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ESTEVANICO THE MOOR

Tales of the adventures that befell three conquistadores and their Moorish slave during the sixteenth century led to Spain’sFrancisco Vásquez de Coronado’s exploration ofwhat is now the American Southwest.

By Anne B. Allen

One of the greatest odysseys in American history began in the little town of Azamor on Morocco’s west coast at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The young man who had spent his early years within sight of the Atlantic shore could have had no inkling of the bizarre future that fate had in store for him–a journey across the ocean to lands and people unknown to the Islamic world in which he was raised, where he would die as a nominal Christian in a city reputed to contain fabulous riches. Yet, given the path he would follow, the youth must, even then, have exhibited a lively interest in the ways of other peoples, a sharp ear for different patterns of speech, hardy stamina, and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.

The black-skinned Moor might have been purchased from slave raiders who worked the African coast or taken captive in one of the frequent military clashes between Spain and Morocco that continued long after the Moors were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. Given the Christian name Estévanico when he was baptized by his Spanish owners, the Moorish youth was probably in his late teens or early twenties when he left Africa for the Caribbean as a slave.

By 1527, Estévanico was in the service of Andrés Dorantes, commander of a company of infantry in the expedition being formed by Pánfilo de Narváez to explore and conquer the lands stretching west from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. A man of fairly modest origin, Dorantes had come to the New World in search of gold and glory.

Narváez, having spent more than twenty years as a conquistador in Mexico, had received a royal appointment as Spain’s governor in Florida and was eager to take control of his new territory, explore it, and begin exploiting its wealth. The companies assembled for this undertaking were a motley collection of soldiers of fortune from many lands, under the command of Spanish officers.

The expedition suffered one setback after another. A hurricane destroyed one of Narváez’s ships and damaged the others, forcing the party to winter in Cuba. When they set out again in February 1528, they had to weather still more violent storms before reaching Florida. It was mid-April when the four original ships and a brigantine purchased to replace the vessel that had been lost, with a complement of some four hundred men and the 42 horses that survived the trip, finally dropped anchor on the western coast of Florida, just north of Tampa Bay.

Going about his duties as Dorantes’ personal servant, Estévanico (or Esteban, as he was sometimes called) undoubtedly felt the same excitement that gripped the rest of the party as they set foot for the first time on Florida’s soil. The natives of a small village nearby gave them a gift of fish and venison and then vanished into the night, leaving behind, among their fishing nets, a golden rattle. This find was a promising token to the Spaniards, eager as they were to find treasure.

After Narváez went ashore to claim the territory officially in the name of King Carlos I of Spain, he divided his force, taking three hundred men–forty of them on horseback–to explore the land. He sent the ships ahead to the fine harbor that his pilots claimed was somewhere in the vicinity.

Three long, desperate months later, the shore party reached a town called Aute. They had traveled through swamps and across rivers and fought with unfriendly natives, but they had found no sign of gold, pearls, or jewels–nothing, in fact, to make conquest of the area profitable. They also saw no sign of their ships.

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