Colonial Mexican History

The Atlantic slave trade (16th–19th century)—the forceful removal of millions of Africans from their homeland by Europeans to the Western Hemisphere—introduced a new system of racial slavery. Also known as the triangular trade, European colonizers established a system of coerced and unfree labor in the Americas for enslaved people to work in plantations to produce sugar, tobacco, and cotton, or excavate gold and silver to export to Europe. When people think about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and Africa’s legacy in the western hemisphere, Mexico, which occupied over 200,000 enslaved Africans at its height during the sixteenth century, rarely figures prominently. As James Baldwin once noted, the past is often interpreted by elites to keep the sleepers asleep, not to bring them to consciousness.

However, historians and anthropologists have recently recovered this historical gap and situated it within the larger Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the African diaspora. While these Scholars have interpreted the country's dark history, and their focus has been to shed light on the in countless ways, enslaved Africans resisted and left a lasting legacy in the country's history. Their findings include recovering the African legacy of Vicente Guerrero. Born in the modern state of Guerrero; Guerrero embodied a mixture of indigenous and African blood. Because of his roots and his condition as a mule driver, he understood his people's struggle. When Miguel Hidalgo called on Mexicans to rebel against the Spanish empire, Guerrero led Africans, indigenous, and mestizos to victory. With this accomplishment in 1829, he became the second Black president behind Toussaint Louverture of Haiti in North America and the first president to abolish slavery formally. As a result, Mexico, behind Haiti, became the second Latin American nation to gain independence. His legacy is the national origin narrative. Today, millions of Mexicans wave their flag proudly on September 16, not knowing that the leadership of a Black person led them to freedom.

Equally important is that in 1630, in colonial Mexico, maroons (runaway African slaves) had a successful slave rebellion. By this account, the Mexican slave revolt would make it the first successful slave revolt in human civilization, behind Saint Domingue's (modern-day Haiti) historic victory in 1804. Like President Guerrero, Gasper Yanga, who claimed to be of a royal family from Gabon, led an army of maroons against Spanish forces in the modern-day state of Veracruz. While outnumbered, Yanga’s shocking triumph placed Spanish officials on their heels, forcing them to make concessions on his behalf. The Spanish crown granted his request, which is, to recognize his community, Palanque, as the first official city of New Spain run by former African slaves. Today, the city is named Yanga in honor of his legacy, serving as a beacon of hope for oppressed people worldwide. Yanga and Guerrero personify Mexican history and what Mexico represents dignity, unity, and resilience.

So, what happened to enslaved African offspring after Guerrero abolished slavery? Did they assimilate with the majority by marrying outside their race or preserving their race by staying within their people? If there existed a strong presence of African-descended people after independence, what led to their invisibility from the public consciousness in the mid-20^th century?

- Carlos Andres Diaz Gallardo