"From the early colonial days significant numbers of indigenous workers and African slaves were assigned to work in the first haciendas [plantations] and sugar mills located in today's state of Morelos. Also, during the 16th Century, the first sugar haciendas were established in the Orizabab region in the state of Veracruz in the central area along the Gulf of Mexico. Due to the devastation of the indigenous population from wars and disease, by law, only African slave labor was allowed to work on sugar haciendas. Gradually, the Spanish demanded more slaves so the Spanish Crown authorized slave companies to increase their imports. The slaves were sent to tropical areas, where death tolls were greater among the indigenous populations, because it was believed that blacks had a special "natural" capacity for adaptation to the insalubrious tropical climate. As the needs of the haciendas grew, so did the number of slaves working on them.
"Fugitive slaves were called "cimarrones" [runaways]. By law they were accused of stealing the slaveholders' property. Very severe punishments were allowed but were of little effect in preventing ongoing escapes". Mythic images of savagery grew up around the cimarrones. Runaway slaves lived in fortified settlements called palenques, mocambos, or quilombos. These were used as bases for defense, living quarters, meeting places, and centers to attract other cimarrones. A palenque's location had to be strategic in order to surprise, attack, and rob the Spanish using guerrilla tactics, camouflage, and the ability to disappear quickly to prevent counterattack and pursuit.
"From the 16th Century onwards, the mountains of Orizaba, located in the central part of the state of Veracruz, were the perfect hideaway for cimarrones. In 1609, the Spanish Crown sent a special army of Spaniards and indigenous archers from the west of Mexico to "pacify" the area and to crush the actions of fugitive slaves. The cimarrones of the mountains of Orizaba were led by Yanga, an old runaway slave who had lived in the mountains for more than 30 years, and who claimed that, had he not been enslaved, he would have been a king in Africa. Yanga relied upon his commander, Francisco de la Matosa, who was in charge of military affairs. The group of cimarrones survived by holding up the Spanish carriages that traveled on the road from Veracruz to Mexico City and by attacking neighboring haciendas. To supplement the thefts, they farmed subsistence crops and raised farmyard poultry and livestock. When one of Yanga's palenques was destroyed, textile looms and a Catholic chapel were found which demonstrates the assimilation by African blacks of indigenous and Spanish cultures.
"The military campaign against Yanga was difficult for the Spanish. After several cimarrone victories, the victors demanded from the Spanish Crown the establishment of a free town inhabited exclusively by black runaway slaves who had escaped prior to 1608. The Crown finally acquiesced to the cimarrones' conditions so they settled in a temporary camp on a hillside called Palmillas. Years later, they requested a better place in the surrounding area and, in 1630, the African blacks officially established the free town of San Lorenzo de los Negros, located close to Cordoba, Veracruz."
The African Presence in Mexico, pgs. 26 & 28.
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