Gaspar Yanga—often simply Yanga or Nyanga (May 14, 1545 – ) was an African who led a maroon colony of slaves in the highlands near Veracruz, Mexico (then New Spain) during the early period of Spanish colonial rule.
Gaspar Yanga | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Yanga in Yanga, Veracruz | |
| Born | 1545 |
| Died | Unknown San Lorenzo de los Negros, New Spain |
| Nationality | Afro-New Spaniard |
| Occupation | Revolutionary |
| Known for | Established and achieved self-government for a maroon colony of freed slaves |
| Part of a series on |
| North American slave revolts |
|---|
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Gaspar Yanga (born 1545),[1] also called simply Yanga or Ñanga, was a Central African man who led a maroon colony of enslaved Africans in the highlands near Veracruz, New Spain during the early period of Spanish colonial rule. In 1609, Yanga led a successful rebellion against a Spanish attack on the maroon colony. Through negotiation with Spanish colonial authorities Yanga (or his descendants) achieved freedom for the maroon and the right to self-rule sometime between 1618 and 1641. The settlement was called San Lorenzo de los Negros, and was the first free town in the Americas.[2][3][4]
In the late 19th century, Yanga was named as a "national hero of Mexico" and "The first liberator of America" ("El Primer Libertador de América").[5][6] San Lorenzo de los Negros, located in today's state of Veracruz, was renamed as Yanga in his honor in 1932.[7]
Early life
Yanga, born in 1545,[1] is thought to be of Bantu descent and a member of the royal family of Gabon[8] or Angola[9] in the Congo region, where the name Yanga is more prevalent than in any other region of Africa today.[10] He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in New Spain (colonial Mexico), where he was baptized with the name Gaspar Yanga. By 1640, nearly 150,000 enslaved people had been imported to New Spain, as sugar and textile production drove the demand for slaves. In the Americas, only Brazil had a higher import rate during this time.[11]
Yanga's Rebellion
Establishment of fugitive slave community
Around 1570, Yanga and a group of his fellow slaves escaped the sugar plantation where they were held, fleeing to the highlands near Mt. Orizaba.[3][12] The runaway slaves, called cimarrones, built a small maroon colony, or palenque, which grew to a population of about 500 and remained undisturbed for 30 years.[3]: 5
The community survived in part by raiding caravans transporting goods along the Camino Real (Royal Road) between Veracruz and Mexico City,[3]: 5 which caused trouble for the local colonial government. After military attempts to quell the raids failed, in 1608 the viceroy Luis de Velasco decided to engage in negotiations with Yanga, who was the palenque's leader. In his list of demands, Yanga asked for freedom for the fugitive slaves of his community, and that they be recognized as a free town with their own council. In return, the community would help catch and return other fugitive slaves.[2][7]
Spanish attack in 1609
Although he had engaged in talks with Yanga, viceroy Velasco also pursued further military action. Led by the soldier Pedro González de Herrera, about 550 Spanish troops set out from Puebla in January; an estimated 100 were Spanish regulars and the rest conscripts and adventurers. The maroons were an irregular force of 100 fighters having some type of firearm, and 400 more armed with stones, machetes, bows and arrows, and the like. These maroon troops were led by Francisco de la Matosa, an Angolan. Yanga—who was quite old by this time—decided to use his troops' superior knowledge of the terrain to resist the Spaniards, with the goal of causing them enough pain to draw them to the negotiating table.
