Estevánico

Estevánico (c. 1500-1539) was a North African born slave who was one of only four survivors of the disasterous Narváez expedition of 1527. Estevánico, his master Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, walked across the deserts of modern Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas, before finally reaching civilization in 1536.

Estevánico was part of the expedition put together by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to find the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. Estevánico was part of an advance group led by Fray Marcos de Niza. Eventually, on his own, Estevánico arrived at the Zuni village of Hawikuh in present-day New Mexico, and was killed shortly after warning the Zuni of the coming Spanish, and demanding turqoise and women.

Estevánico in "Eyewear"
Estevánico was a Moorish slave who'd been captured in his youth by Portuguese trader. His captor threatened to murder the Muslim Estevánico on the spot if he didn't convert to Catholicism. Estvánico did, although he privately maintained some of the tenants of his upbringing in faith. In 1520, he was sold to Spanish nobleman, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza. Dorantes and Estevánico joined Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition to Florida in 1527. The expedition was a disaster, and most of the men were killed the following year.

In 1532, Estevánico, his master Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, were the last survivors of the expedition. They had not choice but to cross Mexico on foot. One night, while on watch, Estevánico came across a pair of eyewear similar to spectacles. When he tried them on, he was shown a vision of himself waking Cabeza de Vaca for his watch. He decided to keep the eyewear to himself, but the next night, he met a man with long wavy white hair and a pronounced nose who appeared out of nowhere. When the man introduced himself, Estevánico heard the names Esperanza and Amal, the Spanish and Arabic words for "hope" respectively.

Esperanza/Amal obliquely explained his own origins: he was a time-traveler, but he couldn't say from where or when without creating paradoxes. He also described how the eyewear worked: that it would "suggest things", particularly things that would meet the goals of the wearer. When he attempted to go into more detail, Esperanza/Amal vanished. Estevánico would not see him again for several months.

The next day, the group came to a crossroads. When a debate arose as to which route they should take, Estevánico put on the eyewear, and selected the path. He explained to the others what the eyewear was and how he'd found it. The other three wore it in turn, and were amazed and concerned by the device. While Castillo worried that the eyewear might be a trick of the Devil's, Cabeza de Vaca disagreed. However, Dorantes decided that Estevánico should use the eyewear exclusively, on the off-chance they were somehow a Satanic trap.

They continued on. While they were on the correct path, they couldn't move very fast. They frequently came to Native villages, where, thanks to the eyewear, they had success as healers. The Spaniards also preached Christianity to the natives.