Imaginario y realidad en la exploración de América Septentrional.

The inform presented in 1539 by fray Marcos de Niza to the viceroy of the New Spain, don Antonio de Mendoza, propelled a series of expeditions towards Northern America financed by the viceroy and the emperor Carlos V, which lead to the estrangement between the conqueror of Mexico, Hernán Cortés, and the royal authorities. The search for Cibola and the golden cities was driven by the Spaniard mentality and imaginary rather than reality, but was influenced by the mercantile conception of wealth that dominated the Iberian thought. The article deals with the importance of acknowledging the imaginary as a methodological element for the explanation of historical action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]