Coronado Historic Site

Coronado Historic Site and the ancient Kuaua Pueblo are located just minutes north of Albuquerque (off of I-25, Exit 242) in Bernalillo.  In 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado—with 500 soldiers and 2,000 Indigenous allies from New Spain—entered the Rio Grande valley somewhere near this site.  Coronado was searching for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.

Instead of treasure, he found a dozen villages inhabited by prosperous native farmers.  These newly “discovered” people spoke Tiwa, and their ancestors had already been living in this area for thousands of years.  Coronado called them: Los Indios de los Pueblos or Pueblo Indians.  He and his men visited all twelve Tiwa villages during the course of the next two years because they survived on food and other supplies that they obtained from them.  Without the assistance of the Tiwas (willing or unwilling), Coronado and his men very likely would have starved to death. 

Kuaua was the northernmost of the twelve villages.  Its name means “evergreen” in Tiwa.  It was first settled around AD 1325 and was occupied by approximately 1,200 people when Coronado arrived.  Conflict with Coronado and later Spanish explorers led to the abandonment of this site within a century of first contact.  Today, the descendants of the people of Kuaua live in the surviving Tiwa-speaking villages of Taos, Picuris, Sandia, and Isleta. 

For Directions, information about hours, admission fees and programs go to: https://nmhistoricsites.org/coronado/plan