![Body of Maroon child brought before medicine man, 1955](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Body_of_Maroon_child_brought_before_medicine_man%2C_1955.jpg)
Maroons are descendants of
Africans in the Americas who escaped from
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with
indigenous peoples, eventually
evolving into separate
creole culture
Creole peoples are ethnic groups formed during the European colonial era, from the mass displacement of peoples brought into sustained contact with others from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, who converged onto a colonial terri ...
s such as the
Garifuna and the
Mascogos.
Etymology
''Maroon'', which can have a more general sense of being abandoned without resources, entered English around the 1590s, from the French adjective , meaning 'feral' or 'fugitive'. (Despite the same spelling, the meaning of 'reddish brown' for ''maroon'' did not appear until the late 1700s, perhaps influenced by the idea of maroon peoples.
)
The American Spanish word is also often given as the source of the English word ''maroon'', used to describe the runaway slave communities in Florida, in the
Great Dismal Swamp
The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia indepe ...
on the border of Virginia and North Carolina, on colonial islands of the Caribbean, and in other parts of the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
. Linguist
Lyle Campbell
Lyle Richard Campbell (born October 22, 1942) is an American scholar and linguist known for his studies of indigenous American languages, especially those of Central America, and on historical linguistics in general. Campbell is professor emeri ...
says the Spanish word ' means 'wild, unruly' or 'runaway slave'.
In the early 1570s, Sir
Francis Drake's
raids on the Spanish in Panama were aided by "''Symerons''," a likely misspelling of '.
The linguist
Leo Spitzer, writing in the journal ''
Language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
'', says, "If there is a connection between Eng. ''maroon'', Fr. ', and Sp. ', Spain (or Spanish America) probably gave the word directly to England (or English America)."
Alternatively, the Cuban
philologist José Juan Arrom
José Juan Arrom (February 28, 1910 - April 12, 2007) was a leading authority on Latin American cultural studies and a pioneer in shaping the field in the United States at a time when most Spanish departments mainly taught about peninsular Spain ...
has traced the origins of the word ''maroon'' further than the Spanish ''cimarrón'', used first in
Hispaniola to refer to
feral
A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
cattle, then to Indian slaves who escaped to the hills, and by the early 1530s to African slaves who did the same. He proposes that the American Spanish word derives ultimately from the Arawakan root word , construed as 'fugitive', in the
Arawakan language spoken by the
Taíno people native to the island.
[ English: And if we pay attention to the testimony of Oviedo when, after having lived in Hispaniola for many years, he asserts that cimarrón "means, in the language of this island, fugitives", it would be demonstrated that we are, in fact, before an early loan of the Taíno language., page=10][ English: In short, the reports that I am contributing here confirm that ''cimarrón'' is an Indian word of Antillean origin, which was already used in the first third of the sixteenth century, and which has come to be another of the many Antillanisms that the conquest extended throughout the breadth of the continent and made to reflect on the metropolis itself.]
History
![Sebastián Lemba](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Sebasti%C3%A1n_Lemba.jpg)
In the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
, as early as 1512, African slaves escaped from Spanish captors and either joined indigenous peoples or eked out a living on their own.
The first
slave rebellion occurred in present day
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
on the sugar plantations owned by Admiral
Diego Columbus, on 26 December 1522, and was brutally crushed by the Admiral.
The first maroon communities of the Americas were established following this revolt, as many of the slaves were able to escape. This would also give rise to a wave of
Dominican maroons who would go on to lead the first maroon activities of the Americas.
Sebastián Lemba, born in Africa, successfully rebelled against the Spaniards in 1532, and banded together with other Africans in his 15-year struggle against the Spanish colonists. Lemba would eventually be joined by other maroons such as Juan Vaquero, Diego del Guzmán, Fernando Montoro, Juan Criollo and Diego del Campo in the struggle against slavery. As the maroons threatened Spanish commerce and trade, Spanish officials began to fear a maroon takeover of the island. By the 1540s, maroons had already controlled the interior portions of the island, although areas in the east, north, and western parts of the island would also fall under maroon control. Maroon bands would venture out throughout the island, usually in large groups, attack villages they encounter, burn down plantations, kill and ransack from Spaniards, and liberate the slaves. Roadways had become so open to attack, the Spaniards felt it was necessary to only navigate in groups. Dominican maroons would be present throughout the island until the mid 17th century.
Sir
Francis Drake enlisted several ''cimarrones'' during his raids on the Spanish.
As early as 1655, escaped Africans had formed communities in inland
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 ...
, and by the 18th century,
Nanny Town
Old Nanny Town was a village in the Blue Mountains of Portland Parish, north-eastern Jamaica, used as a stronghold of Jamaican Maroons (escaped slaves). They were led in the early 18th century by an Ashanti escaped slave known as Granny Nanny, ...
and other Jamaican maroon villages began to fight for independent recognition.
[.]
When runaway slaves and Amerindians banded together and subsisted independently they were called "maroons". On the
Caribbean islands, they formed bands and on some islands, armed camps. Maroon communities faced great odds against their surviving attacks by hostile colonists, obtaining food for subsistence living,
as well as reproducing and increasing their numbers. As the planters took over more land for crops, the maroons began to lose ground on the small islands. Only on some of the larger islands were organised maroon communities able to thrive by growing crops and hunting. Here they grew in number as more slaves escaped from
plantations and joined their bands. Seeking to separate themselves from colonisers, the maroons gained in power and amid increasing hostilities. They raided and pillaged plantations and harassed planters until the planters began to fear a massive revolt of the black slaves.
