X/M Articles - La Gran Quivira

Exploring Southwest USA's Greatest Mystery - La Gran Quivira!
By Gene D. Matlock, B.A., M.A.

Most people in the American Southwest, from Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma down to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona - and even Northwestern Mexico, have heard of the mysterious nation that inspired the gold-starved Spanish conquistadors to march to what is now Southwest USA, in search of the fabled golden empire of Quivira and its seven cities of Cibola, a term that the Spaniards mistook for an Amerindian name for "gold". Cibola turned out to be an Amerindian word for "Buffalo."

According to the legends, the Quivirans had more gold than the Aztecs and Incas combined. Not only were the mines of Quivira reputed to be filled with more unprocessed gold than was ever found in all the history of the world, but a mysterious king, whom the American Indians in the area believed was Moctezuma, sent thousands of men northward, their backs bent under loads of gold, to hide his treasures in Quivira's many underground chambers and caves.

Some historians have dared to state that Quivira existed only in the mind of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who explored the length of Quivira as far as what is now Kansas. In his book The Last Conquistador - Juan de Onate and the Settling of the Far Southwest, author-historian Marc Simmons reveals the ignorance clouding the minds of most modern historians and archeologists about one of the greatest anomalies in human history - an anomaly that existed not only in the Americas but in nearly every other part of the world:

"In the years when the Spaniards were endeavoring to unlock the secrets of New Spain's far frontiers, the name Quivira became attached to the remote plains lying northeast of New Mexico and centering upon the modern state of Kansas. The word first occurs in the chronicles of the Coronado expedition, when a Plains Indian encountered at Pecos pueblo spoke of his native country to the east as a land rich in "gold, silver and fabrics". Somehow from this communication, quite imperfectly rendered, the eager Spanish listeners came up with Quivira as the name of that wondrous kingdom, whose wealth to their ears seemed unlimited.

Whether Quivira represented the mangling of some Indian word or a purely Spanish creation is difficult to say. One persistent explanation holds that Coronado selected as the motto, or watchword, for his exploration the challenging phrase, Quien vivira, sera, meaning "He who lives, will see". His men shortened that to Quien vivira, then to Qui'vivira, and in a final act of compression to Quivira, thereby inventing the term that was eventually applied to the rainbow's end on the plains. That story is unverifiable, as is the suggestion that Quivira has its roots in the Arabic word quivir, signifying "great," which appears in Spanish place-names such as Guadal-quivir, the large river flowing through the southern Spanish city of Seville. Whatever the origin of the word, it lived beyond Coronado's day to become synonymous the idea of illusive riches." (p. 156.)

Benito Jeronimo Feijoo (1671-1764) stated in Proyecto Filosofia en espanol, an encyclopedic collection of ideas and accomplishments of mankind:

Feijoo's statement reveals a common superstition among both Indians and Europeans at that time in history: supposedly, certain Aztecs transported what wealth the Spaniards didn't wrest from them to New Mexico and Arizona.

As this article will reveal, a highly civilized people did abandon their home on the south-central coast of Mexico and found a new nation in New Mexico and Arizona. But they were not Aztecs. And they removed their gold to New Mexico several centuries before the arrival of the conquistadors.

The legends of Quivira did not begin in Mexico but in ancient India. About 10,000 BC, in what is now the Khyber mountains of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kashmir, there existed a highly civilized nation whose people called themselves Khyber (Kheeber) or Heber, according to the Old Testament.

They had a king named Kubera, from whom the word Khyber is derived. He became known as the first man in history to learn to smelt various metals, such as copper, gold, silver, iron, and fashion them into ornaments, weapons, and other useful products. Kubera taught the Hindu concept of sansara, which teaches that all humans must profit from, explore and investigate the material world thoroughly, down to the most insignificant atom and radiation. Everyone was to strive for material riches while simultaneously developing his character and virtues. No one was to be poor or unhappy. His subjects were known as Yaksas, Yahus or Yakhus; they were required to emulate him in every way, exploring the material world to the fullest while simultaneously cultivating the highest levels of virtue and humanitarianism. Even today in Orthodox Judaism, a person who has become wealthy and highly educated through virtuous means is called Yaksan, or one having Yeekhoos (Yichus). According to Kubera, at some point in his unending incarnations, after the dedicated Yakhu had conquered and explored all manifestations of material forces (yesh) down to and even beyond the vibrations which are the uttermost limits of material manifestation (ayeen), the Yakhu would develop the ability to don or shed his physical body at will, becoming a guardian angel of all mankind. However, if he refused to better himself in every way, he was degraded to the lowest ranks of humanity: Guh-Yakha. In modern Judaism, this degraded form of human is called Goy, a North Indian term for "heel". Goys or Guh-Yakhas could regain Yakhu status by again seeking to become better and better, in every way.

