Hawikuh

Estavan, or Estevanico as he was called by the famous Cabeza de Vaca, was the only known black explorer in the Sixteenth Century to make major discoveries in the region of North America which was later to become the United States. The first known non-Indian to reach the area of the present American Southwest, Estevanico opened a trail from Mexico into the area that now comprises the states of Arizona and New Mexico in 1539. He was also the first non-Indian discoverer of Hawikuh, one of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, and thereby prepared the way for the great expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1540. Estevanico was the slave of the Spanish Captain Andres Dorantes. He was born in Asemmur, or Azamor, on the west coast of Morocco but the year of his birth is unknown. Very little is known of his early life before the tragic Narvaez Expedition of 1528 from which only four men, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Andres Dorantes de Carranca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Estevanico survived. The Narvaez Expedition was the first known crossing of the North American continent north of central Mexico by non-Indians. Panfilo de Narvaez, newly appointed governor of Florida lead the expedition of 300 men that landed near Tampa Bay, Florida, in the spring of 1528 and set out overland in search of treasures for the Spanish government. The expedition took them into the unexplored jungles of what was to become the southeast United States. Most of the men were slain in battles with Indians while others died of malnutrition, dysentery, and fever. The four survivors, in a desperate attempt to save their lives, constructed make-shift barges and sailed westward along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Totally ignorant of the geography and climate of the region, the four men braved extremely hazardous experiences. For most of their six year search for safety, the four men were held captive by Indians who used them as slaves. Finally escaping from their captors in the fall of 1534, they crossed what is now Texas and northern Mexico, traveling south to Mexico City which they reached in July, 1536. Mexico's Viceroy Mendoza wanted an expedition put together to search for the seven large and purportedly rich Seven Cities of Gold, which the Indians claimed lay far to the north of Mexico. In 1536 he tried to enlist the aid of the four survivors of the Narvaez expedition but only Estevanico was able to go. Dorantes, who was returning to Spain, gave his slave Estevanico to Mendoza. Although Estevanico had proven himself capable of commanding an exploratory expedition, his status as a Negro slave and his non-Christian upbringing prohibited his appointment, in Spanish eyes, as a suitable leader for an official exploring party. Instead of Estevanico, a Christian priest Fray Marcos de Niza was appointed the party's leader. Another priest, Fray Onarato accompanied Fray Marcos, and Estevanico was to serve as their official guide and interpreter. Coronado, who had been appointed governor of the west coast province of Neuva Galicia, went along with the group as far as Culiacan. Although Estevanico's status was supposed to place him in a position subservient to that of the two priests, his flamboyant personality and ability to communicate and to get along with the Indians soon established him as the virtual, if not the titular, head of the expedition. In the fall of 1538 the party started on its way, reaching Compostela in December and Culiacan, where Coronado left them, in March of the following year. Sixty league* from Culiacan, Fray Onarato became ill and was forced to return to the town. Besides the loss of Fray Onarato from the party, the physical obstacles of the terrain, and Estevanico's acts of defiance and misbehavior were a constant source of annoyance, irritation, and uneasiness for Fray Marcos. Despite Mendoza's instructions ordering Estevanico to obey the priest, the "slave" realized that once the party was in the wilderness outside the reach of the military, Fray Marcos would be largely, if not entirely, dependent on him. Estevanico had, after all, been over the trail as far as Pueblo de los Corazones with Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, and the other survivors of the Narvaez Expedition, three years earlier. He was the man the Indians knew and trusted because he had learned their languages and knew much of their cultures. He assumed a great deal of prestige among the Indian servants in the exploring party, and he acquired a considerable amount of personal baggage, much of it rich gifts, which he felt a man of his high station properly should possess. One such gift was a sacred medicine rattle, made from a gourd, which was believed to be infused with supernatural forces. As Estevanico pushed on, Fray Marcos who had taken sick fell behind. He tried in vain to catch up with the "slave," but Estevanico motivated in large part by a desire for his own fame, glory, and wealth, was always just ahead of the priest. Finally, Estevanico reached a region never before traveled by non-Indians. His trail from that point on was the unlocking of the southwestern gateway of the future United States to the rest of the world. Crossing into what is now Arizona and New Mexico, Estevanico saw from a high elevation, the walls of one of the famed cities of Cibola which the Indians called Hawikuh. Several of his servants went ahead, carrying the sacred medicine rattle to which there was attached a string of small bells and two feathers, one red and one white. Having never had any contact with the white or black men, the people of Hawikuh were less than friendly to the messengers, and when Estevanico made his entrance to the Zuni Pueblo, his illustrious travels were brought to an abrupt and tragic end. Encircled by a group of men with clubs, bows and arrows, he was overwhelmed, taken prisoner, and finally slain. Word reached Fray Marcos, still struggling further back down the trail, of Estevanico's death. The cautious priest stopped short and never reached Hawikuh. When the Coronado Expedition reached Hawikuh the following year, 1540, they were disappointed to discover that the source of their hope and dreams was a small sandstone, dusty, crowded village. Estevanico is of national historical significance because he was the only known black explorer in the Sixteenth Century to make major contributions to the knowledge of the region that was to become the United States. With Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, and Castillo, Estevanico participated in the first non-Indian crossing of the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, north of Mexico. The contribution of these four men to American history was enormous. By proving that the continent grew wider in the north, they drastically changed all maps of the Western Hemisphere. Estevanico was also the first nonIndian to reach the present American Southwest. He was the first non-Indian to open a trail from Mexico into the region of the present states of Arizona and New Mexico. And as the non-Indian discoverer of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola in that region, Estevanico prepared the way for the Coronado Expedition of 1540.