The early maroon communities were usually displaced. By 1700, maroons had disappeared from the smaller islands. Survival was always difficult, as the maroons had to fight off attackers as well as grow food.
One of the most influential maroons was
François Mackandal, a
houngan
Oungan (also written as ''houngan'') is the term for a male priest in Haitian Vodou (a female priest is known as a (''mambo''). The term is derived from Gbe languages (Fon, Ewe, Adja, Phla, Gen, Maxi and Gun). The word hounnongan means chief ...
or
voodoo priest, who led a six-year rebellion against the white plantation owners in
Haiti that preceded the
Haitian Revolution.
In
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 ...
, there were maroon communities in the mountains, where African refugees had escaped the brutality of slavery and joined
Taínos.
Before roads were built into the mountains of
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, heavy
brush kept many escaped maroons hidden in the southwestern hills where many also intermarried with the natives. Escaped slaves sought refuge away from the coastal plantations of
Ponce. Remnants of these communities remain as of 2006, for example in
Viñales, Cuba,
and
Adjuntas
Adjuntas (, ) is a small mountainside town and municipality in Puerto Rico located central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, north of Yauco, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Yauco; a ...
, Puerto Rico.
Maroon communities emerged in many places in the Caribbean (
St Vincent and
Dominica, for example), but none were seen as such a great threat to the British as 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 ...
.
Beginning in the late 17th century, Jamaican Maroons consistently fought British colonists, leading to the
First Maroon War
The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by self-liberated Africans who set up communities i ...
(1728–1740). In 1739 and 1740, the British governor of 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 ...
,
Edward Trelawny, signed treaties promising them in two locations, at
Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) in western Jamaica and
Crawford's Town Crawford's Town was one of the two main towns belonging to the Windward Maroons, who fought a guerrilla war of resistance against the British colonial forces of Jamaica during the First Maroon War of the 1730s.
Crawford's Town was in the Spanish ...
in eastern Jamaica, to bring an end to the warfare between the communities. In exchange, they were to agree to capture other escaped slaves. They were initially paid a bounty of two dollars for each African returned.
The treaties effectively freed the Maroons a century before the
Slavery Abolition Act 1833
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire. It was passed by Earl Grey's reforming administrat ...
, which came into effect in 1838. To this day, the Jamaican Maroons are to a significant extent autonomous and separate from Jamaican society. The physical isolation used to their advantage by their ancestors has today led to their communities remaining among the most inaccessible on the island. In their largest town,
Accompong
Accompong (from the Akan name '' Acheampong'') is a historical Maroon village located in the hills of St. Elizabeth Parish on the island of Jamaica. It is located in Cockpit Country, where Jamaican Maroons and indigenous Taíno established a for ...
, in the
parish of St Elizabeth, the Leeward Maroons still possess a vibrant community of about 600. Tours of the village are offered to foreigners and a large festival is put on every January 6 to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty with the British after the
First Maroon War
The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by self-liberated Africans who set up communities i ...
.
In the plantation colony of
Suriname, which England ceded to the Netherlands in the
Treaty of Breda (1667)
The Peace of Breda, or Treaty of Breda was signed in the Dutch city of Breda, on 31 July 1667. It consisted of three separate treaties between England and each of its opponents in the Second Anglo-Dutch War: the Dutch Republic, France, and Denma ...
, escaped slaves revolted and started to build their villages from the end of the 17th century. As most of the plantations existed in the eastern part of the country, near the
Commewijne River and
Marowijne River
The Maroni or Marowijne (french: link=no, Maroni, nl, Marowijne, Sranan Tongo: ''Marwina-Liba'') is a river in South America that forms the border between French Guiana and Suriname.
Course
The Maroni runs through the Guianan moist fores ...
, the ''Marronage'' () took place along the river borders and sometimes across the borders of
French Guiana. By 1740, the maroons had formed clans and felt strong enough to challenge the Dutch colonists, forcing them to sign peace treaties. On October 10, 1760, the
Ndyuka signed such a treaty, drafted by Adyáko Benti Basiton of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, a formerly enslaved African from Jamaica who had learned to read and write and knew about the Jamaican treaty. The treaty is still important, as it defines the territorial rights of the Maroons in the
gold-rich inlands of Suriname.
Culture
![Maroon village, Suriname River, 1955](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Maroon_village%2C_Suriname_River%2C_1955.jpg)
Slaves escaped frequently within the first generation of their arrival from Africa and often preserved their
African languages
The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families:
* Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Souther ...
and much of their culture and
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
. African traditions included such things as the use of certain medicinal herbs together with special drums and dances when the herbs are administered to a sick person. Other African healing traditions and rites have survived through the centuries.
The
jungles around the
Caribbean Sea offered food, shelter, and isolation for the escaped slaves. Maroons sustained themselves by growing vegetables and hunting. Their survival depended upon their cultures, and their military abilities, using guerrilla tactics and heavily fortified dwellings involving traps and diversions. Some defined leaving the community as desertion and therefore punishable by death.
They also originally raided plantations. During these attacks, the maroons would burn crops, steal livestock and tools, kill slavemasters, and invite other slaves to join their communities. Individual groups of maroons often allied themselves with the local
indigenous tribes and occasionally assimilated into these populations. Maroons played an important role in the histories of
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Suriname,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
,
Haiti,
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
,
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 ...
, and
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 ...
.
