S5E225 - Cortés's Black Musketeers: African Resistance in New Spain

While we have covered the Tlaxcalan alliance and the siege of Tenochtitlan, this episode shifts focus to a often-overlooked pillar of early colonial society: the enslaved Africans brought to New Spain. We explore the lives of men like Gaspar Yanga, who escaped into the mountains to establish San Lorenzo de los Negros, the first free town in North America. Lucas traces the journey from the Middle Passage to the harsh encomienda system, detailing how cimarrones (maroons) built fortified palenques. Luna guides us through the military campaigns led by Juan de Oñate that eventually forced the Spanish Crown to r...