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Esteban de Dorantes
African explorer (c.1500–1539)
Esteban de Dorantes
Esteban de Dorantes (c. 1500–1539), also known as Estevanico the Moor, is believed to have been the first person of African and Arab descent to explore what is considered the present-day United States region of North America and one of the last four survivors of the Narváez expedition. He is preceded by Juan Garrido, who is the first person of African descent to explore North America. Little is known about Esteban's background, but contemporary accounts described him as a "negro alárabe" or "Arabic-speaking black man" native to Azemmour, Morocco. In 1522, he was sold as a slave to the Spanish nobleman Andrés Dorantes de Carranza in the Portuguese-controlled Moroccan town of Azemmour. Starting in 1528, he participated in the Narváez expedition, which set out from Cuba under the leadership of Pánfilo de Narváez to explore and colonize Spanish Florida. After numerous challenges, including shipwrecks and enslavement by Native Americans, Esteban, along with three other survivors, escaped their...
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