around 1495 and, as his name indicates, he was from the city of Nice which was then part of the Duchy of Savoy . His ethnicity is disputed. Bandelier argues that many Frenchmen lived in Nice and believes that Marcos de Niza was one of them on the grounds that in a contemporary account, a letter written by Jeronimo Jimenez de San Esteban, Fray Marcos is described as "French by nationality". Other historians believe instead that Marcos de Niza

2112-514: Was gathered and set forth from Nueva Galicia in January 1540. Although he was now a high-ranking church official, Marcos served the expedition as a guide and led a small contingent of four Franciscans along with an entourage of assistants, servants, and slaves. They ended up finding only a group of Zuni villages, not the Seven Cities of Cibola. At this time, Marcos de Niza was pronounced a liar and he

2160-550: Was in fact an Italian, although still a subject of the Duke of Savoy, on the grounds that Nice was an Italian town; some state that he was a man of Piedmontese origins born or based in Nice. Discrepancies in the description of people from the Savoyard state are common in historiography, the Duchy of Savoy being an independent state at the crossroads of French and Italian cultures. When he joined

2208-493: Was not carried out "at his expense". One exception to the sceptics was historian and missionary Bonaventure Oblasser who cited the petroglyph to support his assertion that the expedition passed near Phoenix (most historians today believe that Marcos travelled through eastern Arizona along the San Pedro River). In 2009 an opportunity arose to apply new analytic techniques to test the age of the inscription. These tests confirmed

2256-651: Was returned to Mexico City. Even though his report never mentioned gold, the Spanish and Coronado expected to find riches. After being scapegoated, Marcos de Niza went back to Mexico City, where he held a very high position within the Franciscan leadership. He died in Mexico, City on 25 March 1558 due to persistent bad health. Controversy still follows Marcos de Niza. Scholars and historians have continued to analyze Marcos's story of his journey to Cibola to figure out what actually happened, developing many different theories questioning whether or not Marcos actually made it to or saw

2304-497: Was viewed as a great success that seemed to confirm the extravagant rumours of a wealthy civilization beyond the northern frontier. In recognition of his accomplishments, Marcos was appointed provincial, or administrative head, of the Franciscan order in New Spain. In October 1539, Viceroy Mendoza ordered Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to organize and lead an expedition to "reconnoitre and pacify lands and new provincias ". A force of about 300 Spanish men-at-arms and 1500 native allies

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