Estevanico
Estevanico was a Muslim slave from Azamor, Morocco who was one of the early explorers of southwestern U.S. Estevanico was the slave of Andrés Dorantes de Carranza who took him on the Narvaez expedition to Tampa Bay, Florida in 1528. A series of fights with hurricanes and Native Americans killed most of the crew. The pilot of the ship abandoned the men and headed back to Mexico. The 250-300 men hastily made 5 makeshift rafts and sailed west hoping to reach a Spanish settlement in Mexico. Three of the five rafts sank leaving two of the rafts which held 80 men landed at Galveston island off of Texas. Panfilo de Narvaez did not survive. After a cold winter with little food, 15 men survived. In the spring the men traveled west along the Colorado river. By 1533 there were only 4 survivors, Estevanico, Carranza, Cabeza De Vaca, and Alonso Castillo Maldonado. The men were enslaved by some Indian tribes, and helped by others.
They were the first non-natives that traveled the southwest of North America. The men finally reached Spanish settlement in 1536, eight years after being stranded in Florida. Later that year they reached Mexico city where they were welcomed by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. There, Carranza sold Estevanico to the viceroy. The viceroy sent Estevanico on an expedition in 1539 with Franciscan Fray Marcos de Niza. Francisco de Coronado outfitted him to find the seven cities of Cibola. On the trip he was killed by the Zuni Indians as he entered their pueblo.