The Amistad
The best place to learn about this important event in American History is New Haven, Connecticut.
The (La) Amistad was a two-masted tall ship used by Spanish Traders to take captured members of the African Mende Tribe to Cuba in 1839. The captives revolted, took control of the ship (or so they thought) and demanded to be taken home. Instead, the Spaniards sailed north into Long Island Sound.
The Africans were recaptured and taken to New London Harbor, Connecticut where they were jailed and kept there awaiting trial. The trial began in Hartford, Connecticut north of New Haven. With the help of former President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, age 72, they eventually won their case and were returned to their homeland in 1842.
Meanwhile, the Amistad was sold. Today, visitors can go aboard a life-size replica of the Schooner Amistad at Long Warf in New Haven and also sail the harbor on the Quinnipiack Schooner. The city also offers Amistad Memorial at New Haven Green.
New Haven first belonged to the Quinnipiac tribe of Native Americans. The Dutch came but did not stay and then Members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony exchanged land with the Quinnipiacs for protection from the Pequot Indians. In 1661, Judges who signed the death warrant of England’s Charles I hid near New Haven from Charles II.
In 1718, the name of New Haven’s Collegiate School was changed to Yale College and later to Yale University. The University encourages visitors to take the Yale Campus tour. From the New Haven Colony sprang several other communities including Hamden.
Learn about famous people connected to this area by seeing the Eli Whitney Museum and the place where Samuel Colt invented the automatic revolver. There are plenty of other sights to see in this, one of the oldest parts of the United States. New Haven is a thriving city with public transportation, plenty of places to stay and to eat. New York, New York and Newark, New Jersey are just a short drive south.
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By Marti Talbott
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