This remarkable volume marks the culmination of more than three decades of research tracing Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition to Tierra Nueva. Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint demonstrate in painstaking detail precisely how a massive land-based enterprise with hundreds of Spaniards and thousands of Native allies made a round trip journey of nearly four thousand miles between 1539 and 1542. The Flints reveal that the main objective of the expedition was to reach Asia to obtain luxury goods. Indeed, the wealthiest European participants brought their finest attire to display their “personal status and group membership with pomp and pride” (155). Native warriors adorned themselves with elaborate headdresses and “eagle and jaguar body suits” for similar reasons (170). Yet Asia remained out of reach for most of those who participated in the expedition. After word spread that Tierra Nueva was “far, far away from China,” Spanish conquistadores neglected to return...

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