Benkos bioho biography of william
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Retrieved: May 10, 2018. Seven years later Biohó was captured while walking unaware through the streets of Cartagena.
-García Girón, new governor of Cartagena, ordered the execution of Biohó because he was considered a figure "who with his lies and charms took all the nations of Guinea behind him."
-On March 16, 1621, Benkos Biohó died by hanging.
In Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org.
In El Universal. Eventually, the Spanish offered Biohó a peace treaty, which the Spaniards violated by 1619 when they captured Biohó and hanged and quartered him on March 16, 1621. (2009). They conquered the area around the Montes de María and founded San Basilio de Palenque circa 1600. It should be noted that among them was the son of Biohó's master, Francisco de Campos.
-The men of Biohó took Francisco de Campos as prisoner, who also presumably had a romantic relationship with the daughter of the maroon leader, Orika.
-After the death of De Campos by a stray bullet and the execution of Orika for treason, the bases of the palenque's social, political and military organization were established.
-With intentions of obtaining food and other resources, as well as the liberation of other slaves, the men of Palenque made expeditions around Cartagena, Tolú and Mompós.
-Due to the organization of the community, Gerónimo de Suazo y Casasola proposed a peace treaty on July 18, 1605.
In 1713, San Basilio de Palenque became the first free village in the Americas, established by decree from the King of Spain, who ended the practice of sending troops on futile missions to attack their fortified mountain hideaway. (2004). Girón justified the harsh measures by emphasizing Biohó's widespread respect among enslaved and free Black populations, deeming it "dangerous" to allow such influence to persist.[2]On March 16, 1621, Biohó was sentenced to death and publicly executed by hanging followed by quartering in Cartagena, a method intended to deter further resistance through visible brutality.[4][2][25] The execution, ordered directly by Girón, violated prior peace agreements and marked the culmination of Spanish efforts to dismantle Palenque's leadership, though it failed to suppress the community's autonomy.[4] Historical accounts converge on this date and method, drawing from colonial records, despite variations in precise capture circumstances preceding the trial.[27][13]
Legacy and Cultural Preservation
Development of Palenque Society
Following Benkos Biohó's execution in 1621, San Basilio de Palenque endured as a resilient maroon community, attracting additional escaped slaves and sustaining itself through collective defense and subsistence agriculture amid ongoing Spanish raids.[28] In 1713, a Royal Decree from the Spanish Crown formalized its autonomy, granting freedom to residents and renaming it San Basilio de Palenque, which marked a pivotal shift from precarious refuge to legally recognized settlement while preserving internal self-governance.[29] This legalization enabled population growth and cultural consolidation, with the community evolving into a population of approximately 3,500 by the 21st century, supplemented by a diaspora exceeding 30,000.[28][15]The society's core structure centered on extended family networks intertwined with ma kuagro—age-based cohorts that assigned specific rights, duties, and mutual obligations, fostering communal solidarity in labor, dispute resolution, and rituals.[28] These groups coordinated essential activities, such as nine-day funeral wakes known as lumbalú, which integrated mourning songs, dances, and communal support without reliance on external authorities.[29] Absent formal policing, the traditional Cimarrona Guard upheld order and welfare, reflecting a decentralized, consensus-driven governance rooted in African communalism rather than hierarchical imposition.[29] By the late 20th century, this framework adapted through organizations like the Cultural Association of San Basilio de Palenque (established in the 1970s–1980s) and the Proceso de Comunidades Negras, which advocated for ethnic rights amid national integration pressures.[15]Economically, the society developed self-reliance via farming (e.g., plantains, yuca), artisanal crafts, and trade in goods like cocadas sweets sold by palenqueras, though modernization and armed conflicts later eroded traditional production.[28] Culturally, it nurtured the Palenquerocreole language—unique for its Spanish lexicon fused with Bantu grammar—as a cohesion mechanism, alongside syncretic practices in herbal medicine (drawing on African, indigenous, and Hispanic knowledge), music (e.g., son palenquero, bullerengue sentado with instruments like the marímbula), and oral traditions that encoded history and resistance.[15] These elements, preserved despite external discrimination and economic shifts, culminated in UNESCO's 2005 designation as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage (Representative List in 2008), underscoring the society's adaptive preservation of African-derived identity.[28]Influence on Afro-Colombian Identity
Benkos Biohó's establishment of San Basilio de Palenque as the first free town for escaped slaves in the Americas provided a foundational model of autonomy and resistance that continues to shape Afro-Colombian identity.The men were even trained to handle firearms, knives and swords, as well as hand-to-hand combat.
For this reason, evidence has been found that many of these slaves decided to commit suicide in the boats before docking.
Growing up in a warrior community, equitable and independent, it is estimated that Biohó was strongly influenced by these values, which prompted him to consolidate the first Maroon rebellion on the continent.
Flight and government of Palenque de San Basilio
Bohió made a frustrated first escape attempt while being transported on the Magdalena River.
Biohó, the former African royalty, escaped again from the slave port of Cartagena with ten others and founded San Basilio de Palenque, then known as the "village of the maroons." He organized an army to dominate all of the Montes de María regions.
Benkos Biohó
Liberator
(late 16th century-1621)
Colombia
Benkos Biohó, the former African king of what is now partly Guinea-Bissau, escaped from the slave port of Cartagena, Colombia with ten others.
In this the sovereignty of the inhabitants of Palenque de San Basilio was respected, as long as they did not receive more fugitive slaves, do not incite new leaks and stop referring to Biohó as "king".
-In other agreements reached in the truce, the entry of any Spaniard to the palenque was prohibited, the inhabitants could go to the city dressed and armed without problems and the surrounding communities had to leave species of gifts to avoid the attack of the Maroons.
-The peace only lasted until 1612, during the rise of Governor Diego Fernández de Velasco.
In Semana de Semana.com.