| Uchicho | |
| Succession: | King of the Afro-Bolivians |
| Predecessor: | Monarchy established |
| Successor: | Bonifaz Pinedo |
| Coronation: | 1823 |
| Birth Place: | Kingdom of Kongo |
| House: | Pinedo |
Uchico was the first King of the Afro-Bolivians. He was captured and brought to Bolivia as a slave around 1820. He was crowned as Afro-Bolivian king in 1823.
Uchicho was born in either the Kingdom of Kongo or Senegal into a tribal royal family. He was captured and enslaved and brought to Upper Peru, a province of the Spanish Empire, around 1820.[1] [2] He was enslaved by the Marquis de Pinedo at an hacienda in the Los Yungas.[3]
Allegedly, Uchicho bore tribal marks only held by royalty, and was therefore recognized by other slaves as a prince.[4]
Uchicho was crowned King of the Afro-Bolivians by the slave community in 1823.[2] [1] Two years later, slavery was abolished in Bolivia. Uchicho was succeeded as king by Bonifaz, who later adopted the surname Pinedo from the plantation owner.[1]
The Royal Order of Merit of Prince Uchicho, the Afro-Bolivian monarchy's official dynastic order of merit founded in 2012, is named after him.[5]