Born c. 1500,
Azemmour, Morocco
Died 1539,
Hawikuh [a Zuni pueblo in New Mexico]

Estevanico was a Moroccan slave who, along with Spanish explorers, traveled from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico and into the southwestern United States. He was captured by Native Americans and escaped to become a successful “medicine man.” After an epic overland journey he finally reached the Spanish outpost of Mexico City. He was the first Westerner to reach some areas of the southwestern states. He preceded Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (see entry) in visiting the “Seven Cities of Cíbola,” seven pueblos in northern Mexico about which there had been mythical stories, where he was killed by Zuni warriors.

Taken to Spain as a slave

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, when Estevanico was born, the Arabs of Morocco were in constant warfare with their Spanish and...