Kubera had a friend or relative who also taught a similar philosophy to his own subjects - a king named Siva/Shiva/Isa, known in Judaism as Yahve, Yeshua, Isa or Tseva. Eventually, Kubera (Heber) and Shiva (Yahve) were deified. Later, the two sects merged

into a single religion called Isvara or Yishvara. Cappeller's Sanskrit Dictionary states that Shiva and Kubera are really the same individual. In time, people came to regard Ishvara as Nature itself. The Isvara/Yishvara religion formed the basis of every religion in the world † even Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Native American religion- or whatever! It was carried throughout the world by the two brotherly factions of the Kheeberi/Cabeiri: The Phoenicians and the Jews. Every culture on earth remembers them as "twins"; War Twins (Amerindians); Association; Alliance (Hebrew); Asvin brothers or Nasatya twins among the Hindus; the Celestial or Gemini Twins Castor and Pollux, among the Europeans.

Early in their history, the Kheeberi, Kheeveri, Cabeiri, as they were variously called, left their lofty mountain homes and migrated to the seashore. These Twins or Allies worked together as international traders. The Panis (Phoenicians) built and sailed the ships carrying goods to various parts or the world. The Yuddhis (Sanskrit for "Conquerors") accompanied and protected the Phoenicians on their trading missions, as well as providing them with capable administrators and medical doctors. And when they weren't sailing and protecting, both groups indulged in their first love: trading.

At first, the Quiviri or Kheeveri, as they will henceforth be called in this article, just limited their maritime and terrestrial trading missions to pre-partition India itself (probably Persia down to modern Sri Lanka). However, as they grew in numbers, competition became too "cutthroat", causing many of them to lose Yakhu status. They began to fight among themselves. However, a king of the time ordered them to spread all over the world. They were such successful colonizers that had the Phoenicians appeared in this modern Space Age, colonies of them would be found living on every planet in the galaxy!

Galleys like this, as well as sailing ships, brought colonists and merchandise regularly to the Americas. Perhaps it was a galley like this which brought the Hopis to America.

About 4,000 or 5,000 BC, perhaps even earlier, prevailing winds off the coast of Northwestern Africa carried a group of Phoenician ships involuntarily to what is now Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America). Noting the richness of this land, they immediately set up trading colonies which probably started at Cuba and ended on the coast of present day Veracruz, Mexico. In those days, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea were probably dotted with islands large and small, from Cuba to Mexico.

The Phoenicians returned to India and started bringing back prospective colonists whose presence was non-grata in the Old Country: dissidents, cannibals, criminals, opponents of the caste system and other pariahs, just as the English had likewise rid themselves of undesirables by sending them to Australia and America. In those times, The India-Indians called Middle-America Atala, "the Underworld", in the same sense we call Australia "the land down under". However, because of the low social status of the colonists, Atala came to connote "Hell." It was also called Patala, a term literally meaning "Hell for shitty-humans." Atalan meant "People of the Underworld"; Atalandesha or Atalantes/Atlantes, desha being a Sanskrit term for "region", became the name of this new land, which Plato made famous in his Timaeus and Critias.

The Phoenicians kept their secret empire of Atlantis a secret. Anyone caught trying to sail there was immediately executed. Some writers say that the Egyptians and Chinese also sailed to America. But this isn't true. However, they could have been Egyptian-Phoenicians, Chinese-Phoenicians, or Greeks.

An ancient, spiral-shaped harbor with high banks or dikes lining the channels had once existed near San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, exactly as described by Plato. Robles y Gutiòrrez said that the extremely fertile plains and jungles in the area are cross-crossed with the ruins of many ancient irrigation canals, as well as manmade irrigation lagoons, some with the masonry lining their banks still intact - and still potentially usable! The archeological remains in San Lorenzo supposedly belong to the Olmec culture. The Olmecs themselves were either survivors of the Atlantis disaster or latecomers to the area.

The Greeks were also invited as guests on ships bound for America. Although the Cabeiri liked to trade and colonize, they were additionally interested in extracting whatever important mineral resources they could find abroad. Whenever they colonized a region that had valuable mineral resources, they named it Kheeveri or Quivira. Generally, but not always, if a region had no valuable mineral resources, it was not named Kheevira. To keep this article from becoming a book, and to infect my readers with the romance and fascination of our American Southwest, I am concentrating principally on the Kheeviras (Quiviras) north of the Rio Grande. For example, in Southern Texas there was a nation and tribe called Coahuila (Koh-ah-WEE-lah), so named because the Indians in the region couldn't pronounce V and R.

