Plaza de los Coches
Triangular colonial square marking a former slave market, ringed by an arcaded confectionery walkway.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Plaza de los Coches in Cartagena starts with the bronze statue of Pedro de Heredia, the city's founder, and asks why his own colony put him on trial. It traces the square's darker names, from a judge who lived on its corner to el Esclavo, when enslaved Africans were bought and sold here, before it settled into carriages and confectionery stalls in later centuries. Royal inspectors accused Heredia of skimming crown funds, favoring his family, and torturing native people, in charges that ran past two hundred separate counts.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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