Wikipedia’s article about Estevanico, while informative, it does not include any information about the subject during the voyage, prior to being separated from the rest of the crew. In addition, the article is riddled with assumptions and opinions different sources have drawn through their own experience and research, without going into detail. To expand on this, the article mentions how some speculate the Kachina figure, Chakwaina, is based on Estevanico, however the article fails to mention why this assumption has been made. At the beginning of the section titled “North American explorer,” the author notes that “many books claim Estevanico became the first black person from Africa known to have landed in the present continental United States,” but fails to detail which books have made such claims. Immediately preceding this, the article claims that Estevanico was not the first African to have traveled to present day USA, but gives no evidence nor a citation as to where this information is coming from.

Although all the citations listed are legitimate, not all are referenced in the article, leading me to believe that some were used to write the article, but simply not given credit where credit is due.

However short the article on Estevanico may be, it contains a surprising amount of gaps and flaws within the short amount of text in contains, and therefore is in need of revision, or possibly, more critical review prior to its release or inclusion of edits made later on.

In the introduction of A Land So Strange, the author reflects on the ideas of Cabeza de Vaca that it was possible for European colonists to peacefully colonize the new world, yet most lacked such insight of America that Cabeza de Vaca gained through cultural integration across the continent.  In David Buisseret’s Creolization in the Americas, he describes and gives examples of the melding of cultures in the new world. However, he specifically points out how, although African and Native American culture did influence many modern cultures, English North America evaded most of this acculturation. Buisseret explains how wealthy colonists employed European ideals into their way of life, using medieval farming techniques and eating European foods. Whereas the poor were forced to learn Native methods of farming, and mimic their style of architecture.

While Cabeza de Vaca was correct in saying a humane occupation of the Americas was possible, he did not go about explaining how to persuade colonists to integrate their culture into the culture of the Natives.

In Creolization of the Americas, the author gives examples of the mixing of cultures in French-speaking Canada, regions in the US, and in South America, but he does not state how these examples have impacted the world we live in, nor the impact left on Europe from the colonization of the new world.