Archaeologists uncover remains of Santiago del Príncipe, the first settlement founded by free African slaves in America
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"Volviendo a los valientes cimarrones […], porque los caledonios escuadrones no tuviesen victoria allí ninguna […] dieron luego a su Numancia honrada civil fuego". This is how Lope de Vega describes on his poem La Dragontea the end of Santiago del Príncipe, the first settlement founded by free blacks in the Spanish Empire. Population resisted Francis Drakeʼs pirate attacks like a Numantia with African origins and preferred to burn their houses rather than a British pirate owned them. Now, more than four hundred years later, historians and archaeologists from the University of Barcelona and the Patronate Panamá Viejo have found remains of Santiago del Príncipe after having developed field works on a Panamáʼs hill for one year. Previously, they spent one year revising historical sources, from the General Archive of the Indies to historical cartography and texts of the Spanish Golden Age literature.
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"Volviendo a los valientes cimarrones […], porque los caledonios escuadrones no tuviesen victoria allí ninguna […] dieron luego a su Numancia honrada civil fuego". This is how Lope de Vega describes on his poem La Dragontea the end of Santiago del Príncipe, the first settlement founded by free blacks in the Spanish Empire. Population resisted Francis Drakeʼs pirate attacks like a Numantia with African origins and preferred to burn their houses rather than a British pirate owned them. Now, more than four hundred years later, historians and archaeologists from the University of Barcelona and the Patronate Panamá Viejo have found remains of Santiago del Príncipe after having developed field works on a Panamáʼs hill for one year. Previously, they spent one year revising historical sources, from the General Archive of the Indies to historical cartography and texts of the Spanish Golden Age literature.
Finds were presented on a press conference on 19 September at the Centre Cultural de España - Casa del Soldado, in Panama. They are part of the UNESCO project in Panama, Afrocolonial Archaeology - Slave Route Sites of Memory - Resistance, Freedom and Heritage, fostered by IBERTUR - Network of Heritage, Tourism and Sustainable Development, the University of Barcelona — by means of the Research Group on Indigenous and Afro-American Cultures (CINAF) and the Laboratory of Heritage and Cultural Tourism (LAB-PATC)— and the Patronate Panamá Viejo. The project is supported and funded by the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute within the grants conferred on archaeological projects developed in foreign countries. The National Institute of Culture (INAC) in Panama, UNESCO, the Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat also collaborate in the project.
The ancient African slaves that achieved to escape and resist the attacks of Spanish colonial authorities are known as Cimarrones. In the case of Panama, the presence of these ancient slaves hampered the transportation of goods between the cities of Panama and Nombre de Dios, so the silver coming from Peru was often not safe from Cimarron attacks. Eventually, the collective of free blacks became known as the blacks of Portobelo and signed a peace treaty with the Spanish crown, which acknowledged the freedom of the settlers and granted them land in exchange for recognising the royal authority and collaborate with colonial authorities. The first settlement took place in Santiago del Príncipe, a town build in 1579 in the surroundings of Nombre de Dios. Santiago del Príncipe inhabitants kept their own authorities, but the Crown appointed a governor and imposed a small troop to defend Nombre de Dios. This was how ancient slaves achieved freedom for them and his descendants, and also the property of the lands.
UB lecturers and CINAF members Javier Laviña, Ricardo Piqueras and Jordi Tresserras explain that the process to find Santiago del Príncipe began with the study of the historical and literary sources of the period. From these writings, we delimited the area where we had to carry out excavation works: “We had to work in a mountain area where accessibility still remains difficult since Francis Drakeʼs times”, they affirm. After one year developing field works, Santiago del Príncipe remains were found; they include many creole ceramic pieces from the 16th century. “Besides its outstanding historical relevance, to find this Black Numantia, will definitely reinforce Afrocolonial identity”, conclude researchers, who will continue excavation works in the site.