Estevanico
Estevanico (c.1500-unkown) Estevanico was the first African to explore North America. He was sold and enslaved to a Spanish nobleman, Andres Dorantes de Carranza, in a Portuguese-controlled part of Morocco. Enough accounts refer to Estevanico as “the black” to suggest that he was of African ancestry. He accompanied Dorantes de Carranza on a Spanish expedition from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico, into the southwestern United States and eventually Mexico City. The expedition was soon scattered by geographic miscalculations and storms, such that Estevanico, Dorantes de Carranza and two others became separated from the others, captured and enslaved by Coahuiltecan natives in 1529. In 1534, they were able to escape and continue into present-day Texas and Northern Mexico. They would be the first African and Europeans to enter the American west, and had walked over 2,000 miles since their initial landing in Florida, then another 1,000 south to Mexico City. Their survival journey took 8 years, and was often led by Estevanico because of his facility to communicate with the native tribes they encountered. Estevanico was also the first non-native to visit Pueblo lands. He was chosen by the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) to lead a return expedition into the southwest in search of the mythical gold riches of the “Seven Cities of Cíbola.” However, before the new expedition began members of the Zuni tribe reported that Estevanico had been killed in the Zuni city of Hawikuh, although they had not seen him killed. It has been suggested that rather than being killed by the Zuni tribe in 1539, as previously recorded, he faked his death in order to regain his freedom.
Estevancio 2021 Acrylic & gold leaf on wood panel 20” x 16”