Cartagena's African defenders.

• Author: Walls, Wuanda M.T.
• Position: Upfront - Letter to the Editor

Anne W. Tennant's article about Cartagena's forts and fortresses and the Italian engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli, although excellent, gave me pause. I was disappointed that site failed to mention the fact that thousands of African slaves provided free labor constructing the forts, castles, churches, and fortresses of the city, as well as defending them under the commands of many. In fact, Sancho Ximeno, an African leader who headed up a garrison, defended the fort of San Luis de Bocachica in 1697 against the attack of the French admiral Jean Bernard Desjeans, known as Baron de Points.

Thus, the Spanish would not have achieved their goals, had it not been for the Africans' contributions and more. During this era, Cartagena became the great bastion and port, practically a lake city. And Africans arrived there in tumberios or ataudes, coffin ships from Portuguese colonies in Africa. In time Cartagena, a city fortified at enormous expense, would come to symbolize the presence of Spain in the New World.

Wuanda M. T. Walls

Media, Pennsylvania

Anne...