Estevanico, << ehs tay vahn EE koh >> (1500?-1539), also called Esteban, was an enslaved Black man from Morocco who became one of the first explorers of the southwestern United States. His tales of the fabled Seven Cities of Cíbola led to the famous expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540. See Cíbola, Seven Cities of.
Estevanico was a servant of the Spanish explorer Andrés Dorantes de Carranza on an expedition that landed at Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1528. Some of the group, including Estevanico and the expedition’s treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, eventually reached what is now Texas. Indigenous (native) Americans there told Estevanico about seven cities to the north that were built of gold. Years later, in 1539, Estevanico guided Marcos de Niza’s expedition to the Southwest. He explored ahead into what are now Arizona and New Mexico. He reached Cíbola, where the inhabitants of Hawikuh, a Zuni pueblo, killed him. Later, Coronado found that Cíbola consisted of adobe pueblos that shone like gold from afar.
