Editing Juan de Oñate (section)

==Great Plains expedition==
In 1601, Oñate undertook a large expedition east to the [[Great Plains]] region of central North America. The expedition party included 130 Spanish soldiers and 12 [[Franciscan]] priests—similar to the expedition of the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]]—and a retinue of 130 American Indian soldiers and servants. The expedition possessed 350 horses and mules. Oñate journeyed across the plains eastward from New Mexico in a renewed search for [[Quivira]], the fabled "city of gold." As had the earlier [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado#Expedition|Coronado Expedition]] in the 1540s, Oñate encountered [[Apache]]s in the [[Texas Panhandle]] region.

Oñate proceeded eastward, following the [[Canadian River]] into the modern state of [[Oklahoma]]. Leaving the river behind in a sandy area where his ox carts could not pass, he went across country, and the land became greener, with more water and groves of [[Juglans nigra|Black walnut (''Juglans nigra'')]] and [[Quercus macrocarpa|bur oak (''Quercus macrocarpa'')]] trees.<ref>Bolton, Herbert Eugene, ed. ''Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542–1706''.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916, 250–267</ref>

=== Escanjaque people ===
[[Jusepe Gutierrez|Jusepe]] probably led the Oñate party on the same route he had taken on the [[Umana and Leyba expedition]] six years earlier. They found an encampment of native people that Oñate called the [[Escanjaque Indians|Escanjaques]]. He estimated the population at more than 5,000 living in 600 houses.<ref>Bolton, 257</ref>  The Escanjaques lived in round houses as large as {{convert|90|ft|m}} in diameter and covered with tanned [[buffalo robe]]s. They were hunters, according to Oñate, depending upon the buffalo for their subsistence and planting no crops.

The Escanjaques told Oñate that [[Etzanoa]], a large city of their enemies, the [[Rayado Indians]], was located only about twenty miles away. It seems possible that the Escanjaques had gathered together in large numbers either out of fear of the Rayados or to undertake a war against them. They attempted to enlist the assistance of the Spanish and their firearms, alleging that the Rayados were responsible for the deaths of Humana and Leyva a few years before.

The Escanjaques guided Oñate to a large river a few miles away and he became the first European to describe the [[tallgrass prairie]]. He spoke of fertile land, much better than that through which he had previously passed, and pastures "''so good that in many places the grass was high enough to conceal a horse.''"<ref>Bolton, 253</ref>  He found and tasted a fruit of good flavor, possibly the [[Asimina triloba|pawpaw]].

=== Rayado people ===
Near the river, Oñate's expedition party and their numerous Escanjaque guides saw three or four hundred Rayados on a hill. The Rayados advanced, throwing dirt into the air as a sign that they were ready for war. Oñate quickly indicated that he did not wish to fight and made peace with this group of Rayados, who proved to be friendly and generous. Oñate liked the Rayados more than he did the Escanjaques.  They were "''united, peaceful, and settled.''"  They showed deference to their [[tribal|chief]], named Caratax, whom Oñate detained as a guide and hostage, although "''treating him well.''"<ref>Vehik, Susan C. "Wichita Culture History," ''Plains Anthropologist'', Vol. 37, No. 141, 1992, 327</ref>

Caratax led Oñate and the Escanjaques across the river to [[Etzanoa]], a settlement on the eastern bank, one or two miles from the river. The settlement was deserted, the inhabitants having fled. It contained "''about twelve hundred houses, all established along the bank of another good-sized river which flowed into the large one [the Arkansas].... the settlement of the Rayados seemed typical of those seen by Coronado in Quivira in the 1540s. The homesteads were dispersed; the houses round, thatched with grass, large enough to sleep ten persons each, and surrounded by large granaries to store the corn, beans, and squash they grew in their fields."'' With difficulty Oñate restrained the Escanjaques from looting the town and sent them home.

The next day the Oñate expedition proceeded onward for another eight miles through heavily populated territory, although without seeing many Rayados. At this point, the Spaniards' courage deserted them. There were obviously many Rayados nearby and soon Oñate's men were warned that the Rayados were assembling an army. Discretion seemed the better part of valor.  Oñate estimated that three hundred Spanish soldiers would be needed to confront the Rayados, and he turned his soldiers around to return to New Mexico.

===Return to Nuevo México===
Oñate had worried about the Rayados hurting or attacking his expedition party, but it was instead the Escanjaques who repelled his men on their return to New Mexico. Oñate described a pitched battle with 1,500 Escanjaques, probably an exaggeration, but many Spaniards were wounded and many natives killed. After more than two hours of fighting, Oñate himself retired from the battlefield. The hostage Rayado chief Caratax was freed by a raid on Oñate and Oñate freed several women captives, but he retained several boys at the request of the Spanish priests for instruction in the Catholic faith. The attack may have arisen from Oñate's kidnapping of Caratax and the women and children.<ref>Bolton, 264</ref>

Oñate and his men returned to [[Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico|San Juan de los Caballeros]], arriving there on November 24, 1601<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nm/yunqueyunque.html|title = Yunque Yunque – New Mexico Ghost Town}}</ref> without any further incidents of note.

===Contemporary studies===
The path of Oñate's expedition and the identity of the Escanjaques and the Rayados are much debated. Most authorities believe his route led down the [[Canadian River]] from Texas to Oklahoma, cross-country to the [[Salt Fork Arkansas River|Salt Fork]], where he found the Escanjaque encampment, and then to the [[Arkansas River]] and its tributary, the [[Walnut River]] at [[Arkansas City, Kansas]] where the Rayado settlement was located. Archaeological evidence favors the Walnut River site.<ref>Hawle, Marlin F. "European-contact and Southwestern Artifacts in the lower Walnut Focus Sites at Arkansas City Kansas", ''Plains Anthropologist'', Vol. 45, No. 173, Aug 2000</ref> A minority view would be that the Escanjaque encampment was on the [[Ninnescah River]] and the Rayado village was on the site of present-day [[Wichita, Kansas]].<ref>
{{cite journal
|last=Vehik
|first=Susan C.
|title=Onate's Expedition to the Southern Plains: Routes, Destinations, and Implications for Late Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations
|journal=Plains Anthropologist
|volume=31
|number=111
|year=1986
|pages=13–33
|doi=10.1080/2052546.1986.11909314
}}
</ref>

Authorities have speculated that the Escanjaques were Apache, [[Tonkawa]], [[Jumano Indians|Jumano]], [[Quapaw]], [[Kaw (tribe)|Kaw]], or other tribes. Most likely they were [[Caddoan]] and spoke a [[Wichita (tribe)|Wichita]] dialect.  We can be virtually certain that the Rayados were Caddoan Wichitas.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}  Their grass houses, dispersed mode of settlement, a chief named Catarax (''Caddi'' was a Wichita title for a chief),<ref>"The Pawnee Indians". George E. Hyde 1951. New edition in ''The Civilization of the American Indian Series'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1974. {{ISBN|0-8061-2094-0}}, p. 19</ref> the description of their granaries, and their location all are in accord with Coronado's earlier description of the [[Quivira]]ns. However, they were probably not the same people Coronado met. Coronado found Quivira 120 miles north of Oñate's Rayados. The Rayados spoke of large settlements called [[Tancoa]]—perhaps the real name of Quivira—in an area to the north.<ref>Vehik, 22–23</ref> Thus, the Rayados were related culturally and linguistically to the Quivirans but not part of the same political entity. The Wichita at this time were not unified, but rather a large number of related tribes scattered over most of [[Kansas]] and Oklahoma, so it is not implausible that the Rayados and Escanjaques spoke the same language, but were nevertheless enemies.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}