Upon the approach of the Spanish troops, Yanga sent terms of peace via a captured Spaniard.[4] He asked for a treaty akin to those that had settled hostilities between Indians and Spaniards: an area of self-rule in return for tribute and promises to support the Spanish if they were attacked. In addition, Yanga said this proposed district would return any slaves who might flee to it. This last concession was necessary to soothe the worries of the many slave owners in the region.[13]
The Spaniards refused the terms and went into battle, resulting in heavy losses for both sides. The Spaniards advanced into the maroon settlement and burned it. But, the maroons fought fiercely and were well accustomed to the surrounding terrain. The Spaniards could not achieve a conclusive victory. The resulting stalemate lasted years; finally, the Spanish agreed to parley. Yanga's terms were agreed to, with the additional provisos that only Franciscan priests (including Alonso de Benavides) would tend to the people, and that Yanga's family would be granted the right of rule.[3]: 7 In 1618 the treaty was signed. By 1630 the town of San Lorenzo de los Negros de Cerralvo was established.[4] Located in today's state of Veracruz, the town has been renamed Yanga.[13]
Legacy and honors
In 1871, five decades after Mexican independence, Yanga was designated as a "national hero of Mexico" and El Primer Libertador de las Americas. This was based largely on an account by historian Vicente Riva Palacio. The influential Riva Palacio was also a novelist, short story writer, military general, and mayor of Mexico City. In the late 1860s he found in Inquisition archives accounts of Yanga and of the 1609 Spanish expedition against him, as well as the later agreement. He published an account of Yanga in an anthology in 1870, and as a separate pamphlet in 1873.[3]: 4 Reprints have followed, including a recent edition in 1997. Much of the subsequent writing about Yanga was influenced by the works of Riva Palacio. He characterized the maroons of San Lorenzo de los Negros as proud men who would not be defeated.
In 2019, Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz wrote a piece called Yanga, using a text by Santiago Martin Bermúdez. The music reflects Yanga's story and the African cultural roots found in Mexico. It was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, featuring an orchestra and solo percussionists playing various African percussion instruments, including batás, guiros, shekeres, cabasas, and others.
In 2023, the United States National Endowment for the Arts awarded a grant to Cara Mia Theatre Company in Dallas, Texas to develop a drama about Yanga's story.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b Luis Camilla, "Gaspar Yanga", Black Past, accessed 10 December 2014
- ^ a b Proctor, Frank (2009). "Slave Rebellion and Liberty in Colonial Mexico". In Vinson III, Ben; Restall, Matthew (eds.). Black Mexico: Race and Society from Colonial to Modern Times. University of New Mexico Press. pp. 24–27. ISBN 978-0-8263-4701-5.
- ^ a b c d e f Rowell, Charles Henry (2008). "El Primer Libertador de las Americas: Editor's Notes". Callaloo. 31 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1353/cal.0.0003. S2CID 161778820.
- ^ a b c Curto, José C. and Renée Soulodre-LaFrance. Africa and the Americas. Africa World Press: Trenton, New Jersey. 2005. pp. 174-177.
- ^ Gaspar Yanga, el primer libertador de América - México desconocido magazine [1]
- ^ Lucio Acosta, Carlos (1983). "Yanga, primer libertador de América". cdigital.uv.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ a b Proctor, Frank (2017). "Yanga". Enslaved.org. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
- ^ "El Yanga, African Abolitionist born". African American Registry. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
- ^ Carrillo, Karen Juanita (2021-10-20). "Mexico's First Liberated City Commemorates Its Founding". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
- ^ "Yanga - 20,796th Most Common surname in the World". Forebears. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
- ^ Proctor, Frank (2010). "Damned Notions of Liberty": Slavery, Culture, and Power in Colonial Mexico, 1640–1769. University of New Mexico Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-8263-4966-8.
- ^ "Gaspar Yanga and Blacks in Mexico: 1570 African Slave Revolt in Veracruz". Black History Heroes. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ a b David Davidson, Negro Slave Control and Resistance in Colonial Mexico, 1519-1650, in "Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas", ed. by Richard Price (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp. 94-7.
- ^ "Yanga unchained: A drama about 'the first liberator of the Americas' comes to Dallas". Dallas News. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
Further reading
- Landers, Jane G. (2006). "Cimarrón and Citizen: African Ethnicity, Corporate Identity, and the Evolution of Free Black Towns in the Spanish Circum-Caribbean". In Lander, Jane; Robinson, Barry (eds.). Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-2397-9.
- Rowell, Charles Henry (2008). "El Primer Libertador de las Americas: Editor's Notes". Callaloo. 31 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1353/cal.0.0003. S2CID 161778820.
External links
- Luis Camilla, "Gaspar Yanga", Black Past