Gaspar Yanga

Gaspar Yanga (born 1545), also called simply Yanga or Ñanga, was a Central African man who led a maroon colony of enslaved Africans in the highlands near Veracruz, New Spain during the early period of Spanish colonial rule. In 1609, Yanga led a successful rebellion against a Spanish attack on the maroon colony. Through negotiation with Spanish colonial authorities Yanga (or his descendants) achieved freedom for the maroon and the right to self-rule sometime between 1618 and 1641. The settlement was called San Lorenzo de los Negros, and was the first free town in the Americas.

In the late 19th century, Yanga was named as a "national hero of Mexico" and "The first liberator of America" ("El Primer Libertador de América"). San Lorenzo de los Negros, located in today's state of Veracruz, was renamed as Yanga in his honor in 1932.