San Basilio de Palenque, is a village in the Bolivar region located 60 minutes from Cartagena. It was declared a Cultural and Intangible Heritage of Humanity for being the first slave city in America to be considered free. San Basilio de Palenque, was the refuge of many blacks who were enslaved and who in the sixteenth century fled from the Spanish inhabitants of the city of Cartagena. And under Benkos Biohó they achieved their freedom.
The palenques were impaled by Africans to take refuge from those who persecuted them. This Colombian people still retain many of the African cultural traditions, such as language, social organization, cultural rites, medical practices, dance and food, all due to the isolation in which people live. In this city they have developed their own language, a mixture of African, Spanish and Portuguese languages called PALENQUERO.
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