A recent article by BBC’s Eliot Stein, tells the remarkable story of Estevanico (aka Esteban the Moor), an enslaved Moroccan man who became one of the earliest and most important explorers of North America. In 1527, Estevanico joined a Spanish expedition to the Americas led by Panfilo de Narváez – an expedition plagued by disasters, including hurricanes, starvation, attacks, and shipwrecks. Of roughly 600 men who began the journey, only four survived: three Spaniards and Estevanico. After washing ashore near present-day Texas in 1528, the survivors spent years living among Indigenous peoples.
Despite his status as an enslaved man, Estevanico’s linguistic abilities, cultural adaptability, and survival skills made him the group’s leader. He learned Native languages, served as a translator and mediator, and helped guide the survivors across thousands of miles of unfamiliar territory. Between 1528 and 1536, he completed what is widely considered the first recorded crossing of North America, traveling from Florida across the Gulf Coast to the Pacific coast of Mexico—nearly three centuries before the expedition of Lewis and Clark.
Stein’s article argues that Estevanico was one of the most extraordinary yet overlooked figures in early American history. As an African, Arabic-speaking Muslim who was neither conqueror nor conquered, he occupies a unique place in the story of North America. His journeys reshaped European understanding of the continent and challenge traditional narratives about who the first great explorers of what became the United States were.
SMRC thanks Dr. Hsain Ilahiane, Professor at the University of Arizona’s School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, who kindly shared this “recent BBC piece on Estevanico de Dorantes, the remarkable Moroccan explorer whose journey in the 16th century across North America continues to reshape how we think about the early Atlantic world and the American Southwest.” Dr. Ilahiane was also interviewed by journalist Eliot Stein for the article.
Link to BBC article: How an enslaved, shipwrecked African became the US’s first great explorer
Map Caption: Estevanico was the de facto leader of what is believed to be the first recorded crossing of North America in history (Credit: Serenity Strull)