The Turk
As Coronado arrived at the Rio Grande, he was disappointed by the lack of wealth among the Puebloans, but he heard from an Indigenous informant dubbed “The Turk” of a wealthy nation named Quivira far to the east, whose leader supposedly drank from golden cups hanging from the trees. Hearing of this, Coronado led an expedition of more than 1000 Spanish and Indigenous individuals onto the Great Plains in 1541. The Turk served as the expedition’s adviser.