Bayano

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Bayano (also known as Bayamo , Vallano , Vayamo or Ballano ) was an African slave to the Spaniards who led the largest slave revolts in Panama in the 16th century , the Bayano Wars . The main source of Bayano's life and deeds is the Spanish Franciscan Pedro de Aguado .

Little is known about Bayano's life in his native West Africa. It is believed that he belonged to the Mandinka ethnic group and was of Muslim faith . In 1552 he was taken prisoner and was taken to America on a slave ship along with about 400 other slaves . The ship ran aground, however, so that the prisoners could escape. As the leader of a group of escaped slaves, called Cimarrones in contemporary Spanish , Bayano waged a guerrilla war against the Spaniards that lasted for several years. The number of Cimarrones commanded by Bayano is estimated at 400 to 1,200 Cimarrones, depending on the source. By 1553 he had become a feared opponent of the Spaniards, who called him el rey negro Bayano ("the black king Bayano"). Several times he and his followers attacked Spanish settlements and in particular the gold and silver caravans that traveled on the Camino Real from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast.

Bayano ruled two settlements (palenques) near Nombre de Dios on the Panamanian Caribbean coast: one of them was on a steep hill, fortified with palisades and mainly inhabited by young men, a second served as a retreat for women, children and old people . The community was heterogeneous and included about a dozen African ethnic groups as well as runaway Indian slaves who originally came from Peru and Nicaragua .

Three expeditions on behalf of the governor of Panama, Álvaro de Sosa , to end Bayano's slave revolt failed militarily. In October 1556 the conquistador Pedro de Ursúa was commissioned by the Peruvian viceroy Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza , who was then in Panama, to subdue the rebels. From Nombre de Dios, Ursúa then led about 40 to 70 fighters in a 25-day march through the tropical rainforest to Bayano's fortified settlement, which however proved impregnable. Instead, he signed a truce with Bayano and offered to share Panama with the Spanish. During a ceremony, the Spaniards stunned Bayano and several dozen of his followers with prepared wine, overpowered them, and led them back into slavery in Nombre de Dios. Bayano was deported to Lima as a trophy for the Peruvian viceroy . As a free man he later came into exile in Spain, where he lived under house arrest in relative prosperity and died of natural causes.

The name Bayano is still famous today and appears in many local names such as Río Bayano , Lake Bayano , Bayano Dam , the name of a valley and the names of several companies.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles C. Mann : 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created , Vintage Books, New York City, 2012, p. 449. The different spellings come among others. a. due to the fact that the letters “B” and “V” represent the same sound in Spanish .
  2. ↑ Pedro de Aguado: Historia de Venezuela , Book 9, Chapters 9-13
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Ed.): Dictionary of African Biography , Volume 1 (Abach – Brand), Oxford University Press, New York 2012, p. 406
  4. ^ A b Annette Richardson: Bayano (fl. 1550s) . In: Junius P. Rodriguez (ed.): Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion , Volume 1 (A – N), Greenwood Press, Westport 2007, pp. 45 f.
  5. ^ A b c Charles C. Mann : 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created , Vintage Books, New York City, 2012, pp. 450 f.
personal data
SURNAME Bayano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bayamo; Vallano; Vayamo; Ballano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION slave
DATE OF BIRTH 16th Century
DATE OF DEATH 16th century or 17th century