There is much variety among maroon
cultural groups because of differences in history, geography, African nationality, and the culture of indigenous people throughout the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...
.
Maroon settlements often possessed a clannish, outsider identity. They sometimes developed
Creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...
s by mixing European tongues with their original African languages. One such maroon
creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...
, in Suriname, is
Saramaccan
Saramaccan () is a creole language spoken by about 58,000 ethnic African people near the Saramacca and the upper Suriname River, as well as in Paramaribo, capital of Suriname (formerly also known as Dutch Guiana). The language also has 25,000 s ...
. At other times, the maroons would adopt variations of a local European language (
creolization
Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ne ...
) as a common tongue, for members of the community frequently spoke a variety of mother tongues.
The maroons created their own independent communities, which in some cases have survived for centuries, and until recently remained separate from mainstream society. In the 19th and 20th centuries, maroon communities began to disappear as forests were razed, although some countries, such as
Guyana and Suriname, still have large maroon populations living in the forests. Recently, many of them moved to cities and towns as the process of
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
accelerates.
Types of maroons
A typical maroon community in the early stage usually consists of three types of people.
* Most of them were slaves who ran away directly after they got off the ships. They refused to surrender their freedom and often tried to find ways to go back to Africa.
*The second group were slaves who had been working on plantations for a while. Those slaves were usually somewhat adjusted to the slave system but had been abused by the plantation owners – often with excessive brutality. Others ran away when they were being sold suddenly to a new owner.
*The last group of maroons were usually skilled slaves with particularly strong opposition to the slave system.
Relationship with colonial governments
Maroonage was a constant threat to New World plantation societies. Punishments for recaptured maroons were severe, like removing the
Achilles tendon, amputating a leg,
castration, and being roasted to death.
Maroon communities had to be inaccessible and were located in inhospitable environments to be sustainable. For example, maroon communities were established in remote swamps in the
southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
; in deep canyons with sinkholes but little water or fertile soil in Jamaica; and in deep jungles of
the Guianas.
Maroon communities turned the severity of their environments to their advantage to hide and defend their communities. Disguised pathways, false trails, booby traps, underwater paths, quagmires and quicksand, and natural features were all used to conceal maroon villages.
Maroons utilised exemplary guerrilla warfare skills to fight their European enemies.
Nanny
A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
, the famous Jamaican maroon, developed
guerrilla warfare tactics that are still used today by many militaries around the world. European troops used strict and established strategies while maroons attacked and retracted quickly, used ambush tactics, and fought when and where they wanted to.
Even though colonial governments were in a perpetual state of hatred toward the maroon communities, individuals in the colonial system traded goods and services with them.
Maroons also traded with isolated white settlers and Native American communities. Maroon communities played interest groups off of one another.
At the same time, maroon communities were also used as pawns when colonial powers clashed.
Absolute secrecy and loyalty of members were crucial to the survival of maroon communities. To ensure this loyalty, maroon communities used severe methods to protect against desertion and spies. New members were brought to communities by way of detours so they could not find their way back and served probationary periods, often as slaves. Crimes such as desertion and adultery were punishable by death.
Geographical distribution
Africa
Mauritius
Under governor
Adriaan van der Stel in 1642 the early Dutch settlers of the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
brought 105 slaves from Madagascar and parts of Asia to work for them in
Dutch Mauritius. However 52 of these first slaves, including women, escaped in the wilderness of
Dutch Mauritius. Only 18 of these escapees were caught. On 18 June 1695 a gang of maroons of Indonesian and Chinese origins, including Aaron d'Amboine, Antoni (Bamboes) and Paul de Batavia, as well as female escapees Anna du Bengale and Espérance, set fire to the Dutch settlers' Fort Frederick Hendryk (
Vieux Grand Port Vieux Grand Port is a town in the Grand Port District
Grand Port () is a district of Mauritius, situated in the east of the island. The name means "large port" in French. The district has an area of 260.3 km2 and the population estimate was ...
) in an attempt to take over control of the island. They were all caught and decapitated. In February 1706 another revolt was organised by the remaining maroons as well as disgruntled slaves. When the Dutch abandoned
Dutch Mauritius in 1710 the maroons stayed behind.
When representatives of the
French East India Company landed on the island in 1715 they also had to face attacks by the Mauritian maroons. Significant events were the 1724 assault on a military outpost in Savannah district, as well as the attack on a military barrack in 1732 at Poste de Flacq. Several deaths resulted from such attacks. Soon after his arrival in 1735,
Mahé de La Bourdonnais assembled and equipped French militia groups made of both civilians and soldiers to fight against the maroons. In 1739 maroon leader Sans Souci was captured near Flacq and was burnt alive by the French settlers. A few years later a group of French settlers gave chase to Barbe Blanche, another maroon leader, but lost track of him at
Le Morne
Le Morne Brabant is a peninsula at the extreme southwestern tip of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius on the western side of the island. It is highlighted by an eponymous basaltic monolith with a summit above sea level. The summit covers an are ...
. Other maroons included Diamamouve and Madame Françoise.
Réunion
The most important maroons on
Réunion were Cimendef, Cotte, Dimitile and Maffate.
North America
Canada
= Nova Scotia
=
In the 1790s, about 600
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 ...
were deported to British settlements in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, where
American slaves who had escaped from the United States were also resettled. Being unhappy with conditions, in 1800, a majority emigrated to what is now
Sierra Leone in Africa.
Caribbean
= Cuba
=
In
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 ...
