Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744Fewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744
The identification of Tusayan with the present country of the Hopi
depends in great measure on the correct determination of the situation
of Cibola. I have regarded as conclusive Bandelier's argument that
Cibola comprised the group of pueblos inhabited by the Zuñi in the
sixteenth century.[55] Regarding this as proven, Tusayan corresponds
with the Hopi villages, of which Awatobi was one of the largest. It
lies in the same direction and about the same distance from Zuñi as
stated in Castañeda's narrative. The fact that Cardenas passed through
Tusayan when he went from Cibola to the Grand Canyon in 1540 is in
perfect harmony with the identification of the Hopi villages with
Tusayan, and Zuñi with Cibola. Tobar, in Tusayan, heard of the great
river to the west, and when he returned to the headquarters of
Coronado at Cibola the general dispatched Cardenas to investigate the
truth of the report. Cardenas naturally went to Tusayan where Tobar
had heard the news, and from there took guides who conducted him to
the Grand Canyon. Had the general been in any Hopi town at the time he
sent Tobar, and later Cardenas, it is quite impossible to find any
cluster of ruins which we can identify as Tusayan in the direction
indicated. There can be no doubt that Tusayan was the modern Hopi
country, and with this in mind the question as to which Hopi pueblo
was the one first visited by Tobar is worthy of investigation.
In order to shed what light is possible on this question, I have
examined the account by Castañeda, the letter of Coronado to Mendoza,
and the description in the "Relacion del Suceso," but find it
difficult to determine that point definitely.
In Hakluyt's translation of Coronado's letter, it is stated that the
houses of the "cities" which Tobar was sent to examine were "of
earth," and the "chiefe" of these towns is called "Tucano." As this
letter was written before Coronado had received word from Tobar
concerning his discoveries, naturally we should not expect definite
information concerning the new province. Capt. Juan Jaramillo's
account speaks of "Tucayan" as a province composed of seven towns, and
states that the houses are terraced.
In the "Relacion del Suceso" we likewise find the province called
"Tuzan" (Tusayan), and the author notes the resemblance of the
villages to Cibola, but he distinctly states that the inhabitants
cultivated cotton.
Castañeda's account, which is the most detailed, is that on which I
have relied in my identification of Awatobi as the first Hopi pueblo
seen by the Spaniards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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