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223 introduction o n may 31, 1541, viceroy Antonio de mendoza issued formal instructions to Hernando de Alarcón 1 to make a second voyage to the head of the Gulf of california as part of the expedition seeking populous and prosperous places in the region of cíbola. 2 specifically, mendoza reminded Alarcón that “the main purpose for which you are going is to find out about captain General francisco vázquez de coronado and the people who are with him.” 3 when contact with the expedition had been made, Alarcón was to deliver messages and goods being sent by the viceroy and the captain general’s wife. 4 in addition , he was to facilitate the sale of merchandise to members of the expedition and perhaps to native people also. 5 the viceroy enjoined the former captain of his personal guard several times not to pursue any other reconnaissance until the expedition had been located and contacted. 6 mendoza’s detailed sailing instructions were based on and incorporated information Alarcón had obtained the previous year. for instance, the viceroy refers to the río de Buena Guia, a name bestowed on the modern colorado river by Alarcón during his earlier voyage. 7 And he admonishes the captain to be sure that the leaders of Quicama and coama are not “disturbed or mistreated in any way.” 8 these are persons and names the viceroyalty had become aware of through Alarcón’s 1540 voyage. the viceroy also reveals the principal aim of the combined sea and land expedition—namely, to look for large native communities that were producing valuable commodities . He directs Alarcón to “find out who the people are who inhabit that entire area” and to “find out what one can obtain in that land . . . through the indian merchants.” 9 the important role of don Luis de castilla in Alarcón’s voyage is evident in mendoza’s 1541 instructions. it is becoming increasingly clear that don Luis was a key party to planning and probably financing the cíbola enterprise as a whole. in addition to his provision of a ship for Alarcón’s planned second voyage, don Luis is reported, for instance, to have paid for tamemes, or indian porters, at michoacán, who were to carry supplies for the coronado expedition. And his close personal connections with vázquez de coronado and viceroy mendoza increase the likelihood of his having played a major part in both the land and sea components of the project. 10 A year earlier, before Alarcón’s initial trip up the Gulf, mendoza doubtless gave the captain of the fleet another set of instructions of a similar tenor, minus many of the specifics, which had been unknown at that time. those instructions are no longer known to exist. But certainly their concentration on establishing contact with the land expedition and determining where productive native peoples were living must have been the same. the voyage of 1541, though we publish its formal instructions here, never took place. 11 the mixtón war intervened , diverting resources and personnel against one of the Document 16 The Viceroy’s Instructions to Hernando Alarcón, May 31, 1541 Biblioteca del escorial, códice &-ii-7, Doc. no. Lxvii 224 DocuMent 16 most serious threats ever to spanish sovereignty in nueva españa. Alarcón himself was dispatched with a company of men to Autlán, an indigenous community about 20 leagues northeast and inland from the port of La navidad in what is now Jalisco. 12 His enterprise therefore suffered a fate similar to that which befell the joint plans of viceroy mendoza and pedro de Alvarado, which were also supposed to have gotten under way in 1541. 13 By the time the sailing season of 1542 arrived, the decision had already been made to abandon the expedition to tierra nueva, and so Alarcón’s mission, as detailed in mendoza’s instructions, lost its most pressing raison d’être. two copies of mendoza’s 1541 instructions to Alarcón are known to exist. they are preserved together in the Biblioteca del escorial, outside madrid. they can be found there under the numbers códice &-ii-7, Doc. no. Lxvi, and códice &-ii-7, Doc. no. Lxvii. the first of these manuscripts is an unsigned draft of the second, which is signed by the viceroy. there are important differences between the two versions. for instance, the draft copy includes marginal notes in mendoza’s own...

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