Year 1539
The first contact between Native Americans of the Southwestern United States and "Europeans" occurred in 1539. The first contact actually was not with any Europeans, but was with a black slave named Esteban (or alternatively as Estevancio) who was accompanying the Spaniard Fray Marcos de Niza in his search for Cibola, the legendary city of gold. Esteban, who was sent ahead as a scout, arrived at the pueblo town of Zuni, but (the story is told) after he demanded tribute and women, he was summarily murdered. After Esteban's murder, de Niza turned back to Mexico without making contact with the Native Americans, though upon his return to Mexico he stated that he had, indeed, observed Cibola and that the stories were true—that the entire town was indeed made of gold. Historians differ as to why de Niza reported this- the skeptical opinion is that de Niza out and out fabricated the account; a more generous viewpoint is that he observed the town of Zuni from afar, and that—with the sunlight glinting off of its adobe walls- the town indeed appeared to have been made of gold.
Zuni as it might have appeared to de Niza
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