Aaminah

**Aaminah** was a female slave-turned-pirate who served under Alonzo Batilla during the early 18th century.

## Biography

### Early life

> *"They are going to sell us, like animals, in a market. People will bid and we will be sold to a man they will want us to call master. I have no master, mother."*
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> - Aaminah in one of her letters to her mother.
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At some point abducted by slavers, Aaminah was stolen from her family and set to be sold alongside a group of other slaves. Detained on Isla de la Juventud, she would often write letters to her illiterate mother, expressing her intentions to rebel against her captors and find a ship so she could return home.

Eventually, Aaminah was put on a slave ship bound for Kingston; during the trip, she managed to spark a rebellion amongst her fellow slaves. For this, she was harshly disciplined by the slavers, only beings pared because of her value as a worker.

### Serving under Alonzo

> **Alonzo:** *"No... What do you want from me?"*
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> **Aaminah:** *"Justice! Slaves flock the sea... Taking people from their land and selling them like fruit!"*
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> - Aaminah voicing her desire for justice upon meeting Alonzo, 1716.
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In July 1716, Aaminah would be rescued from her predicament by Alonzo Batilla, who had done so under the suggestion of Samuel Bellamy. Wanting to take revenge on the slavers, she agreed to join Alonzo's crew if he helped her liberate other slaves.

In August of that same year, Alonzo's ship passed through the region where Aaminah had previously been detained, causing her to become anxious. She informed him of the nearby stronghold, which Alonzo then decided to plunder. Despite the appearance of the pirate hunter Alvaro, the pair succeeded in nearing the fort, destroying its defenses and liberating the slaves held inside. Although she was thankful for his help, Aaminah admonished Alonzo for his naivety in believing they could single-handedly end the slave trade.

Over the next few months, Aaminah and Alonzo attacked more than two dozen slave ships, disrupting the trade to such an extent that the slave markets in Jamaica and Port-au-Prince had to be closed for several weeks. Aaminah eventually achieved an almost mythical status among the slaves, who spoke of her as an "African goddess" that struck terror in the hearts of all slavers.

### Tracking La Buse

> **Alonzo:** *"You're right!... I can decode his cryptogram!"*
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> **Aaminah:** *"Can you recall of a time when I was wrong?"*
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> - Aaminah to Alonzo, 1717.
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In May 1717, Aaminah helped Alonzo decrypt an encoded letter from La Buse, who had mysteriously vanished while guarding the Fragment of Eden. By using a trick involving light, she managed to reveal the map written in invisible ink, allowing them to track La Buse to La Boca del Diablo.

In September of the same year, Alonzo and his crew arrived at La Boca del Diablo, where they found La Buse's hip, *Le Postillon,* to be shipwrecked. Upon investigated the wreckage, Alonzo learned that La Buse had been targeted by Templars. Enraged, he took on a nearby slaver fort and pursued a small vessel that attempted to escape. Frightened by Alonzo's sudden appearance, the captain of the ship, Barnes, revealed that La Buse had actually survived the Templar attack by using the Fragment of Eden and handed over La Buse's journal. Aaminah and Alonzo then investigated the book and discovered it could be used to decipher La Buse's message. Solving the cryptogram, they learned La Buse was heading to Mayaguana, in order to leave the Caribbean.

After La Buse managed to rescue the fragment, Aaminah demanded Alonzo to leave the Caribbean, but he refused, saying he would rather die than abandon his pirate life.

## Trivia

* Aaminah, derived from Arabic امين (*amin*), means 'truthful, faithful, trustworthy'.