San Basilio de Palenque
Fiesta in Palenque
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| Location | Colombia 
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| Coordinates | 10°06′12″N 75°11′56″W / 10.103318°N 75.199013°W |
| Reference | 00102 |
| Inscription | 2005 (29th Session) |
 Location of San Basilio de Palenque
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San Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio is a Palenque village and corregimiento in the Municipality of Mahates, Bolivar in northern Colombia. In 2005 the village was declared Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Palenque is also considered the first free town in America.
Spaniards introduced kidnapped African slaves in South America through the Magdalena River Valley. Its mouth is close to the important port of Cartagena de Indias where ships full of Africans arrived. Some Africans escaped and set up Palenque de San Basilio, a town close to Cartagena. They tried to free all African slaves arriving at Cartagena and were quite successful. Therefore, the Spanish Crown issued a Royal Decree (1691), guaranteeing freedom to the Palenque de San Basilio Africans. These Africans were the first free Africans in America.
The only one Spanish-Bantú language (pidgin) is now spoken by Palenque de San Basilio Afroamericans.
The village of Palenque de San Basilio has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants and is located in the foothills of the Montes de María, southeast of the regional capital, Cartagena. The word "palenque" means "walled city" and the Palenque de San Basilio is only one of many walled communities that were founded by escaped slaves as a refuge in the seventeenth century. Of the many palenques of escaped slaves that existed previously San Basilio is the only one that survives. Many of the oral and musical traditions have roots in Palenque's African past. Africans were dispatched to Spanish America under the asiento system.
The village of San Basilio is inhabited mainly by Afro-Colombians which are direct descendants of African slaves brought by the Europeans during the Colonization of the Americas and have preserved their ancestral traditions and have developed also their own language; Palenquero. In 2005 the Palenque de San Basilio village was proclaimed Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
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