 He was probably born in the town of Trujillo, in present-day Extremadura, Spain, in the first years of the 16th century and traveled to the Spanish colonies in the Americas as a young man.By 1540, Mexico had been conquered and state-sponsored expeditions were being sent north in search of new wealth and the existence of a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.Viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza commissioned Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to undertake a massive overland expedition with the purpose of finding the Seven Cities of Cibola, which were rumored to exist in the unexplored northern interior.