Misnaming Esteban for centuries

  

A  problem with the Wikipedia page about Esteban is that it's found by searching for  the name of Estevanico. That was only his slave nickname, which many writers insist on still using.
     The biggst problem, however, is that to use his actual Spanish name you can only get to the Wiki page for "Estevanico" by searching for his full name of Esteban de Dorantes. Just searching for the name Esteban will take you to a page where several persons by that name are listed, and the correct Wikipedia page only can be found by scrolling down to the Wiki entry for his slave nickname of Estevanico.
     Calling him Estevanico, which translates into English as "Little Stephen" or even as "Stevie," was how early Spanish slave owners demeaned and marginalized him as a slave. It was a dismissive reference, much like the fact that early Spanish chronicles often didn't refer to him by any name, but just called him "El Negro."
     Most American writers since the mid-1800s continue to refer to him by his slave nickname instead of his actual name. They justify it by saying that he was referred to in the chronicles as Estevanico. Well, of course he was, as a condescending way for Spaniards to show superiority.
     His Spanish name was Esteban, the equivalent of Stephen in English. And that is how he is referred to in this biography. It is also how even the Spaniards referred to him after he bought the three Spaniards to safety with him to Mexico City and later was selected by the viceroy to guide an expediton north to find the "Seven Cities of Cíbola," the first of which turned out to be the Zuni puieblo of Hawikku in southwest New Mexi

     The person managing the Wikipedia page oddly insists in referring to Esteban/Estevanico throughout the article as "Azemmouri," which is a corruption of the Arab word for the Moroccan city of Azemmour, where he first was encountered. Arab writers refer to him on second reference as Mustafa, not Azemmouri.

 

 

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