There was also a Quari (Kuwari or Kuvari) tribe related to the Texas Caddos. In Southern Arizona we find the Babo-Quivari mountain region which is sacred to the O'odhams. In North Indian tongues, Babu-Kheeber (Khyber) means "Grandfather Kheeber". The O'odham Babo means "grandfather on the mother's side". However, the O'odhams have now forgotten that Baboquivari really means "grandfather from the mother land of Khyber, Afghanistan".

Going northward to Michigan, we find a copper mining region called Keweenah. An article entitled A Short History of Copper Mining, in an online website, states:

I'm surprised that no one has ever been able to find out the origin of these ancient miners. Had they been willing to study Hindu history, they would have learned that the Hindus called North America Pushkara Dwipa (Continent of Fine Lakes). How could they have found out about The Great Lakes, had they never been there? Also, we know without asking that our American Indians never used 1.5 billion pounds of copper, not even the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. To what part of the world was all that copper sent?

After Michigan, we travel northward to the French Canadian province of Quebec (pronounced Koobek. In many North American Indian languages, words did not end in "R." The Amerindians heard a barely audible "K." Therefore, what was originally Kuber, a common Hindu way of pronouncing Kubera, became Kubek. Quebec is rich in rich mineral deposits of copper and gold. Yes, Quebec is another Quivira.

Variations of this word Kheeberi found its way into nearly every language in the world. In English, we remember the ancient Kheeberi in such words as copper, cave, cavern, and quarry. Author Marc Simmons, author of The Last Conqueror, stated that Quivira is probably an Amerindian word that the Spaniards couldn't pronounce properly. However, the Spaniards knew this word only too well - and what it signified. You see, they too were Quivirans. Spain and Portugal were once Phoenician nations in the peninsula of Iberia. The ancient name of Spain, Hispania, derived from the Sanskrit Ish-Pani (Shiva Phoenician). In ancient times, Iberia was pronounced Kheeveria. The nearby Italian peninsula was Khiberia. The Spaniards didn't need any other "convincing" to know for sure that the region now called Arizona and New Mexico contained inexhaustible treasures within its bowels.

Swastika: The Franciscan fathers allow the O'odhams to worship Iitoi (Shiva) alongside Christ and Jehovah. And why not! All three are the same Divinity with the same Hindu origins. In fact, the O'odhams call their way of life "Himday".

Not even today have people lost hope of finding the legendary treasures of raw and processed gold within the mountains and caves of Arizona and New Mexico. The ancient city of Gran Quivira, near Mountainaire, NM, was nearly destroyed by gold seekers from all parts of the world. Supposedly, it once had over 60,000 inhabitants. However, when the citizens of Gran Quivira found out that the Spaniards were more than willing to enslave them and take their gold, they voluntarily impoverished themselves, burying every ounce of their gold, either under the city or somewhere outside of it. After the Spaniards arrived, Gran Quivira's sources of water dried up. Lack of water, famine, and repeated attacks by hostile Apaches gradually turned this grand old city into a ghost town. The caretakers of Gran Quivira tell me that they believe the stories of its hidden gold. Nearly all the gold mined in Southern Arizona leaks out of the Baboquivari mountain range. The gold that a mysterious king from Southern Mexico had transported to the Southwestern United States (Quivira) is also said to be hidden in the Superstition Mountain area, a fact well known by Arizonians and the innumerable prospectors who spend their lives searching for it. An acquaintance of mine, Mr. Ruben Amador, of Silver City, New Mexico, claims that the so-called "Seven Cities of Cibola" are in reality "seven caves" near Silver City. He claims to have discovered these caves after a nearly thirty years search. He has even staked his claim on them.

However, the name Quivira, including its legendary mineral riches, is not the only evidence that Phoenicians were once exploiting the area. The Pueblo Indians all worship Shiva and even revere this Indian deity's major emblem, the Swastika.

Just recently, my wife and I visited the so-called "mystery stone" in New Mexico. This stone has the Ten Commandments, dates and a star chart (to signify the construction date) carved on it in ancient Phoenician or Hebrew. On a bluff above this stone, visitors can find the remains of a Hebrew fort, a petroglyph of a Hebrew king, and a stone altar with Jehovah inscribed on its surface. I'm sad to report that this site is not being properly cared for and excavated. Some Isleta Indians have told me they are willing to let the state excavate and prepare this site for tourists. After all, after visiting the site, most of these tourists will probably leave their dollars at the Isletas' luxurious casino. But the state government of New Mexico is not yet ready for this to happen. Ruben Amador tells me that some sort of ancient Egyptian or Middle Eastern writing is inscribed on rocks on a mountain a few miles outside of Silver City. Someday, archeologists are going to take researchers like me seriously. The day will come when Phoenician and Hebrew petroglyphs will be found in many parts of Arizona and New Mexico † plus many more proofs that the Kheeberis were once there!

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