Gaspar Yanga

Gaspar Yanga — often simply Yanga or Nyanga (May 14, 1545 – 1618) was an African who led a maroon colony of enslaved Africans in the highlands near Veracruz, Mexico (then New Spain) during the early period of Spanish colonial rule. He successfully resisted a Spanish attack on the colony in 1609. The maroons continued their raids on Spanish settlements. Finally in 1618, Yanga achieved an agreement with the colonial government for self-rule of the maroon settlement. It was later called San Lorenzo de los Negros, and also San Lorenzo de Cerralvo. 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"). In 1932 the settlement he formed, located in today's state of Veracruz, was renamed as Yanga in his honor. Early life Yanga, aka Nyanga, was said to be of the Bran people and a member of the royal family of Gabon. He was captured and sold into slavery in Mexico, where he was called Gaspar Yanga. Before the end of the slave trade, New Spain had the sixth-highest slave population (estimated 200,000) of the Americas after Brazil (over 4.9 million), the Caribbean (over 4 million), Cuba (over 1 million), Hispaniola and the United States (half a million). Around 1570, Yanga led a band of slaves in escaping to the highlands near Veracruz. They built a small maroon colony, or palenque. Its isolation helped protect it for more than 30 years, and other fugitive slaves found their way there. Because the people survived in part by raiding caravans taking goods along the Camino Real (Royal Road) between Veracruz and Mexico City, in 1609 the Spanish colonial government decided to undertake a campaign to regain control of this territory.