New Mexico Entertainment

June 2000

In spite of Coronado's accomplishments of exploring and opening up areas unknown to the European, the expedition was considered a failure.  For they had not found the fabled cities of gold, only mud villages.  Coronado suffered an injury from a fall from his horse in this vicinity from which he would never completely recover.  When he returned to Mexico, he found that his influence with the Spanish court had diminished.  He was brought to trial for mismanagement of the army and for cruelties inflicted upon the native peoples.   Coronado was exonerated of the charges but his significant contributions to the European settlement of the New World went unrecognized during his lifetime.  The army returned to Mexico two years later after traveling over four thousand miles through country never before seen by the European.  Coronado had prepared the way for further expeditions and eventual colonization of the Southwest by the Spanish.

The pueblo of Kuaua was abandoned around the beginning of the 17th century.  The exact reasons for abandonment are not known.   Some of the contributing factors may have included: a drought that lasted some 20 years until 1593, the disrupting influence of the Europeans, and warfare with nomadic Indian tribes.  The people at the nearby pueblos of Sandia and Santa Ana claim that their ancestors came from this pueblo.   The entire Tiguex Province lay abandoned after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

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