Ignatius Sancho, an Afro-descendant symbol from Cartagena to the world.

Preliminary note: The original version of this text was published in Spanish in El Correo del Golfo, the first Spanish-language newspaper in the Arabian Peninsula, in which its author signs with his first name and can be read here:https://www.elcorreo.ae/opinion/dixon-moya/ignatius-sancho-simbolo-afrodescendiente-cartagena-mundo/20240907082721163693.html

Responding to the call of the ORBIS magazine, of the Diplomatic and Consular Association of Colombia, I have prepared an essay on an essential man for Afro-descendants in the world, a symbol of the fight against the execrable slave system, a crime that shames the past of humanity. As a preview of this historical investigation, I leave to the kind readers the chronicle of Ignatius Sancho, an enlightened British abolitionist, writer and composer, but his life began in Cartagena de Indias, although he came from much further away. Here is the chronicle of a fascinating life that links Africa, Colombia and the United Kingdom.

Ignatius Sancho was born in 1729 on a ship that transported enslaved human beings from Guinea to the port of Cartagena de Indias, although some versions indicate that this illustrious Briton was born in the walled city of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, today Colombia. Little Ignatius was orphaned by both parents. He was baptized in Cartagena and when he was two years old, his owner took him to the United Kingdom, where he was given to three sisters in the town of Greenwich, where he spent 18 years as a servant, but he escaped and ended up being rescued by John Montagu, Second Duke of Montagu, who, apart from returning him to free status, taught him to read and write, and interested him in literature.

In this way, and having become a successful independent merchant, Ignatius Sancho became actively involved in the world of English culture. He became friends with important intellectuals, writers and artists of his time, to name a few, the Irish author Laurence Sterne, the actor and theatre entrepreneur David Garrick or the painters Allam Ramsay or Thomas Gainsborough, who made portraits of Sancho, such as the one seen at the top of this text.

Ignatius Sancho was keenly interested in writing and music. He was the author of various works, such as essays and plays, but especially of a prolific correspondence in the form of public letters, which were published in the main English newspapers and later collected in books. As a composer, he left more than sixty works of classical music. Sancho soon became involved in the British abolitionist movement and was also the first Anglo African to be able to vote in an election. Ignatius Sancho died in 1780. He was the first person of African descent to receive an obituary in the English press of his time, and his figure remains relevant thanks to initiatives by institutions such as Rutgers University.

Today there is a very interesting circumstance, the foreign ministers of Colombia and the United Kingdom are of African descent, they are Luis Gilberto Murillo and the British Secretary David Lammy, who stand out for promoting the cause of their communities, as well as the Colombian vice president Francia Márquez, who recently invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Henry (known as Harry) and his wife Meghan Markle, to Colombia.

I leave the idea of ​​promoting an activity in homage to Ignatius Sancho, which would allow him to be presented to the world and in particular to Colombia, because apart from Great Britain and the circle of specialists, he remains unknown to the general public. An event that could take place in Cartagena de Indias, the place from which a man who should not be forgotten, Ignatius Sancho, was projected for posterity, would be a cultural meeting that would serve to spread the word about the historical figure, as well as the discovery of his works, both literary and musical.

It would be very appropriate to declare Ignatius Sancho as a universal Colombian, a reference that exalts the human condition and that is the perfect symbol of diplomacy and integration between Africa, Colombia and the United Kingdom.

Dixon Acosta Medellīn

Colombian writer, in the official world is known as Dixon Moya, a career diplomat.

On what used to be called Twitter, during recess you can find him as @dixonmedellin