, escaped slaves joined refugee
Taínos in the mountains to form maroon communities.
In 1538, runaways helped the French to sack the city of
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. .
In 1731, slaves rose up in revolt at the Cobre mines, and set up an independent community at Sierra del Cobre, which existed untroubled until 1781, when the self-freed population had increased to over 1,000. In 1781, the Spanish colonial authorities agreed to recognise the freedom of the people of this community.
In 1797, one of the captured leaders of a
''palenque'' near
Jaruco was an Indian from the
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate mun ...
.
In the 1810s, Ventura Sanchez, also known as Coba, was in charge of a ''palenque'' of several hundred maroons in the mountains not far from
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over , and contains ...
. Sanchez was tricked into going to Santiago de Cuba, where he committed suicide rather than be captured and returned to slavery. The leadership of the palenque then passed to Manuel Grinan, also known as Gallo.
The ''palenque'' of Bumba was so well organised that they even sent maroons in small boats to Jamaica and Santo Domingo to trade. In 1830, the Spanish colonial authorities carried out military expeditions against the ''palenques'' of Bumba and Maluala. Antonio de Leon eventually succeeded in destroying the ''palenque'' of Bumba.
In the 1830s, ''palenques'' of maroon communities thrived in western Cuba, in particular the areas surrounding San Diego de Nunez. The Office of the Capture of Maroons reported that between 1797 and 1846, there were thousands of runaways living in these ''palenques''. However, the eastern mountains harboured the longer lasting ''palenques'', in particular those of Moa and Maluala, where the maroons thrived until the
First War of Independence in 1868, when large numbers of maroons joined the Cuban Liberation Army.
There are 28 identified archaeological sites in the
Viñales Valley
Viñales Valley ( es, Valle de Viñales) is a karstic depression in Cuba. The valley has an area of and is located in the Sierra de los Órganos mountains (part of Guaniguanico range), just north of Viñales in the Pinar del Río Province. In ...
related to runaway African slaves or maroons of the early 19th century; the material evidence of their presence is found in caves of the region, where groups settled for various lengths of time.
Oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...
tells that maroons took refuge on the slopes of the
mogotes and in the caves; the
Viñales Municipal Museum has archaeological exhibits that depict the life of runaway slaves, as deduced through archeological research. Cultural traditions reenacted during the ''Semana de la Cultura'' (Week of Culture) celebrate the town's founding in 1607.
= Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent
=
Similar maroon communities developed on islands across the Caribbean, such as those of the
Garifuna people on
Saint Vincent. Many of the Garifuna were deported to the American mainland, where some eventually settled along the
Mosquito Coast or in
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
. From their original landing place in
Roatan Island off the coast of
Honduras, the maroons moved to
Trujillo. Gradually groups migrated south into the
Miskito Kingdom and north into Belize.
In
Dominica, escaped slaves joined indigenous
Kalinago in the island's densely forested interior to create maroon communities, which were constantly in conflict with the British colonial authorities throughout the period of formal chattel slavery.
In the French colony of
Saint Lucia, maroons and fugitive
French Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army (french: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipme ...
soldiers formed the so-called , which comprised about 6,000 men who fought the
First Brigand War against the British who had recently occupied the island.
Led by the French Commissioner, Gaspard Goyrand,
they succeeded in taking back control of most of the island from the British, but on 26 May 1796, their forces defending the fort at
Morne Fortune, about 2,000 men surrendered to a British division under the command of General John Moore.
After the capitulation, over 2,500 French and Afro-Caribbean prisoners of war as well as ninety-nine women and children, were transported from St. Lucia to
Portchester Castle. They were eventually sent to France in a
prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange.
Geneva Conventions
Under the Geneva Conven ...
; some remained in Europe while others returned to France.
= Dominican Republic
=
American ''marronage'' began in Spain's colony on the island of
Hispaniola. Governor
Nicolás de Ovando was already complaining of escaped slaves and their interactions with the
Taíno Indians by 1503. The first slave rebellion occurred in Hispaniola on the sugar plantations owned by Admiral
Diego Columbus, on 26 December 1522, and was brutally crushed by the Admiral.
Maroons joined the natives in their wars against the Spanish and hid with the rebel chieftain Enriquillo in the
Bahoruco Mountains. When Archdeacon Alonso de Castro toured Hispaniola in 1542, he estimated the maroon population at 2,000–3,000 persons.
= Haiti
=
The French encountered many forms of slave resistance during the 17th and 18th centuries, in
Saint Domingue, which later came to be called
Haiti. Formerly enslaved Africans who fled to remote mountainous areas were called ''marron'' (
French) or ''mawon'' (
Haitian Creole), meaning 'escaped slave'. The maroons formed close-knit communities that practised
small-scale agriculture
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...
and hunting. They were known to return to plantations to free family members and friends. On a few occasions, they also joined the
Taíno settlements, who had escaped the Spanish in the 17th century. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, there were a large number of maroons living in the
Bahoruco mountains. In 1702, a French expedition against them killed three maroons and captured 11, but over 30 evaded capture, and retreated further into the mountainous forests. Further expeditions were carried out against them with limited success, though they did succeed in capturing one of their leaders, Michel, in 1719. In subsequent expeditions, in 1728 and 1733, French forces captured 46 and 32 maroons respectively. No matter how many detachments were sent against these maroons, they continued to attract runaways. Expeditions in 1740, 1742, 1746, 1757 and 1761 had minor successes against these maroons, but failed to destroy their hideaways.
