Page 11 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Francisco de Ibarra
1565. Ibarra traveled from Sonora to as far north as Paquimé, which he found in ruins. Although there is continual conjecture that he travelled farther north, Mecham’s study of the record indicates that Ibarra turned around at Paquimé, most of his men not wishing to travel farther. (Francisco de Ibarra and the Founding of Nueva Vizcaya, 1554 - 1575, John Lloyd Mecham, 1922, Doctoral Thesis at the University of California, pp. 171-174)
Francisco Sánchez ("El Chamuscado”) and Fray Agustín Rodríguez
1581-1582. This expedition travelled north from Chihuahua and then up the Rio Grande to the Pueblos in the north. The first pueblo they encountered was just south of Socorro. There is no evidence that they deviated from the river route or record of any natural history activities.
Antonio de Espejo
1582-1583. Espejo’s group travelled north from Chihuahua to the Pueblos along the same route as Sánchez and Rodríguez. He explored away from the river to a greater extent than previous explorers (into Arizona and back to the Pueblos and then south along the Pecos River). Again, this was a group searching for wealth rather than knowledge of the natural world.
Nicholas Sanson
1650. Sanson’s map (Amerique Septentrionale, La Nouveau Mexique et La Florida - detail below) still had the Rio de Norte flowing into the Gulf of California but represented a major step forward in understanding the geography of the area.
Please see Volume XXIV of the Southern New Mexico Historical Review, January 2017, Doña Ana County Historical Society, “La Ruta de Oñate: Early Parages of Northern Chihuahua and Southern New Mexico Along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro” by Joseph P. Sanchez, pp. 11-23 for an excellent physical and historical description of the route up the Rio Grande de Norte.
Nicholas Sanson’s map
Gaspar Castaño de Sosa
1590. De Sosa attempted to (illegally) settle New Mexico in 1590. He left Saltillo, Coahuila, with about 200 settlers. Juan Morlete was sent north to arrest him in 1592. De Sosa was captured and forced to serve on the Spanish Galleons in the Philippines.
Don Juan de Oñate
1598. The expedition led by Oñate passed modern day Hatch (naming a pass in the area Sombre Robledo after Pedro Robledo, who died in the area) on their way north to found the first capital of New Mexico, San Juan de los Caballeros. Many of the place names along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro were given at later dates, so Oñate did not travel up the Jornada del Muerto; he traveled up the route which was later given that name.
Vincenzo Maria Coronelli
1688. Coronelli’s map, America Settentrionale, see detail right, has the Rio de Norte flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, but there is no apparent sign of the Rio Gila.
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Coronelli’s map