Eric Musgrove
Contributor
This month is Black History Month. In honor of this time, today begins a two-month-long series on the impact of African Americans in Suwannee County’s history.
African Americans have been a part of the history of the Suwannee Valley region since long before there was even a United States. In 1528, Panfilo de Narvaez and some 300 Spanish explorers landed in what is now Tampa Bay. It appears that, among other places, the expedition traveled through Suwannee County (or at least very close to it). In June of 1528, the Suwannee River was mentioned for the first time in historical records (under a different name) when one of the Spanish explorers, Juan Velázquez, charged into the river with his horse. Until this point in the expedition’s travels, they had encountered shallow rivers or ones that were relatively easy to cross. However, as many people know, the Suwannee River is not always so forgiving; both Velazquez and his horse drowned. Velazquez thus became the first recorded drowning in the Suwannee River. The expedition was in poor shape by this point in their travels, and after retrieving the bodies, they buried Velazquez and then ate his dead horse that night. But I digress.
The Narvaez Expedition was met with hostility from every Indian tribe they encountered because Narvaez was ruthless toward the Indians and would attack and steal from every tribe he found. Finally, the men of the expedition had enough and decided to sail to Spanish-owned territory. They constructed several rafts and began making their way to Spanish territory, but a storm blew up and drowned most of them.
The survivors wandered the southwest for eight years until the expedition’s four surviving members arrived in Spanish-held Mexico. One of the survivors was Cabeza de Vaca, a nobleman who wrote a book about his journeys. He exaggerated certain aspects of his account and mentioned places like the Seven Cities of Cibola, or Seven Cities of Gold, that were rumored to contain untold wealth. De Vaca’s book led others to search the land.
However, another of the Narvaez Expedition’s survivors was Estevanico, a slave. He was born around 1500 in North Africa, possibly Morocco, and is also known as Esteban, Esteban de Dorantes, Estabanico, Esteban the Moor, and Black Stephen. Estevanico was enslaved by the Portuguese as a youth before being sold to a Spanish nobleman who was on the Narvaez Expedition (and who also actually survived). Estevanico was one of the first, if not the first, Black person to enter the interior of Florida.
After surviving eight years wandering with the Narvaez expedition before returning to Spanish territory, Estevanico was sold or given to the Viceroy of New Spain (now the American Southwest). Estevanico, with his extensive knowledge of the surrounding land due to his years of wandering there, was sent as a guide to look for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola in 1539. He was ordered to send back crosses to the main party, with the size of the cross showing how much wealth was discovered. One day, he sent back a cross as big as a person, causing the party leader to step up the pace.
After that point, there are several slightly differing European accounts of what happened to Estevanico, but most state or assume that he was killed by Native Americans. He was probably killed by Zuni Indians when he entered their village; his black skin, along with the feathers and rattles he wore, could have resembled a wizard or some other harbinger of evil. Others suggest he was not actually killed by the Native Americans but instead faked his death to live in freedom. We will never know for sure. Whatever his fate, Estevanico had made his mark upon history.
We will continue our discussion of Black history in Suwannee County next week.
Eric Musgrove can be reached at ericm@suwgov.org or 386-362-0564.