Cuban Slave Market

Discovery - The Story

Story Overview

Enslavement | The Baracoons of Gallinas | The Middle Passage

The Cuban Slave Market | The Revolt | The Black Schooner

The Africans in America | The Amistad Trials | Return to Africa

The Cuban Slave Market

As theTeçora neared Cuba, the captain had the surviving slaves brought up on deck, bathed, clothed and fed extra rations. They were being prepared for sale, made to appear as healthy as possible. Just out of sight of land, the vessel hove to and waited for the cover of darkness. Here again the risk of British naval patrols became particularly dangerous. The Teçora stood in for shore at night, landing the slaves by small boats in a secluded inlet a few miles from Havana. The Africans huddled on shore until the entire group had been off-loaded, then marched three miles into the jungle. They had reached America.

In the jungle, they spent several weeks in warehouses before being lined up again one night and marched several miles to the walls that surrounded Havana. At daylight, they were led into another pair of baracoons, oblong, roofless, already teeming with several hundred fellow captives. They had reached the slave market, where imported Africans were auctioned off to Cuba's sugar and coffee planters.

These baracoons were set at the end of the paseo, or avenue, linking the city with the palace of the Captain-General, the imperial governor of the island. The Africans had been landed furtively; now they were carried into the heart of Havana, out into the busy, open glare of Cuban society. Train tracks ran right by the baracoons. Visitors were often taken to see the slave sales. Slave merchants lined up the captives to be examined by potential buyers, who inspected the Africans' bodies and teeth.

After ten days, a young sugar planter, Jose Ruiz, bought 49 of the Africans, all adult males, paying $450 for each. A companion, Pedro Montes, had already purchased a few slaves of his own -- three young girls and a young boy, who had been imported in a different slave ship.

Next the two Cubans made preparations to transport their new slaves to their plantations near Puerto Principe, several hundred miles away. They procured passports from the Captain-General's office -- documents claiming that the slaves were "ladinos" (Cuban-born, and so legally owned, since importing Africans was illegal in Cuba) and giving each of them Spanish names: Sengbe Pieh became "Jose Cinque." And they chartered passage on the Amistad, a coastal schooner. Several nights later they led the 53 slaves through Havana to board the vessel.

Key Sources: David Turnbull, a British anti-slavery activist who spent several years in Cuba, published a vivid account of the Havana baracoons in 1840.

Exploring Amistad - DISCOVERY


		Story Overview Enslavement \| The Baracoons of Gallinas \| The Middle Passage The Cuban Slave Market \| The Revolt \| The Black Schooner The Africans in America \| The Amistad Trials \| Return to Africa The Cuban Slave Market As theTeçora neared Cuba, the captain had the surviving slaves brought up on deck, bathed, clothed and fed extra rations. They were being prepared for sale, made to appear as healthy as possible. Just out of sight of land, the vessel hove to and waited for the cover of darkness. Here again the risk of British naval patrols became particularly dangerous. The Teçora stood in for shore at night, landing the slaves by small boats in a secluded inlet a few miles from Havana. The Africans huddled on shore until the entire group had been off-loaded, then marched three miles into the jungle. They had reached America. In the jungle, they spent several weeks in warehouses before being lined up again one night and marched several miles to the walls that surrounded Havana. At daylight, they were led into another pair of baracoons, oblong, roofless, already teeming with several hundred fellow captives. They had reached the slave market, where imported Africans were auctioned off to Cuba's sugar and coffee planters. These baracoons were set at the end of the paseo, or avenue, linking the city with the palace of the Captain-General, the imperial governor of the island. The Africans had been landed furtively; now they were carried into the heart of Havana, out into the busy, open glare of Cuban society. Train tracks ran right by the baracoons. Visitors were often taken to see the slave sales. Slave merchants lined up the captives to be examined by potential buyers, who inspected the Africans' bodies and teeth. After ten days, a young sugar planter, Jose Ruiz, bought 49 of the Africans, all adult males, paying $450 for each. A companion, Pedro Montes, had already purchased a few slaves of his own -- three young girls and a young boy, who had been imported in a different slave ship. Next the two Cubans made preparations to transport their new slaves to their plantations near Puerto Principe, several hundred miles away. They procured passports from the Captain-General's office -- documents claiming that the slaves were "ladinos" (Cuban-born, and so legally owned, since importing Africans was illegal in Cuba) and giving each of them Spanish names: Sengbe Pieh became "Jose Cinque." And they chartered passage on the Amistad, a coastal schooner. Several nights later they led the 53 slaves through Havana to board the vessel. Key Sources: David Turnbull, a British anti-slavery activist who spent several years in Cuba, published a vivid account of the Havana baracoons in 1840.