After the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, the heritage of Africans in Mexico is rarely an explored topic in history books. The story of Gaspar Yanga being one case example.
A young Prince was taken from a royal family of Gabon, Central Africa named Gaspar Yanga.
He along with many other Africans were shipped & sold into slavery working the sugarcane plantations of Veracruz, New Spain (New Spain was the colonial name for Mexico). Freedom was merely but a dream.
Years pass. Yanga, along with a group of followers manages to escape the plantation fleeing to the mountainous regions near Córdoba & establish a settlement.
There they remain virtually undisturbed by Spanish authorities for almost forty years. Yanga taking the role of spiritual & military leader, structures the agricultural community in order, allowing its growth & occupation in various locations.
Daringly, the group would sometimes survive by raiding Spanish settlements mostly at night until one day the Spanish decided it was time to regain their territory & their property — that included the former enslaved.
Regarded as dangerous to the colonial system of slavery through their daring actions against royal authority, New Spain’s viceroy (colonial ruler) Luis de Velasco sends Captain Pedro González on a military expedition to annihilate the Yanga settlement.
“Destroying their community & its leader would send a message to other would-be rebellious slaves & that Spain’s authority over them was absolute.”
The battle ensues, the people of the colony also fight back resulting in major losses on both sides.
In response, Yanga sends a proposed peace treaty claiming an area of self-rule in return for tribute & the promise to support the Spanish if they were attacked. More importantly the recognition of the freedom of all of the settlement’s residents prior 1608 & acknowledgment of the settlement as a legal entity which Yanga & his descendants would govern.
The Spanish disagree. Only after much fighting & negotiations do they eventually agreed to Yanga’s terms & by 1618 the town of San Lorenzo de Los Negros de Cerralvo (named after the former enslaved) becomes established & officially recognized by Spanish authorities as a free black settlement.
It would later be renamed Yanga after its founder, a name it still holds today.
In 1871 Gaspar Yanga was declared a National Hero of Mexico & became known as the Primer Libertador de America meaning “the first liberator of the Americas.”
The town reportedly hosts the “Carnival of Negritude” every August 10th in honor of its great founder, Gaspar Yanga.
‘Yanga is important to the people of Mexico & America…this town is the birthplace of freedom. The most important legacy of black Yanga is freedom. Freedom is what we appreciate most in this community.”
Gordillo Jaime Trujullo (Historian)
