Estevanico: The first African to reach North America
Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Estevanico — What do they all have in common?
They were all explorers who discovered various portions of the American continent.
- Christopher Columbus had proposed to find a trade route to India but ended up discovering the Bahamas.
- Amerigo Vespucci explored the coasts of South America and raised awareness about this new continent.
- Estevanico was the first person from the continent of Africa to explore North America.
Short biography of Estevanico
Estevanico was born in Morocco, presumably at the beginning of the 16th century.
This was a time of constant fighting between the Arabs of Morocco and their European neighbors to the North, Spain, and Portugal. Somewhere during this period, he was captured and sold into slavery.
Eventually, he became the personal property of Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, a Spanish nobleman.
Taking Estevanico as his servant, Carranza joined the expedition to North America led by explorer, Panfilo de Narvaez.
As per the Texas State Historical Association, approximately 300 men landed in present-day Florida.
The crew marched up the inner Florida coast but were later captured by the Native Indian-American population.
Some of them escaped, this lucky group included Estevanico. Estevanico thus went on to script history by becoming the first African man to explore the state of Texas, by re-entering from Mexico.
