Hernando de Alarcón, a Spanish navigator of the 16th century, noted for having led an early expedition to the peninsula of Baja California, meant to be coordinated with Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado's overland expedition, and for penetrating the lower Colorado River, perhaps as far as the modern California-Arizona boundary.

Little is known about Alarcón's life outside of his expedition in New Spain.

He set sail on May 9, 1540 with orders from the Spanish Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza to await at a certain point on the coast the arrival of an expedition by land under the command of Coronado. The meeting with Coronado was not effected, however, although Alarcón reached the appointed place and left letters, which were soon afterwards found by Melchior Diaz, another explorer.

Alarcón sailed to the head of the Gulf of California and completed the explorations begun by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Ulloa the preceding year. During this voyage Alarcón proved to his satisfaction that no open-water passage existed between the Gulf of California and the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean. Subsequently on 26 September he entered the Colorado River, which he named the Buena Guia. He was the first European to ascend the river for a distance considerable enough to make important observations. On a second voyage he probably proceeded past the present site of Yuma, Arizona. A map drawn by one of Alarcón's pilots is the earliest accurately detailed representation of the gulf of California and the lower course of the Colorado River.

Alarcón is almost unique among the Conquistadors in that he treated the Indians he met with intelligence and humanity, as opposed to the insane, murderous and destructive behavior that was otherwise the norm. "The Indians had an experience they were never to repeat: they were sorry to see these white men leave." (Bernard de Voto: "Westward the Course of Empire" 1953.)

Alarcón wrote of his contact with the Yuman-speaking Indians along the Colorado. The information he compiled consisted of their practices in warfare, religion, curing and even their sexual customs. He documented this information into a book entitled, 'Treatise on the heathen superstitions that today live among the Indians native to this New Spain, 1629'. This is an important work for it documents the practices of native americans in the area, many of which have been lost over time.

[edit] References

• Hammond, George P., and Agapita Rey (editors). 1940. Narratives of the Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

[edit] External links

• [1] - Short bio on Hernando de Alarcón's life