The year 1619 is historical: An English privateer ship reached Point Comfort on the Virginia peninsula. Its arrival represented the dawn of the institution of slavery in America. Today, more than 400 years later, the events of that year remain surrounded by misconceptions and debate.

What historians have uncovered is that the first enslaved African to land on what would become North American soil was named Esteban (de Dorantes from his status as an enslaved person). According to historian Robert Goodwin, “Esteban was shipped to Spain as a slave from the town of Azemmour, in Morocco, in 1522. Andres Dorantes de Carranza purchased him and brought Esteban to [what would later become] Florida in April 1528.”

Long before the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), Esteban, said to have been Muslim and born sometime around 1500 in Morocco, would traverse the land from the Southwest to the Pacific Ocean. His fate would extend beyond servitude and little of his life would be recorded.

Esteban left Spain for the New World in 1527 as part of an expedition to conquer and colonize Florida. The ship landed in the area that is now Tampa Bay, and the explorers wandered through the swamps and jungles for about a year. Several died as a result of hunger, disease, and skirmishes with Native Americans. With only a few boats left, they decided to return to Mexico City.
Hit hard by the Gulf currents, only 15 of the 80 men survived. Choppy waters dragged them to a place just west of the Mississippi: Galveston Island. They began to explore what would become Texas. Soon they were captured and enslaved for five years by the Karankawa Indians.

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In 1534, Esteban and the four remaining survivors escaped. As the journey continued, he would become a scout, a diplomat and lead communicator. According to historians, Esteban was a gifted linguist, quickly mastering different Native American languages. He served as translator throughout what became a 15,000-mile journey.

Still, he was considered Dorantes’ slave.

The trek across Texas to Mexico City was challenging; the explorers were met by both friendly and hostile Native Americans. They were mostly barefoot and naked, and often starved for food. One of the stories told is that along the way they were considered “children of the sun” by some Native American tribes. Others revered them as shamans. But not everyone was fond of the strangers.

The Zuni Indians of Hawikuh in New Mexico grew to distrust Esteban quickly, labeling him a “harbinger of unwanted and dangerous visitors.” In May 1539, they executed him. By the time of his death, some historians say that Esteban and his three companions “had seen more of the North American southwest than any other non-Native American.”

Almost two centuries would pass before another Spanish expedition would discover other Africans living alongside Native Americans near the mouth of the Rio Grande. Historians say that these Africans were likely survivors of other expeditions or shipwrecks. Nevertheless, Esteban had been the first.

Isabelle Price

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