San Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio, often referred to by the locals simply as Palenke, is a Palenque village and

corregimiento ''Corregimiento'' (; , ) is a Spanish term used for country subdivisions for royal administrative purposes, ensuring districts were under crown control as opposed to local elites. A ''corregimiento'' was usually headed by a '' corregidor''. The ...

in the Municipality of Mahates, Bolivar in northern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Palenque was the first free African town in the Americas, and in 2005 was declared a

Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage—such traditions, rituals, dance, and knowledge—and ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

History

Spaniards introduced enslaved Africans in South America through the

Magdalena River Valley The Magdalena River (, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, ...

. Its mouth is close to the important port of

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past ...

where ships full of Africans arrived. In 1599 some 30 slave runaways escaped into the forest under the leadership of Captain Benkos Biohó. The group of

Maroons Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas and islands of the Indian Ocean who escaped from slavery, through flight or manumission, and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with Indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into ...

defeated the first expedition of 20 armed men sent against them, killing the expedition leader Juan Gómez. Some years after they escaped, they had wandered between the Matuna swamp and the Dique channel. In one of his raids to the south, Benkos Biohó found a piece of land that offered ideal conditions for establishing a settlement. King Benkos-Bioho founded his dynasty along with his wife Queen Wiwa at Matuna around 1600. Since they barricaded the place with palisades, the place was also called Palenque (Spanish for palisade, wooden fence). Although the exact year is unknown, according to mythical-historical accounts, Palenque was founded in 1603. This is the date inscribed in the Benkos Bioho statue in the main plaza of Palenque. The village was first known as Palenque de San Miguel Arcángel. This maroon community was "made up of Bozales (i.e. individuals born in Africa) as well as creoles (i.e. individuals born in the New World), many of whom must have formerly inhabited other nearby palenques". Only one century later, in January 1713 was renamed as San Basilio Magno, at a time when the maroon community had 137 homes, according to records. Biohó played an important role in setting up the community. He declared himself King Benkos, and his palenque attracted large numbers of runaways to join his community. The Spanish arrived at terms with Biohó, but later they captured him, accused him of plotting against the Spanish, and had him hanged in 1621. Over the years, Palenque people tried to free all enslaved Africans arriving at Cartagena and were quite successful. Therefore, the Spanish Crown issued a Royal Decree (1691), guaranteeing freedom to the Palenque de San Basilio Africans if they stopped welcoming new escapees. But runaways continued to escape to freedom in San Basilio. In 1696, the colonial authorities subdued another rebellion there, and between 1713–7. In 1713, after a prolonged period of fighting and fierce resistance from the Palenquero community, Bishop Antonio María Casiani signed an ''Entente Cordiale'', a document that granted the community of runaway slaves the right to their land on the condition that they would not accept any new maroons. Palenqueros eventually refused to honour this agreement. In 1772, this community of maroons was included within the Mahates district, as long they no longer accepted any further runaways. Although the number of this kind of walled communities in Colombian territory has dwindled, Palenque remains unique for its uninterrupted resistance. Ludmila Ferrari posits that:

The village

The village of Palenque de San Basilio has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants and is located in the foothills of the Montes de María, southeast of the regional capital, Cartagena.UNESCO. "Proclamation 2005: "The Cultural Space of Palenque de San Basilio."
/ref> The word "palenque" means "walled city" and the Palenque de San Basilio is only one of many walled communities that were founded by escaped slaves as a refuge in the seventeenth century. Of the many palenques of escaped enslaved Africans that existed previously San Basilio is the only one that survives. Many of the oral and musical traditions have roots in Palenque's African past. Africans were dispatched to

Spanish America Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' Spanish Empire, imperial era between 15th and 19th centur ...

under the

asiento The () was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide Slavery in colonial Spanish America, enslaved Africans to colonies in the Spanish Americas. The Spanish Empire rarely engaged in the trans- ...

system. The village of San Basilio is inhabited mainly by

Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians (), also known as Black Colombians (), are Colombians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Colombia has one of the largest African diaspora, Afro-descendant populations in South America, with government ...

s which are direct descendants of enslaved Africans brought by the Europeans during the

Colonization of the Americas During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization, colonization of the Americas, involving a number of European countries, took place primarily between the late 15th century and the early 19th century. Norse colonization of North ...

and have preserved their ancestral traditions and have developed also their own language;

Palenquero Palenquero (sometimes spelled Palenkero) or Palenque () is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in Colombia. It is believed to be a mixture of Kikongo (a language spoken in central Africa in the current countries of Congo, DRC, Gabon, and An ...

. In 2005, the Palenque de San Basilio village was proclaimed

. In the village of Palenque de San Basilio most of its inhabitants are

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and still preserve customs and language from their African ancestors. In recent years people of indigenous ancestry have settled at the borders of Palenque, being displaced earlier by the Colombian civil war. One of the first anthropological studies of the inhabitants of Palenque de San Basilio was published by anthropologist Nina de Friedemann and photographer

Richard Cross Richard Cross is the name of: Politicians *Richard Cross (died c. 1438), MP for Reading (UK Parliament constituency) *R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross (1823–1914), British statesman and Conservative politician Others *Richard Cross (actor) (fl. ...

in 1979 entitled ''Ma Ngombe: guerreros y ganaderos en Palenque''.

Palenquero language

''The New York Times'' reported on October 18, 2007 that the language spoken in Palenque is thought to be the only Spanish-based creole language spoken in South America. Being a creole language, its grammar differs substantially from Spanish making the language unintelligible to Spanish speakers. Palenquero was influenced by the Kikongo language of Congo and Angola, and also by Portuguese, the language of the slave traders who brought enslaved Africans to South America in the 17th century. Exact information on the different roots of Palenquero is still lacking, and there are different theories of its origin. In 2007, fewer than half of the community's 3,000 residents still speak Palenquero.Simon Romero
"A Language, Not Quite Spanish, With African Echoes"
''The New York Times'', October 18, 2007. A linguist born in Palenquero is compiling a lexicon for the language and others are assembling a dictionary of Palenquero. The defenders of Palenquero continue working to keep the language alive.

Notable residents

* Benkos Biohó * Antonio Cervantes *

Evaristo Márquez Evaristo Márquez (August 23, 1939 – June 15, 2013), was a Colombian actor and herdsman best known for his role as José Dolores in the film ''Burn!'', acting alongside Marlon Brando under the direction of Gillo Pontecorvo. Biography Before h ...

* Ricardo Cardona * Prudencio Cardona

References

External links

UNESCO: The Cultural Space of Palenque de San Basilio
*

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgzOlTAze3Q CNN videobr>NYTIMES:A Language, Not Quite Spanish, With African Echoes