In 1776–1777, a joint French–Spanish expedition ventured into the border regions of the Bahoruco mountains, with the intention of destroying the maroon settlements there. However, the maroons had been alerted of their coming, and had abandoned their villages and caves, retreating further into the mountainous forests where they could not be found. The detachment eventually returned, unsuccessful and having lost many soldiers to illness and desertion. In the years that followed, the maroons attacked a number of settlements, including Fond-Parisien, for food, weapons, gunpowder and women. It was on one of these excursions that one of the maroon leaders, Kebinda, who had been born in freedom in the mountains, was captured. He later died in captivity.
In 1782, de Saint-Larry decided to offer peace terms to one of the maroon leaders, Santiago, granting them freedom in return for which they would hunt all further runaways and return them to their owners. Eventually, at the end of 1785, terms were agreed, and the more than 100 maroons under Santiago's command stopped making incursions into French colonial territory.
Other slave resistance efforts against the French plantation system were more direct. The maroon leader
Mackandal led a movement to poison the drinking water of the plantation owners in the 1750s.
Boukman declared war on the French plantation owners in 1791, setting off the
Haitian Revolution. A statue called the ''
Le Nègre Marron'' or the ''Nèg Mawon'' is an iconic bronze bust that was erected in the heart of
Port-au-Prince to commemorate the role of maroons in Haitian independence.
= Jamaica
=
People who escaped from slavery during the Spanish occupation of the island of Jamaica fled to the interior and joined the
Taíno living there, forming refugee communities. Later, many of them gained freedom during the confusion surrounding the 1655 English
Invasion of Jamaica.
Some refugee slaves continued to join them through the decades until the abolition of slavery in 1838, but in the main, after the signing of the treaties of 1739 and 1740, the Maroons hunted runaway slaves in return for payment from the British colonial authorities.
During the late 17th and 18th centuries, the British tried to capture the maroons because they occasionally raided
plantations, and made expansion into the interior more difficult. An increase in armed confrontations over decades led to the
First Maroon War
The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by self-liberated Africans who set up communities i ...
in the 1730s, but the British were unable to defeat the maroons. They finally settled with the groups by treaty in 1739 and 1740, allowing them to have autonomy in their communities in exchange for agreeing to be called to military service with the colonists if needed. Certain maroon factions became so formidable that they made treaties with local colonial authorities,
sometimes negotiating their independence in exchange for helping to hunt down other slaves who escaped.
Due to tensions and repeated conflicts with maroons from
Trelawny Town, the
Second Maroon War erupted in 1795. After the governor tricked the Trelawny Maroons into surrendering, the colonial government deported approximately 600 captive maroons to
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
. Due to their difficulties and those of
Black Loyalists settled at Nova Scotia and England after the American Revolution, Great Britain established a colony in
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
,
Sierra Leone. It offered ethnic Africans a chance to set up their community there, beginning in 1792. Around 1800, several hundred
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 ...
were transported to
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...
, the first settlement of
Sierra Leone. Eventually, in the 1840s, about 200 Trelawny Maroons returned to Jamaica, and settled in the village of Flagstaff in the
parish of St James, not far from Trelawny Town, which is now named
Maroon Town, Jamaica
Maroon Town is a settlement in Jamaica. It has a population of 3122 as of 2009.
Geography and economy
Maroon Town is located in the conical Cockpit Country that spans parts of the parishes of St. James, St. Elizabeth and Trelawny. Located in Sa ...
.
The only Leeward Maroon settlement that retained formal autonomy in Jamaica after the Second Maroon War was
Accompong
Accompong (from the Akan name '' Acheampong'') is a historical Maroon village located in the hills of St. Elizabeth Parish on the island of Jamaica. It is located in Cockpit Country, where Jamaican Maroons and indigenous Taíno established a for ...
, in
Saint Elizabeth Parish
Saint Elizabeth, one of Jamaica's largest parishes, is located in the southwest of the island, in the county of Cornwall. Its capital, Black River, is located at the mouth of the Black River, the widest on the island.
History
Saint Elizabe ...
, whose people had abided by their 1739 treaty with the British. A Windward Maroon community is also located at
Charles Town, Jamaica
Charles Town is one of four official towns of the Jamaican Maroons. It is located on Buff Bay River in Portland Parish."The Charles Town Maroons today", Jamaica Observer 12 November 2018 http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/observer-north-east/the-charle ...
, on
Buff Bay River in
Portland Parish. Another is at
Moore Town (formerly Nanny Town), also in the parish of Portland. In 2005, the music of the Moore Town Maroons was declared by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as a 'Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.'
A fourth community is at
Scott's Hall, Jamaica Scott's Hall is one of the four official towns of the Jamaican Maroons. It is located in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica.
Scott's Hall is one of the towns belonging to the Windward Maroons, which are situated along the Blue Mountains (Jamaica). While Mo ...
, in the parish of St Mary.
Accompong's autonomy was ratified by the government of Jamaica when the island gained independence in 1962.
The government has tried to encourage the survival of the other maroon settlements. The Jamaican government and the maroon communities organised the Annual International Maroon Conference, initially to be held at rotating communities around the island, but the conference has been held at Charles Town since 2009.
Maroons from other Caribbean, Central, and South America nations are invited. In 2016, Accompong's colonel and a delegation traveled to the
Kingdom of Ashanti in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
to renew ties with the
Akan Akan may refer to:
People and languages
*Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
*Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people
*Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan
* Central Tano languages, a language group ...
and Asante people of their ancestors.
