Maya Slave Ship First of Its Kind to Be Discovered

Archaeologists have identified the wreck of a 19th-century slave ship off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

The ship is the first from the Maya slave trade to be discovered, archaeologists say.

The shipwreck was found in 2017 about two nautical miles off Sisal, Yucatan, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). After three years of research in Mexico, Cuba, and Spain, the ship has been identified as the 19th-century steamer “La Union.”