book worm

I'm reading "The Spanish Borderlands Frontier 1513-1821" by John Francis Bannon. I'm trying to glean some insights of the how's and the why's of the Coronado Expedition for my senior thesis. I've never really looked at in depth research of the Borderlands. To me that has always just been  jumbled together in a big mess of Conquistadors, Missions, and Indians. Most of my history classes have really just moved past that part of American history to get to the English colonization parts. I'm finding it to be a complicated situation, and a unique area of study. 

The Borderlands themselves consisted of Spanish settlements and frontier land in the American West as Spain began to colonize New Spain. The Spanish way of colonization was considerably different from the English colonies along the eastern seaboard. "Standard Equipment" included friars establishing Missions, converted Indians, and a network of mines that supplied Spain with wealth for its trouble. Exploratory expeditions past the frontier helped Spain gain a strong foothold long before those dirty Pilgrims ever arrived. 

I'm going to keep reading on. Though not all the information revolves around the expedition of Coronado, more study will be needed to understand the social climate of the Spanish Borderlands.  Interesting stuff.