"A number of rebellions or attempted rebellions by slaves deserve special notice. Some of the earliest episodes occurred in the European colonies of the Caribbean and Latin America. At a sugar plantation in Veracruz in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (present-day Mexico), in 1570, Gaspar Yanga led the escape of his fellow slaves into nearby mountains. There they lived for nearly 40 years, arming and supplying themselves by means of raids on Spanish colonists. The Spanish colonial powers were aware of the community’s existence but made little progress against it until 1609, when they assembled troops to retake the former slaves. They razed the settlement and attacked Yanga and his followers, who took to the rainforest and waged guerrilla warfare against them. In the end, the Spanish agreed to a treaty that granted the former slaves their freedom and the right to create their own free settlement. In Veracruz they established the town of San Lorenzo de Los Negros (now called Yanga), the first settlement of freed African slaves in North America."