Quivira

Quivira was the name given by the Spanish to a land of farming villages on the central Plains. Its inhabitants, ancestors of the Wichita, lived in grass-covered houses and cultivated maize, beans and squash beside the rivers. Bison hunting supplemented their harvests, while trade connected them with communities across a wide region.

In 1541 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led a small force north in search of the riches he had been promised. Instead of a wealthy kingdom, he found the villages of Quivira in the plains of Kansas. A delegation from Harahey, beyond the northern edge of Quivira, came to meet him. Coronado returned to New Mexico without the gold he sought, but his expedition left an early written account of Plains village life.

The later city of Wichita lies here.