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La Amistad

La Amistad
La Amistad (ship).jpg
History
United States
Name: Friendship
BandMercante1785.svgSpain
Name: La Amistad
Owner: Don Ramon Ferrer
United States
Name: Ion
Owner: Captain George Hawford, Newport, Rhode Island
Acquired: 1840
Guadaloupe
Acquired: 1844
General characteristics
Length: 120 ft (37 m)
Sail plan: schooner
Freedom Schooner Amistad
Amistad2010.jpg
Freedom Schooner Amistad at Mystic Seaport in 2010.
United States
Owner:
  • 2000–2015: Amistad America, Inc., New Haven, Connecticut
  • from 2015: Discovering Amistad, Inc., New Haven, Connecticut
Builder: Mystic Seaport
Laid down: 1998
Launched: 25 March 2000
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 136 L. tons
Length: 80.7 ft (24.6 m)
Beam: 22.9 ft (7.0 m)
Draft: 10.1 ft (3.1 m)
Propulsion: Sail, 2 Caterpillar diesel engines
Sail plan: Topsail schooner

Coordinates: 41°21′40″N 71°57′58″W / 41.361°N 71.966°W / 41.361; -71.966

La Amistad (pronounced: [la a.misˈtað]; Spanish for Friendship) was a 19th-century two-masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone, and were being transported from Havana, Cuba to their purchasers' plantations. The African captives took control of the ship, killing some of the crew and ordering the survivors to sail the ship to Africa. The Spanish survivors secretly maneuvered the ship north, and La Amistad was captured off the coast of Long Island by the brig USS Washington. The Mende and La Amistad were interned in Connecticut while federal court proceedings were undertaken for their disposition. The owners of the ship and Spanish government claimed the slaves as property; but the US had banned the African trade and argued that the Mende were legally free.

Because of issues of ownership and jurisdiction, the case gained international attention. Known as United States v. The Amistad (1841), the case was finally decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of the Mende, restoring their freedom. It became a symbol in the United States in the movement to abolish slavery.


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Wikipedia

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