Marcos de Niza (c. 1495 - March 25, 1558) was a French Franciscan friar. He was born in Nice, France. He went to America in 1531, and after serving his order zealously in Peru, Guatemala and Mexico, was chosen to explore the country north of Sonora, whose wealth was pictured in the hearsay stories of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. Preceded by Estevanico, the Moorish companion of Cabeza de Vaca in his wanderings and the Black Mexican of Zuni traditions, Fray Marcos left Culiacán in March 1539, crossed south-eastern Arizona, penetrated to Zuni or the Seven Cities of Cibola, and in September returned to Culiacán. He saw Cibola only from a distance, and his description of it as equal in size to Mexico City was probably exact; but he embodied much mere hearsay in his report, Descubrimiento de las siete ciudades, which led Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to make his famous expedition next year to Zuni, of which Fray Marcos was the guide; and the realities proved a great disappointment. Fray Marcos was made provincial superior of his order for Mexico before the second trip to Zuni, and returned in 1541 to the capital, where he died in 1558.

References

1558 deaths | Spanish explorers and conquistadores | Explorers of North America | Franciscans

Marcos de Niza | Marcos de Niza | מרקוס דה ניזה | Marcos de Niza