Kansas is a part of the great plain that slopes gradually from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. Its surface, cut by many eastward-flowing streams, lies level in the west but in the east curves into countless hills and valleys. On these broad prairies to-day are thousands of cattle, and great fields of corn, wheat, and alfalfa. Towns and cities are scattered over the State, and the country between is dotted with the homes of farmers. There are mines, factories, churches, schools, and colleges. Uniting all are miles and miles of railroad. Kansas is now the home of more than a million seven hundred thousand of busy, prosperous people. But it was not always so; these prairies were once used only by the Indian and the buffalo. If we are to understand how this change has come about we must begin with the coming of the first white men to America. =The First White Men in Kansas.= At that time Spain was the most powerful nation of Europe, and since she had furnished the funds for the voyage of Columbus she claimed the first right to America and became the pioneer in the exploration of the New World. The Spaniards first explored the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, discovered the Pacific Ocean and the Mississippi River, and were the first to sail around the world. In 1519 Cortez, a Spaniard, landed on the present site of Vera Cruz and marched into the heart of Mexico, the home of the Aztec Indians. He made himself master of that great region and called it New Spain. All of these expeditions were too far south to reach what is now Kansas, but only a few more years were to pass before this far-off country was to be explored by the adventurous Spaniards, the first white men to set foot on Kansas soil. =Cabeza de Vaca.= In 1528 Narvaez, a Spaniard, led an exploring expedition westward from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Through various misfortunes and hardships nearly all of the party perished. One of the commanders, Cabeza de Vaca, and three of his men were taken prisoners by the Indians. After being held in captivity nearly six years they succeeded in making their escape. They fled westward, and after an adventurous journey of nearly two years reached a Spanish settlement near the western coast of New Spain. The exact route followed by Cabeza de Vaca and his companions can never be known, but his accounts of their wanderings were largely the cause of the expedition of Coronado, who was the first white man known with certainty to have traveled across what is now Kansas.