El Cadejo Part 3

El Cadejo are spirits that follow travelers, one black and one white. They look like dogs. The black one is perceived as harmful.  The white one is perceived as a protector.  In the previous article I implied that the difference between me speaking Spanish rather than English could well be down to who got off the ship at what port of call.

Emory University’s Voyages Database contains records on the human trafficking of Africans into the Americas and the Caribbean (http://www.slavevoyages.org/).  One can track ship commission dates, ship names, voyage dates, regions of slave trade, destinations, and more. The database shows how different traders purchased people from the same region then distributed them from New York to Argentina as part of international commerce.

For example, in 1793 both The Vigilantie and the Diana did their slave trading along the Gold Coast regions of Africa.  The Vigilantie left with 340 human cargo.  It disembarked 294 into Suriname.  Afterwards, it sailed into an unspecified port in the Spanish Central Americas (Panama-Colombia border area). The database does not list how many disembarked.

In the case of the Spanish Central Americas, persons from the Vigilantie and other ships were distributed throughout the Latin American isthmus and South America. In some cases, the resulting population of those with African ancestry reached 50% of the recorded population of Spanish colonies.     Construction of the Panama Canal brought immigrants from the Caribbean Islands and other countries into Panama to find work.    

The Diana left with 40 souls and arrived at the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius with 35.  It disembarked 12 souls.  It sailed into Savannah, Georgia, USA delivering 23.

These two voyages are examples of how it is possible that families may have been split between the English speaking colonies, such as Georgia and Spanish colonies, such as Panama.   

Read Part 4