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    Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African in American History
    Unavailable
    Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African in American History
    Unavailable
    Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African in American History
    Ebook543 pages9 hours

    Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African in American History

    By Dr. Robert Goodwin

    4.5/5

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    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061981654
    Unavailable
    Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African in American History
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for Crossing the Continent 1527-1540

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Amazing 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.