The White Lion Explained

The White Lion was an English privateer operating under a Dutch letter of marque which brought the first Africans to the English colony of Virginia in 1619, a year before the arrival of the Mayflower in New England.^[1] Though the African captives were sold as indentured servants, the event is regarded as the start of African slavery in the colonial history of the United States.^[2]

The first enslaved Africans in the current boundaries of the United States landed in 1526 in the expedition of Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón on the South Carolina and Georgia coasts.^{[3] [4] [5]} Some escaped and are thought to have joined Native Americans, if they survived.^[3] In 1527, Estevanico, an enslaved Moor, participated in the Spanish Narváez expedition.^{[6] [7] [8]} Enslaved Africans were also part of the Spanish expedition to Florida in 1539 with Hernando de Soto, and the 1565 founding of St. Augustine, Florida.^{[5] [9]}

The Africans on the White Lion were probably among the thousands who had been captured in 1618-1619 by a slave raiding force primarily consisting of African raiders, under nominal Portuguese leadership, who were at war^[10] with the Kingdom of Ndongo. These particular enslaved Africans were taken on the Portuguese slave ship São João Bautista from Luanda, Angola, capital of the Portuguese settlements in Angola.^[11]

The White Lion, along with another privateer, the Treasurer, commanded by Daniel Elfrith, intercepted the São João Bautista on its way to modern-day Veracruz on the Gulf coast of New Spain (present-day Mexico). The two ships captured and divided part of the Portuguese ship's African captives, under the aegis of Dutch letters of marque from Maurice, Prince of Orange. White Lion captain John Colyn Jope sailed for the Virginia colony to sell the African captives, first landing in Point Comfort, in modern-day Hampton Roads.

As John Rolfe, secretary of the colony of Virginia, wrote to Virginia Company of London treasurer Edwin Sandys:

After being sold off the White Lion, two of the indentured servants,^[12] Isabella and Anthony, married and had a child in 1624. William Tucker, named after a Virginian planter, was the first recorded person of African ancestry born in English America.^[13]

See also

• Clotilda, the last known slave ship to bring slaves to North America.

Notes and References

1. Web site: McCartney . Martha . Virginia's First Africans . Encyclopedia Virginia . 24 February 2020 . 8 October 2019.
2. Web site: Fanto Deetz . Dr. Kelley . 400 years ago, enslaved Africans first arrived in Virginia . https://web.archive.org/web/20191221100018/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2019/07-08/virginia-first-africans-transatlantic-slave-trade/ . dead . December 21, 2019 . National Geographic . 24 February 2020 . 13 August 2019.
3. Cameron . Guy, and Stephen Vermette . Vermette . Stephen . 2012 . The Role of Extreme Cold in the Failure of the San Miguel de Gualdape Colony . The Georgia Historical Quarterly . 96 . 3 . 291–307 . 23622193 . 0016-8297.
4. News: '1619 Project' ignores fact that slaves were present in Florida decades before . Parker . Susan . 2019-08-24 . St. Augustine Record . 2019-12-06 . en.
5. News: Slavery took hold in Florida under the Spanish in the 'forgotten century' of 1492-1619. . Francis . J. Michael, Gary Mormino and Rachel Sanderson . 2019-08-29 . Tampa Bay Times . 2019-12-06 . en.
6. Maura. Juan Francisco. Nuevas interpretaciones sobre las aventuras de Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Esteban de Dorantes, y Fray Marcos de Niza. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. 2002. 29. 1–2. 129–154.
7. Lauber . Almon Wheeler . Enslavement by the Indians Themselves, Chapter 1 in Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States. 1913 . Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law . 53 . 3 . 25–48 . .
8. Book: Gallay, Alan . 2009 . Introduction: Indian Slavery in Historical Context . Gallay, Alan . Indian Slavery in Colonial America . 1–32 . Lincoln, NE . University of Nebraska Press . March 8, 2017 .
9. News: Perspective - Everyone is talking about 1619. But that's not actually when slavery in America started. . Torres-Spelliscy . Ciara . 2019-08-23 . Washington Post . 2019-12-06 . en .
10. Book: Painter, Nell Irvin. . Creating Black Americans: African-American history and its meanings, 1619 to the present . 2006 . Oxford University Press . 0-19-513755-8 . New York . 23–24 . 57722517.
11. Thornton . John . The African Experience of the "20. and Odd Negroes" Arriving in Virginia in 1619 . The William and Mary Quarterly . July 1998 . 55 . 421–434 . 3rd. 3 . 10.2307/2674531 . 2674531 .
12. Web site: WILLIAM TUCKER (1624- ?). blackpast.org. Evan Wade. 16 April 2014 .
13. Book: Bennett . Lerone Jr.. Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America, 1619-1962 . 1962 . BN Publishing . 978-1-68411-534-1 . 30 . 2017.