Estevan de Dorantes, the Moor or the slave? The other Moroccan explorer of new Spain

Unlike Ibn Battuta and other medieval travellers and explorers who rose to fame and still fire up much imagination and scholarship in North Africa today, Estevan, the first Moor or Black to set foot in the Southwest of the USA, is virtually unknown in his native land, Morocco. Although much has been written about his sense of adventure and exploration on this side of the Atlantic, the historical literature remains deficient in documenting the conditions under which Estevan left Morocco. This article deals with a rereading of Spanish accounts of New Spain and medieval Moroccan historical documents to better understand Estevan's status and the circumstances that led him to join the Spaniards in their conquest of the New World in the sixteenth century, and why he still remains an anonymous character in Moroccan and North African history text books.