"Gaspar Yanga" (1545

Often called Yanga El Yanga,or Nyanga,was said to be a member of the royal family of Gabon,Africa,before being kidnapped and placed in the Middle Passage to the new world.Yanga came to be the head of a group of slaves who were revolting near Vera Cruz,Mexico,around 1570.Escaping to the highland terrain,he and his people built a small,free colony.For than 30 years it grew,partially surviving BY capturing caravans bringing goods to Vera Cruz.The colony consisted of Maroons as well.In 1609,the Spanish numbered around 550,of which perhaps 100 were Spanish regulars.Yanga and the maroons facing them were an irregular force of 100 fighters with some type of firearm,and 400 more with stones,machetes,and bows and arrows.These troops were led by Francisco de Matosa, and Angolan.Yanga,who was quite old at this time,employed his troops'superior knowledge of the area to draw them to the negotiating table.Yanga's terms of peace asked for a treaty akin to those that had settled hostilities between Indians & Spaniards: an area of self-rule,in return for tribute,and promises to support the Spanish if they were attacked.He proposed his district would return any slaves which might flee to the soothe the worries of the many slave owners in the region.The Spaniards refused the terms,a battle was fought,and the Spaniards advanced into settlement and burned it.Yanga's people fled into the surrounding highlands,and the Spaniards could not achieve a conclusive victory.Unable to win definitively,they agreed to a conference.Eventually,Yanga's terms were agreed to with the addition condition that only Franciscan priests would tend to the people,and that Yanga's family be granted the right to rule.Finally,in 1630,the town of Yanga was officially established it remains to this day.