S4E172 - Cortés's African Companions: The Unseen Conquistadors

When we picture the Spanish conquest of Mexico, we tend to imagine armored Europeans and their Indigenous allies. But among Cortés's small army were men whose stories have been almost entirely erased: African conquistadors, both free and enslaved, who fought, built, and died alongside the Spaniards. This episode follows figures like Juan Garrido, a free black conquistador who crossed the Atlantic, participated in the siege of Tenochtitlan, and later became the first known wheat farmer in New Spain. We also examine Estebanico, an enslaved Moroccan who survived the disastrous Narváez expedition and became one of the first Af...