Documents the sixteenth-century crossing of North America by a trio of Spanish noblemen and a pioneering former African slave who endured such challenges as a shipwreck, famine, disease, and Native American attacks. Reprint. 20,000 first printing. Nearly three centuries before Lewis and Clarks epic trek to the Pacific coast, an African slave named Esteban Dorantes became Americas first great explorer and adventurer—the first pioneer from the Old World to explore the entirety of the American South. Shipwrecked off the Florida coast, Esteban guided a small band of survivors on an incredible, eight-year-long journey westward—enduring famine, disease, and Native American hostility as the company made their way across what is now Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, traveling as far as the Gulf of California. Drawing on contemporary accounts, long-lost records, and Dr. Robert Goodwins groundbreaking research in Spanish archives, Crossing the Continent is a riveting true story of physical endurance, natural calamities, geographical wonders, and strange discoveries—a remarkable chronicle that offers a radical new interpretation of American history.
