Esteban

By: Penny Anne Welbourne

Source:

 Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass

Esteban

Sex:  Male

Born:  Azamor, Morocco
c.1500

Died:  Hawikuh, New Mexico, United States
c. May 1539

Activity/Profession:  Slave, Explorer

(b. c. 1500–1503; d. c. 1539),
a Moroccan slave who participated in a Spanish expedition across the North American continent.

Also known as Estevan, Estevanico, Stephen the Black, and the Black Moor, Esteban was born in Azamor (or Azemmour), Morocco, between 1500 and 1503. By 1527 he had been taken from Africa, most likely by Spanish or Portuguese slave traders, and brought to Spain, where he became the “personal servant” (that is, slave) of Andrés Dorantes de Carranza.

In 1527 Dorantes volunteered himself and Esteban for a Spanish expedition to the New World, commanded by Don Pánfilo de Narváez. The purpose of the journey was to conquer and claim land from the Isle of Florida (discovered and named fifteen years earlier by Juan Ponce de León) to northeastern Mexico. At its start the exploration included approximately six hundred men aboard five vessels; of those men only four were still alive when they reached what is today Galveston Island, Texas: Esteban, his master, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and Alonso Castillo Maldonado.

When they finally arrived in Mexico City in 1536, Carranza and Esteban chose to remain there, while Cabeza de Vaca and Maldonado returned to Spain. Before long Esteban was “bought” by the viceroy of Mexico City; he enjoyed several years of relative freedom within the city before returning to Spain in 1539. Esteban's time in Mexico gave him broad familiarity with the area and the customs of its people as well as fluency in several different native languages. Consequently, three years after returning from his first expedition Esteban was appointed as guide and translator for an exploration led by the Franciscan friar Marcos de Niza. This subsequent excursion would essentially follow the same route that Esteban and Cabeza de Vaca had taken previously and was intended to gather information for the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who planned to lead an expedition in 1540. Specifically, Marcos de Niza was instructed to bring back information about the Seven Cities of Cibola, where gold and precious stones were said to abound.

At some point in the journey Esteban and several others left the group to scout ahead—whether of Esteban's own volition or under orders from Marcos de Niza is unknown—and later sent runners bearing wooden crosses back to the friar to indicate that he and the others should follow. Historical accounts of what occurred from this point onward conflict greatly. Whatever the reason, Esteban and the few men he had brought with him continued walking until they reached Hawikuh, the Zuni pueblo believed to be the first of the “cities of gold.” Upon entering Hawikuh that night, Esteban and his companions were taken to a large house on the outskirts of the village and were instructed to remain there. The following morning Esteban was dead.

Esteban is recognized as the first African to explore southwestern North America. Although several original documents from the 1500s contain references to the Black Moor, only two were written by men who actually traveled with him: La relación (The account), most likely the first indication of Esteban's existence, and a report from a subsequent journey undertaken in 1539. In the late 1990s a Texas photographer established the Estevanico Society, which is “dedicated to scholarly research into the life and journeys of Estevanico,” including his origins in Morocco and later enslavement by the Portuguese and Spanish. Members of the society are particularly concerned with learning the truth about Esteban's final journey.

See also Europe; New Spain and Mexico; and Slave Trade.

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