when did the search for seven gold cities begin and around how long did it last?

Upon hearing the castaways' tales of cities with limitless riches to the North of New Spain, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza organized an expedition headed by the Franciscan monk Marcos de Niza, who took as his guide Estevanico. During the voyage, in a place called Vacapa (probably located somewhere around the state of Sonora) the monk sent Estevanico to scout ahead. A short while later, Estevanico met a monk who had heard stories from the natives about cities overflowing with riches.

When Marcos de Niza heard of this man, he supposed that the stories pertained to the "Seven Cities of Cíbola y Quivira."

Estevanico did not wait for the friar, but instead continued travelling until he reached Háwikuh, now in New Mexico, where, at the hands of Native Americans, he supposedly met his death, and his companions were forced to flee.

Marcos de Niza returned to Mexico City and said that the expedition moved on even after the reported death of Estevanico. He claimed that they had seen a city very far away and greater than the great Tenochtitlan; in this city, the people used dishes of gold and silver, decorated their houses with turquoise, and had gigantic pearls, emeralds, and other beautiful gems.

[edit] The second expedition

Upon hearing this news, the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza wasted no time in organizing a large military expedition to take possession of the riches that the monk had described with such vivid detail.

Upon the Viceroy's command, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado began his expedition, taking the monk Marcos de Niza as his guide. Coronado left with a small group of explorers from Culiacán on 22 April, 1540. While the main part of the expedition was going more slowly under the command of Tristán de Arellano—in each Spanish town the land expedition was re-forming—another expedition commanded by Fernando de Alarcón was leaving by sea to bring supplies to the land expedition.

Vásquez de Coronado went through the state of Sonora and arrived in present day Arizona. There, he discovered that Marcos de Niza's stories were lies and that there were in fact no treasures as the monk had described. He also found that, contrary to the monk's account, the sea was not within view from that region, but it was instead many days' walking distance away.

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