["Historical Meeting Between The Kingdom Of Ashanti And The Accompong Maroons In Jamaica"](_blank)
''Modern Ghana,'' 2 May 2016
= Puerto Rico
=
In
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
,
Taíno families from neighboring
Utuado moved into the southwestern mountain ranges, along with escaped African slaves who intermarried with them. The DNA analysis of contemporary persons from this area shows maternal ancestry from the
Mandinka,
Wolof
Wolof or Wollof may refer to:
* Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mal ...
, and
Fulani
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...
peoples through the
mtDNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...
African
haplotype associated with them yet also carried at low frequencies by Spaniards,
L1b, which is present here. This was carried by African slaves who escaped from plantations around
Ponce and formed communities with the
Arawak
The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...
(
Taíno and
Kalinago) in the mountains.
Arawak
The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...
lineages (
Taíno people
The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the pri ...
represented within
haplogroups A and
Kalinago people represented within
haplogroups C) can also be found in this area.
Central America
= Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua
=
Several different maroon societies developed around the
Gulf of Honduras
The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km (125 miles) from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras. ...
. Some were found in the interior of modern-day
Honduras, along the trade routes by which
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
mined on the Pacific side of the
isthmus
An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...
was carried by slaves down to coastal towns such as
Trujillo or
Puerto Caballos
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
* El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
* Puerto Colombia, Colombia
* Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
* Puerto Galera, O ...
to be shipped to Europe. When slaves escaped, they went to the mountains for safety. In 1548, in what is now Honduras, slaves in San Pedro rebelled, led by a self-freed slave named Miguel, who set up his own capital. The Spaniards had to send in reinforcements to put down the revolt.
In 1648, the English bishop of Guatemala,
Thomas Gage
General Thomas Gage (10 March 1718/192 April 1787) was a British Army general officer and colonial official best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as British commander-in-chief in the early days of th ...
, reported active bands of maroons numbering in the hundreds along these routes.
The
Miskito Sambu The Miskito Sambu, also known simply as the Miskito, are an ethnic group of mixed cultural ancestry (African- Indigenous American) occupying a portion of the Caribbean coast of Central America (particularly on the Atlantic coasts of Honduras and Ni ...
were a maroon group who formed from slaves who revolted on a Portuguese ship around 1640, wrecking the vessel on the coast of Honduras-Nicaragua and escaping into the interior. They intermarried with the indigenous people over the next half-century. They eventually rose to leadership of the
Mosquito Coast and led extensive slave raids against Spanish-held territories in the first half of the 18th century.
The
Garifuna
The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian ...
are descendants of maroon communities that developed on the island of
Saint Vincent. They were deported to the coast of Honduras in 1797.
= Panama
=
Bayano
Bayano, also known as Ballano or Vaino, was an African enslaved by Spaniards who led the biggest slave revolts of 16th century Panama. Captured from the Yoruba community in West Africa, it has been argued that his name means ''idol''. Different ...
, a
Mandinka man who had been enslaved and taken to Panama in 1552, led a rebellion that year against the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
in Panama. He and his followers escaped to found villages in the lowlands. Viceroy Canete felt unable to subdue these maroons, so he offered them terms that entailed a recognition of their freedom, provided they refused to admit any newcomers and returned runaways to their owners.
Later these people, known as the ''
Cimarrón'', assisted Sir
Francis Drake in fighting against the Spanish.
Mexico
Gaspar Yanga
Established and achieved self-government for a maroon colony of freed Africans.
Gaspar Yanga—often simply Yanga or Nyanga (May 14, 1545 - 1618) was an African leader of a Maroon colony in the
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
highlands in what is now
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. It is believed Yanga had been a fugitive since the early 1570s, and was the leader of a formidable group of maroons.
In 1609, Captain Pedro Gonzalo de Herrera lad an expedition against Yanga and his maroons, but despite severe casualties on both sides, neither emerged the victor. Instead, Yanga negotiated with the Spanish colonists to establish a self-ruled maroon settlement called San Lorenzo de los Negros (later renamed
Yanga). Yanga secured recognition of the freedom of his maroons, and 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 ...
'' was accorded the status of a free town. In return, Yanga was required to return any further runaways to the Spanish colonial authorities.
The
Costa Chica of Guerrero
The Costa Chica of Guerrero (Spanish for “small coast of Guerrero") is an area along the south coast of the state of Guerrero, Mexico, extending from just south of Acapulco to the Oaxaca border. Geographically, it consists of part of the Sierra ...
and
of Oaxaca include many hard-to-access areas that also provided refuge for slaves escaping Spanish ranches and estates on the Pacific coast. Evidence of these communities can be found in the
Afro-Mexican
Afro-Mexicans ( es, afromexicanos), also known as Black Mexicans ( es, mexicanos negros), are Mexicans who have heritage from sub-Saharan Africa and identify as such. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both ...
population of the region.
Other Afro-Mexican communities descended from people who escaped slavery are found in Veracruz and in Northern Mexico; some of the later communities were populated by people who escaped slavery in the United States via the
Southern Underground Railroad.
United States
= Florida
=
Maroons who escaped from the
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
and allied with
Seminole Indians
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...
were one of the largest and most successful maroon communities in what is now Florida due to more rights and freedoms granted by the Spanish Empire. Some intermarried and were culturally Seminole; others maintained a more African culture. Descendants of those who were removed with the Seminole to
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
in the 1830s are recognised as
Black Seminoles
The Black Seminoles, or Afro-Seminoles are Native American-Africans associated with the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma. They are mostly blood descendants of the Seminole people, free Africans, and escaped slaves, who allied with Seminole ...
