Pedro de Castañeda, a member and chronicler of the Coronado expedition, was a native of Nájera, a town in the state of Vizcaya in northern Spain. At the time of the organization of the Coronado expedition, Castañeda was at a Spanish outpost at Culiacán, in northwestern Mexico. He was married and had at least eight children. Castañeda's original account, Relación de la jornada de Cíbola compuesta por Pedro de Castañeda de Nácera donde se trata de todas aquellos poblados y ritos, y costumbres, la cual fué el año de 1540, has been lost, but a copy made in 1596 is in the Lenox Library in New York City.

