Editing Juan de Oñate (section)

===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}}