Juan de Bolas originally Juan Lubolo (1604?-1664) was one of the first chiefs of the
Jamaican Maroons
Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ensl ...
.
Background
When the English captured
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
from the Spanish in the 1655
Invasion of Jamaica, the latter freed their slaves, who fled into the mountainous forests of the interior, where they established independent communities of
Free black people in Jamaica
Free black people in Jamaica fell into two categories. Some secured their freedom officially, and lived within the slave communities of the Colony of Jamaica. Others ran away from slavery, and formed independent communities in the forested mountai ...
, and fought a guerrilla war against the English. It is likely that these early Spanish Maroons were descended from both escaped African slaves and
Taino men and women.
Juan de Bolas and his Maroon community was based primarily around the town of Guanaboa Vale. The Spanish attempted to retake the
Colony of Jamaica
The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was prima ...
, and to this end Don Christobal de Ysasi relied on his alliance with the Spanish Maroons to secure this victory.
Juan switches sides
However, Governor
Edward D'Oyley
Edward D'Oyley (1617 – 1675) was an English soldier who served as Governor of Jamaica on two occasions.
D'Oyley was a Parliamentarian who served in the New Model Army in Wiltshire and in Ireland. In 1654 he sailed to the West Indies as a lieute ...
succeeded in persuading one of the leaders of the Spanish Maroons, Juan de Bolas, to switch sides and join the English along with his Maroon warriors. In 1660, when Ysasi realised that de Bolas had joined the English, he admitted that the Spanish no longer had a chance of recapturing the island, since de Bolas and his men knew the mountainous interior better than the Spanish and the English. Ysasi gave up on his dreams, and fled to
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
The English named two
rivers and a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...
after him to commemorate his assistance in expelling the Spaniards and bringing an end to
Spanish Jamaica
Santiago was a Spanish territory of the Spanish West Indies and within the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in the Caribbean region. Its location is the present-day island and nation of Jamaica.
Pre-Columbian Jamaica
Around 650 AD, Jamaica was co ...
, as well as capturing hostile Maroons.
The English appointed him Colonel of the
Black Militia and guaranteed his
palenque
Palenque (; Yucatec Maya language, Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamhaʼ ("Big Water or Big Waters"), was a Maya city City-state, state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins dat ...
land and liberties "for ever".
War with other Maroons and Death
There was at least one other group of Spanish Maroons who did not agree to terms with the English authorities, led by a Maroon named
Juan de Serras Juan de Serras was one of the first Jamaican Maroon chiefs in the seventeenth century. His community was based primarily around Los Vermajales, and as a result the English called his group of Maroons the Karmahaly Maroons. It is likely that his Maro ...
. The English called this group the Karmahaly Maroons, because they came from Los Vermejales. The English colonial authorities then used de Bolas and his "Black Militia" to hunt de Serras and his Maroons.
De Bolas was killed in an ambush by an unaligned palenque in 1664.
Some historians believe that de Bolas was killed by Maroons from the group led by de Serras. Following the death of de Bolas, his group of Black Militia Maroons faded from history, while de Serras and his community continued to trouble the English authorities for years to come.
[Campbell, ''The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796'', pp. 25-26.]
Legacy
De Bolas is mentioned in ''Segu'', an historical novel from Guadeloupean author
Maryse Condé
Maryse Condé (née Boucolon; February 11, 1937) is a French novelist, critic, and playwright from the French Overseas department and region of Guadeloupe. Condé is best known for her novel ''Ségou'' (1984–85).Condé, Maryse, and Richard ...
.
Jamaican novelist
Victor Stafford Reid wrote an historical novel entitled ''The Jamaicans'' in 1976, and the main character was Juan de Bolas.
Jamaican singer
Eric Donaldson
Eric Donaldson (born 11 June 1947 in Bog Walk, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter. He originated in Saint Catherine, Jamaica.
Biography
Born in Kent Village, about 2 miles from Bog Walk, Donaldson first recorded for Studio One ...
named his 1979 Dynamic Sounds album after De Bolas, entitled 'Juan De Bolas'.
See also
*
Juan de Bolas Mountain
*
Juan de Bolas River
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolas, Juan de
Jamaican Maroon leaders
1600s births
1664 deaths
People from Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
History of the Colony of Jamaica
Colony of Jamaica people
Jamaican rebel slaves
17th-century Jamaican people