||Espejo, Antonio de
||Account of the Journey to the Provinces and Settlements of New Mexico, 1583
||Bolton, Herbert Eugene (editor). Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916). Pages 163-195.
||35 / 0
Antonio de Espejo arrived in Mexico in 1571 with his brother Pedro
Muñoz de Espejo in the company of chief Inquisitor Pedro
Moyas de Contreras. The Spanish king sent this party to Mexico to
establish an independent Inquisition of religious conversion in
New Spain. In addition to their duties in the Inquisition, they
became successful ranchers by exploiting their royal connections.
In 1581, when his brother killed a man in a brawl, Antonio de Espejo
received only nominal punishment and moved north to start a ranch
at Santa Bárbara. From there, Espejo became involved in this expedition
into New Mexico.
Because of the loss of the friars and laity in the 1581-1582 Rodríguez
Expedition (see AJ-004 to AJ-007), the local Franciscan friars at
San Bartolomé sought to rescue Fray Rodríguez whom
they believed was left behind at the New Mexico pueblos. Although
it was likely known that Fray Jhoan de Santa Maria was killed on
that expedition, Fray Bernaldino Beltrán of the Durango Monastery
agreed to lead the campaign financed by Antonio de Espejo.
Espejo Expedition of 1582-1583
The expedition of twelve soldiers, Espejo, the friars, servants,
115 horses and mules, left San Bartolomé November 10, 1582. In addition
to their mission to find if any friars remained alive, Espejo also
hoped to investigate the mining prospects in the region. Espejo’s
account details several grass-hut rancherías of the Indians
of the Conchos valley that subsisted by hunting rabbits, hares,
and deer using bows and arrows, and by cultivating melons, gourds,
maize, and the Maguey cactus used to make mescale. Espejo and Fray
Beltrán proceeded to the Pazaguantes village, similar to the Conchos,
living in grass-hut rancherías. They found silver ore while on the
way to the Toboso villages, a tribe they befriended and for whom
the Spaniards erected a cross for Christian worship.
The expedition next encountered the Jumanos, whom the Spanish call
the Patarabueyes. There were five Jumano pueblos, with permanent
buildings and a population of nearly ten thousand. The nearby tributary
of the Conchos River provided the Jumanos with water for gardening
and habitat for fish. Espejo traveled north from the Jumanos to
encounter a band of Indians converted to Christianity by Alonso
Núñez Cabeza de Vaca or on the Coronado Expedition
decades before (see AJ-070 to AJ-072, and AJ-086).
Their travels continued from Texas into New Mexico and among the
numerous pueblos along the Upper Rio Grande. In these pueblos lived
tens of thousands of Indians raising turkeys, and growing maize,
beans, gourds, melons, and peppers. The Spanish friars reported
that the Indian religious shrines and grottoes reminded them of
similar Roman Catholic religious shrines.
Espejo continued north to the Tiguas provinces and the Pualas (Puruay)
pueblo where Fray Francisco López, Fray Augustín Ruiz,
and their four converts were killed the year before. This was the
same province where the Pualas killed nine soldiers and forty horses
during the Coronado Expedition in 1540-1542. Here the Espejo Expedition
split up, in part because they feared that they would be attacked.
Espejo and Beltrán took a small party to Maguas, a highly populated
pueblo, where Fray Jhoan de Santa Maria was killed during the Rodríguez
The party followed the Jemez River northwest to the province of
the Emexes. There they visited Acoma, which is one of North America’s
oldest inhabited communities. Acoma is built on a rock rising nearly
350 feet above the plateau. Its cisterns catch rain to serve the
large population, and cultivate gardens located on a nearby river.
The Acoma presented Espejo with their snake and flute ceremonies,
which he described as “many juggling feats, some very clever, with
live snakes.” While in Acoma, Espejo learned of Coronado’s campaign
there, and the Indians also told him that a lake of gold existed
further west in Arizona.
Following that lead, Espejo visited Mohoce in the Hopi region of
Arizona, which other Indians warned them not to visit because the
Spaniards might be killed. Espejo successfully convinced the Moqui
they posed no threat and was welcomed with hundreds of woven cotton
mantas, or blankets. Again, Indians told Espejo about the
fabled lake of gold found further west. Although Espejo never found
the lake of gold, he did extract silver ore from several regional
locations that produced high-grade silver.
Indian guides showed Espejo a shortcut passage back to the pueblos
where he regrouped with the rest of his party. They returned to
San Bartolomé, bringing with them one Mohoce (Hopi) woman and another
Indian from the Tamos pueblo. Espejo’s expedition is marked by his
violent attacks on Indians at Puaray and Tiguex in which dozens
of inhabitants were executed and their pueblos burned.
Espejo arrived back at San Bartolomé on September 20, 1583, and
later reported to both the Spanish viceroy and the king about his
discovery of mines in Arizona and New Mexico. Espejo’s expedition
prompted interest in New Mexico among several Spanish adventurers
in New Spain and led to the appointment of Juan de Oñate
as governor of the New Mexico province fifteen years later.
The principal published source of information regarding the expedition
is Espejo’s own account written at Santa Bárbara after his return
from New Mexico. This was published by Pacheco and Cárdena in the
Colección de Documentos Inéditos, XV, 101-26 (Madrid,
1864-1884) under the title “Relation del viage, que yo Antonio Espejo,
ciudadano de la ciudad de México, natural de Cordoba, hize con catorce
soldados y un relijioso de la orden de San Francisco, á las provincias
y poblaciones de la Nueva México, a quien puse por nombre, la Nueva
Andalucía, á contemplacion de mi patria, en fin del año de mill
e quinientos e ochenta e dos.” In Mendoza’s History of the
Kingdom of China (translated in Hakluyt Society Publications,
London, 1854, II, 228-52) is another contemporary account of the
Espejo expedition; also in Hakluyt, Voyages (London, 1599-1600),
Other Internet and Reference Sources
For more information on Antonio de Espejo, see the “Handbook of Texas Online” to read the
biography and see more details about the expedition.
To see how one community of Native Americans looks back on these
events, see the Pueblo of Jemez web site at
Modern photos of the region through which the Espejo Expedition
traveled can be seen at
http://www.newmexicoet.com/new_mexico_photos_23.htm; these may
take a significant amount of time to download.