Cartagena's slave port and San Basilio de Palenque

Cartagena de Indias was one of the main ports where Spain landed enslaved Africans for its American colonies. People who escaped formed fortified settlements in the hills, called palenques; in 1713 the Crown recognised San Basilio's freedom, often described as the first free town in the Americas. Its people still speak Palenquero, a Spanish-based creole with Bantu roots.