Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African in American History
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
"...an adventure story more thrilling than Defoe or Melville could have imagined."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
The true story of America's first great explorer and adventurer—an African slave named Esteban Dorantes
Crossing the Continent takes us on an epic journey from Africa to Europe and America as Dr. Robert Goodwin chronicles the incredible adventures of the African slave Esteban Dorantes (1500-1539), the first pioneer from the Old World to explore the entirety of the American south and the first African-born man to die in North America about whom anything is known. Goodwin's groundbreaking research in Spanish archives has led to a radical new interpretation of American history—one in which an African slave emerges as the nation's first great explorer and adventurer.
Nearly three centuries before Lewis and Clark's epic trek to the Pacific coast, Esteban and three Spanish noblemen survived shipwreck, famine, disease, and Native American hostility to make the first crossing of North America in recorded history. Drawing on contemporary accounts and long-lost records, Goodwin recounts the extraordinary story of Esteban's sixteenth-century odyssey, which began in Florida and wound through what is now Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, as far as the Gulf of California. Born in Africa and captured at a young age by slave traders, Esteban was serving his owner, a Spanish captain, when their disastrous sea voyage to the New World nearly claimed his life. Eventually he emerged as the leader of the few survivors of this expedition, guiding them on an extraordinary eight-year march westward to safety.
Filled with tales of physical endurance, natural calamities, geographical wonders, strange discoveries, and Esteban's almost mystical dealings with Native Americans, Crossing the Continent challenges the traditional telling of our nation's early history, placing an African and his relationship with the Indians he encountered at the heart of a new historical record.
Dr. Robert Goodwin
Robert Goodwin is a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London. He has also studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at University College London, and in Spain at the universities of Granada and Seville. Goodwin lives in London.
Related to Crossing the Continent 1527-1540
Related ebooks
América: The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crossing the Continent, 1527–1540: The Story of the First African in American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conquistador in Chains: Cabeza de Vaca and the Indians of the Americas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Natchez Country: Indians, Colonists, and the Landscapes of Race in French Louisiana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Barbary Corsairs: Pirates, Plunder, and Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1480-1580 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Building the Devil's Empire: French Colonial New Orleans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warlords of Ancient Mexico: How the Mayans and Aztecs Ruled for More Than a Thousand Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complexion of Empire in Natchez: Race and Slavery in the Mississippi Borderlands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConverging on Cannibals: Terrors of Slaving in Atlantic Africa, 1509–1670 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelaware's Forgotten Folk: The Story of the Moors and Nanticokes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Recaptured Africans: Surviving Slave Ships, Detention, and Dislocation in the Final Years of the Slave Trade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Indian as Participant in the Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Conquest of Mexico Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Cherokees in Indian Territory: From Chattel to Citizens Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Borderlands of Slavery: The Struggle over Captivity and Peonage in the American Southwest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdolatry and Its Enemies: Colonial Andean Religion and Extirpation, 1640-1750 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country, 1730-1865 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChildren of the Sun: The Fall of the Aztecs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLouisiana: Crossroads of the Atlantic World Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Faith in Their Own Color: Black Episcopalians in Antebellum New York City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSearching for Crazy Horse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDenmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Worse Than Slavery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies) History For You
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/518 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft In The American South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win | Summary & Key Takeaways Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Courage: Deluxe Modern Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oregon Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"America is the True Old World" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not My Father's Son: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan & Superstitions in the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Short History of Reconstruction [Updated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within US Slave Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Secrets of the Freemasons: The Truth Behind the World's Most Mysterious Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not Stolen: The Truth About European Colonialism in the New World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Constitution of the United States of America: 1787 (Annotated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Crossing the Continent 1527-1540
9 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing history that I knew very little about. I grew up in Arizona and learned about Coronado, but did not know about Esteban. He deserves recognition for his accomplishments.