Uses primary source documents to follow Francisco Vázquez de Coronado on his search for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

Describes Coronado's explorations in the southwestern United States in the 1540s, an expedition which revealed for the first time to Europeans the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Great Plains, herds of buffalo, stark deserts, snow-capped mountain peaks--yet never the gold the Spaniards so avidly desired.

Describes the historical and strategic roles of Santa Fe, New Mexico in what is now the southwestern United States.

Discusses the sixteenth-century exploration of the American southwest by Spanish adventurers, particularly the expeditions of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco Coronado.