. Many were formerly part of the
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest of the three federally recognized Seminole governments, which include the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the M ...
, but have been excluded since the late 20th century by new membership rules that require proving Native American descent from historic documents.
= Illinois
=
Lakeview was established as a
Freedmen's town
In the United States, a freedmen's town was an African American municipality or community built by freedmen, former slaves who were emancipated during and after the American Civil War. These towns emerged in a number of states, most notably Texas ...
by a group of African-American
runaway slaves
In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called free ...
and
freedmen
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...
who immigrated from
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
shortly after the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. They arrived between 1818 and 1820. This area was ideal for the remaining
Native Americans who lived, hunted, fished, and farmed this region and the black community integrated with the Amerindians.
= Louisiana
=
Until the mid-1760s, maroon colonies lined the shores of
Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne (french: Lac Borgne, es, Lago Borgne) is a lagoon of the Gulf of Mexico in southeastern Louisiana. Although early maps show it as a lake surrounded by land, coastal erosion has made it an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes fro ...
, just downriver of
, Louisiana. These fugitive slaves controlled many of the
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
s and back-country passages from
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...
to
the Gulf, including the
Rigolets
Rigolets is a 12.9 kilometer (8 mi) long deepwater strait in Louisiana. "Rigolets" comes from the word ''rigole'', French language, French for 'trench' or 'gutter'. The name is now locally pronounced "RIG-uh-leez".
The strait begins at and ...
. These colonies were eventually eradicated by militia from Spanish-controlled New Orleans led by
Francisco Bouligny
Francisco Domingo Joseph Bouligny y Paret (; 4 September 1736 – 25 November 1800) was a high-ranking Spanish military and political figure in Spanish Louisiana. As a francophone in Spanish service, he was a bridge between Creole and French Lou ...
.
Free people of color aided in the capture of these fugitives.
= North Carolina and Virginia
=
The
Great Dismal Swamp maroons
The Great Dismal Swamp maroons were people who inhabited the swamplands of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina after escaping enslavement. Although conditions were harsh, research suggests that thousands lived there between a ...
inhabited the marshlands of the
Great Dismal Swamp
The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia indepe ...
in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
. Although conditions were harsh, research suggests that thousands lived there between about 1700 and the 1860s.
Robeson County, North Carolina
Robeson County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina and is its largest county by land area. Its county seat is and largest city is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in ...
was a place where Blacks, Native Americans, and even some outlaw whites lived together and intermingled producing a people of great genetic mixture.
South America
Brazil
One of the best-known ''
quilombo
A ''quilombo'' (; from the Kimbundu word , ) is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, and others sometimes called Carabali. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos, called quilombolas, were maroons, a term for es ...
s'' (maroon settlements) in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
was
Palmares (the Palm Nation), which was founded in the early 17th century. At its height, it had a population of over 30,000 free people and was ruled by King
Zumbi
Zumbi (1655 – November 20, 1695), also known as Zumbi dos Palmares (), was a Brazilian quilombola leader, being one of the pioneers of resistance to slavery of Africans by the Portuguese in colonial Brazil. He was also the last of the kings ...
. Palmares maintained its independent existence for almost a hundred years until it was conquered by the Portuguese in 1694.
Of the 10 major ''quilombos'' in colonial Brazil, seven were destroyed within two years of being formed. Four fell in the state of Bahia in 1632, 1636, 1646 and 1796. The other three met the same fate in Rio in 1650, Parahyba in 1731, and Piumhy in 1758.
One ''quilombo'' in Minas Gerais lasted from 1712–1719. Another, the "Carlota" of Mato Grosso, was wiped out after existing for 25 years, from 1770–1795.
There were also a number of smaller ''quilombos''. The first reported ''quilombo'' was in 1575 in Bahia. Another ''quilombo'' in Bahia was reported at the start of the 17th century. Between 1737 and 1787, a small ''quilombo'' thrived in the vicinity of São Paulo.
The region of Campo Grande and São Francisco was often populated with ''quilombos''. In 1741, Jean Ferreira organised an expedition against a ''quilombo'', but many runaways escaped capture. In 1746, a subsequent expedition captured 120 members of the ''quilombo''. In 1752, an expedition led by Pere Marcos was attacked by ''quilombo'' fighters, resulting in significant loss of life.
''Quilombos'' continued to form in the 19th century. In 1810, a ''quilombo'' was discovered at Linhares in the state of São Paulo. A decade later, another was found in Minas. In 1828, another ''quilombo'' was discovered at Cahuca, near Recife, and a year later an expedition was mounted against yet another at
Corcovado
Corcovado (korcovádo) which means "hunchback" in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a 710-metre (2,329 ft) granite peak located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park.
Corcovado hill lies just west of the c ...
, near Rio de Janeiro. In 1855, the Maravilha ''quilombo'' in Amazonas was destroyed.
The most famous ''quilombo'' was
Palmares, an independent, self-sustaining community near
Recife
That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15)
, image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg
, mapsize = 250px
, map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco
, pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...
, established in about 1600. Part of the reason for the massive size of Palmares was due to its location in Brazil — at the median point between the Atlantic Ocean and Guinea, an important area of the
African slave trade
Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Indian Ocean ...
