Juan Garrido

Common card · No. 277336

Juan Garrido (c. 1480 – c. 1550) was an Afro-Spanish conquistador of Kongo origin. Born in the Kingdom of Kongo in West Central Africa, he went to Portugal as a young man. In converting to Catholicism, he chose the Spanish name Juan Garrido ("John Handsome"). He is the first known free African to arrive in North America. He participated in the Spanish conquests of Puerto Rico by Juan Ponce de León, Cuba by Diego Velázquez and the expeditions to Florida by Ponce de León. By 1519, Garrido had joined Cortes's forces and invaded present-day Mexico, participating in the siege of Tenochtitlan. He married and settled in Mexico City, where he was the first known farmer to have sowed wheat in America. He continued to serve with Spanish forces for more than 30 years, including expeditions to western Mexico and to the Pacific. Garrido is considered the prime example of black conquistador, although in reality the presence of Africans and mulattos in the Hispanic ranks had already become a widespread...

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