born 1550?, New Spain
died 1630
Spanish conquistador .
The son of wealthy parents in Zacatecas, New Spain, he married a granddaughter of Hernán Cortés . He received permission to govern the colony of New Mexico, which he founded in 1598. He sent exploring parties throughout the American Southwest to search for gold and led an expedition into present-day Kansas in 1601. Still searching for gold, he explored the region west to the Colorado River and south to the Gulf of California (1604). He resigned in 1607. Tried for his brutal treatment of Indians and settlers while governor, he was found guilty and exiled from the colony in 1614.