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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/01/yanga-the-forgotten-rebellion-against-colonial-rule-in-mexico/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/01/yanga-the-forgotten-rebellion-against-colonial-rule-in-mexico/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Yanga: The Forgotten Rebellion Against
Colonial Rule in Mexico</h1>
<span class="post_author_intro">by</span> <span
class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/andres-d-medellin/"
rel="nofollow">Andres D. Medellin</a> - June 1, 2018</span></div>
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<p>At the beginning of the 17<sup>th</sup> Century, hiding
in the coastal highlands of Veracruz in New Spain (the
territory which encompasses Mexico at present), the
members of the <em>palenques</em> (communities of
escaped slaves) attacked both merchants and soldiers,
with weapons that were captured from their erstwhile
Spanish slavers. Spain was unable to contain the
resistance for more than three decades, largely because
of their leader, <a
href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slave-rebellions">Gaspar
Yanga</a>, an African previoulsy captured by European
slave traders.</p>
<p>Allegedly a member of a royal family from the territory
that currently comprises Gabon, <a
href="https://timeline.com/mexico-slave-gaspar-yanga-staged-a-bloody-rebellion-b58611fdb6f0">Yanga</a> was
captured and reduced to enslavement in a plantation in
New Spain in the mid-sixteenth century. Although it has
not been conclusively proven whether Gaspar Yanga
belonged to Gabonese royalty, what is certain is that
Yanga arrived in Mexico because of the slave trade from
which millions of African were victims. In fact, captive
Africans were indispensable to the agricultural
production in the Americas under Spanish colonial rule.
At the time, only Brazil had a larger slave population
than the New Spain.</p>
<p>But Yanga was soon to prove that he was not a slave
like the others. In 1570, in the sugarcane plantation
“Nuestra Señora de la Concepción”, in Veracruz, Gaspar
Yanga led the escape of his fellow slaves into the
nearby mountains. There they formed a settlement and
lived for more than 30 years, arming themselves through
their raids on Spanish colonists. The colonial
authorities of Spain were aware of the existence of the
community of free slaves, but made little progress
against the community until 1609, when they gathered
troops to take back the former slaves. They razed the
community and attacked Yanga and his followers, who took
to the rainforest to wage guerrilla warfare against
their oppressors.</p>
<p>Despite that Spanish offensive, Yanga’s raids against
the Spanish colonialists did not stop. His great
expertise in the forest allowed him to fight the attacks
of the Spanish slavers and lead the resistance against
them. Yanga’s <em>palenque</em> thrived, surviving in
part by ravaging the caravans that transported goods
across Veracruz. In the end, the Spanish were forced to
accept a treaty that granted the former slaves their
freedom and the right to create their own free
community. Thus, in 1631, Yanga reached an agreement
with the viceroy of New Spain, Rodrigo Pacheco y Osorio,
obtaining the autonomy of his band of slaves. In
Veracruz, Yanga and his companions established the city
of San Lorenzo de Los Negros, the first community of
freed African slaves in North America.</p>
<p>In 1871, five decades after Mexican independence, Yanga
was named a “national hero of Mexico.” This was largely
due to the writings of the influential Mexican
politician, military leader and journalist Vicente Riva
Palacio (grandson of Mexico’s only black president,
Vicente Guerrero), who recovered the stories and reports
about Yanga -and the Spanish expedition against him-
while searching in the archives of the Spanish
Inquisition. In 1932, shortly after the end of the
Mexican Revolution, recognizing this important and
heroic episode in Mexican history, the settlement he had
formed in Veracruz was renamed Yanga in his honor. The
small town <a
href="http://www.blackhistoryheroes.com/2011/05/gaspar-yanga-1570-african-slave-revolt.html">still
exists</a> in Veracruz; a statue commemorates the feat
of Yanga and his band of slaves, while his name appears
in several streets and public places in Mexico.</p>
<p>Slave uprisings against Spanish rule in the Americas
occurred very frequently in the early 16<sup>th</sup> Century,
shortly after colonization. But these uprisings did not
always succeed, although the failed attempts later
served as inspiration for another liberation struggle
led by former slaves: that of Haiti, which attained
independence in 1804 – a reminder that the he first free
Latin American country became independent thanks to its
slave population of African origin.</p>
<p>In this regard, the Yanga rebellion remains relevant
because of its success. Gaspar Yanga became the first
only African rebel to win a fight against his colonial
captors. Nevertheless, the legacy of Africans in Mexico
after Spanish colonization is a subject rarely covered
in the history books of the Americas. As a result,
Gaspar Yanga remains one of the almost neglected figures
in African history in Latin America (not to mention
African-American history). Although the rebellion is
little known outside small Mexican (and Gabonese)
historiographic circles, it is important to recover this
relevant historical event, which reveals a glorious
example of emancipation and resistance of peoples
against their colonial oppressors.</p>
<p>The history of the rebellion of Yanga, the African
slave who led the <a
href="http://muse.jhu.edu/article/246828/pdf">first
insurrection</a> against Spanish colonial rule in what
is now Mexico (almost two centuries before the country
became independent) should not be overlooked. This
glorious chapter in the history of man’s emancipation
shows us that the will to be free is stronger than the
fire and chains of slavery; that defying oppression does
not depend on skin color; and that human dignity knows
no obstacles when people organize themselves and break
their chains, making themselves invincible.</p>
<p><strong><em>Andres D. Medellin</em></strong><em> is a
Mexican sociologist and career diplomat, currently
posted in South Africa. He can be reached at </em><a
href="mailto:dariomedelllin83@gmail.com"><em>dariomedelllin83@gmail.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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