S5E216 - The Marooned: African Resistance in Early New Spain

In the decades after the fall of Tenochtitlan, a different kind of conquest story unfolded in the mountains and coastal lowlands of New Spain. This episode follows the rise of the maroon communities — Africans and their descendants who escaped the brutal world of sugar estates and silver mines to forge free settlements. We trace Gaspar Yanga's decades-long rebellion in the highlands of Veracruz, the fort of San Lorenzo de los Negros that the Spanish were forced to recognize, and the negotiations that ended his war in 1609. We also look at the daily reality of maroon life, the blending of Af...