The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, and used by enslaved African-Americans to escape into free states and Canada.[1] The scheme was assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees.[2] Not literally but metaphorically a railroad, the enslaved who risked escape and those who aided them are also collectively referred to as the "Underground Railroad".[3] Various other routes led to Mexico,[4] where slavery had been abolished, or overseas.[5] An earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession (except 1763–83), existed from the late 17th century until Florida became a United States territory in 1821.