. ''Quilombo dos Palmares'' was a self-sustaining community of escaped slaves from the Portuguese settlements in Brazil, "a region perhaps the size of Portugal in the hinterland of Bahia". At its height, Palmares had a population of over 30,000.
In 1612, the Portuguese tried in vain to take Palmares in an expedition that proved to be very costly. In 1640, a Dutch scouting mission found that the self-freed community of Palmares was spread over two settlements, with about 6,000 living in one location and another 5,000 in another. Dutch expeditions against Palmares in the 1640s were similarly unsuccessful. Between 1672 and 1694, Palmares withstood, on average, one Portuguese expedition nearly every year.
Ganga Zumba
Nganga Nzumbi () was the first leader of the massive runaway slave settlement of Quilombo dos Palmares, or Angola Janga, in the present-day state of Alagoas, Brazil. Zumba was enslaved and escaped bondage on a sugar plantation and eventually ro ...
and
Zumbi
Zumbi (1655 – November 20, 1695), also known as Zumbi dos Palmares (), was a Brazilian quilombola leader, being one of the pioneers of resistance to slavery of Africans by the Portuguese in colonial Brazil. He was also the last of the kings ...
are the two best-known warrior-leaders of Palmares which, after a history of conflict with first
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and then
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
authorities, finally fell to a Portuguese artillery assault in 1694.
Colombia
In 1529, in what is now Colombia, rebel slaves destroyed
Santa Marta
Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...
.
Escaped slaves established independent communities along the remote Pacific coast, outside of the reach of the colonial administration. At the start of the seventeenth century, a group of runaways had established a ''palenque'' on the outskirts of the
Magdalena River
The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...
. Eventually, in 1654, the governor of
Cartegena de Indias, Don Pedro Zapata, defeated and subdued this community of runaway maroons.
In what is now Colombia, in the district of
Popayán
Popayán () is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between the Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range. It has a population of 318,059 people, an area of 483 km2, is locate ...
, the ''palenque'' of Castillo was successfully established by runaway slaves. In 1732, the Spanish authorities tried to secure peace terms with the maroons of Castillo by inserting a clause requiring them to return runaways, but the rulers of Castillo rejected those terms. In 1745, the colonial authorities defeated Castillo, and over 200 African and Indian runaways surrendered.
The Caribbean coast still sees maroon communities like
San Basilio de Palenque
San Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio, often referred to by the locals simply as Palenke, is a Palenque village and corregimiento in the Municipality of Mahates, Bolivar in northern Colombia. Palenque was the first free African to ...
, where the creole
Palenquero
Palenquero (sometimes spelled Palenkero) or Palenque ( pln, Lengua) is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in Colombia. It is believed to be a mixture of Kikongo (a language spoken in central Africa in the current countries of Congo, DRC, Gab ...
language is spoken. This community began at the start of the seventeenth century, when
Benkos Biohó
Benkos Biohó (late 16th century — 1621), also known as Domingo Biohó was a Mandinka and South American leader who escaped from the slave port of Cartagena with ten others and founded San Basilio de Palenque, then known as the "village of th ...
led a group of about 30 runaways into the forests, and defeated attempts to subdue them. Biohó declared himself King Benkos, and his ''palenque'' of San Basilio attracted large numbers of runaways to join his community. His maroons defeated the first expedition sent against them, killing their leader Juan Gomez. The Spanish arrived at terms with Biohó, but later they captured him in 1619, accused him of plotting against the Spanish, and had him hanged.
But runaways continued to escape to freedom in San Basilio. In 1696, the colonial authorities subdued another rebellion there, and again between 1713 and 1717. Eventually, the Spanish agreed to peace terms with the ''palenque'' of San Basilio, and in 1772, this community of maroons was included within the Mahates district, as long they no longer accepted any further runaways.
Ecuador
In addition to escaped slaves, survivors from
shipwrecks formed independent communities along rivers of the northern coast and mingled with indigenous communities in areas beyond the reach of the colonial administration. Separate communities can be distinguished from the ''cantones'' Cojimies y Tababuela,
Esmeraldas,
Limones.
The Guianas
![Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 10024950 Portret van drie Marron mannen en een](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Tropenmuseum_Royal_Tropical_Institute_Objectnumber_10024950_Portret_van_drie_Marron_mannen_en_een.jpg)
Marronage was common in British, Dutch, and French Guiana, and today descendants of maroons account for about 15% of the current population of Suriname
and 22% in French Guiana. In the Guianas, escaped slaves, locally known as '
Bushinengue
Surinamese Maroons (Marrons or Businenge, meaning ''black people of the forest'') are the descendants of enslaved Africans that escaped from the plantations and settled in the inland of Suriname (Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana. The Surinamese ...
s', fled to the interior and joined with indigenous peoples and created several independent tribes, among them the
Saramaka
The Saramaka, Saamaka or Saramacca are one of six Maroon peoples (formerly called "Bush Negroes") in the Republic of Suriname and one of the Maroon peoples in French Guiana. In 2007, the Saramaka won a ruling by the Inter-American Court for ...
, the
Paramaka
The Paramaccan or Paramaka (French language, French: Pamak) are a Maroon people, Maroon tribe living in the forested interior of Suriname, mainly in the Paramacca resort, and the western border area of French Guiana. The Paramaccan signed a peace ...
, the
Ndyuka (Aukan), the
Kwinti
The Kwinti are a Maroon people, descendants of runaway African slaves, living in the forested interior of Suriname on the bank of the Coppename River, and the eponymous term for their language, which has fewer than 300 speakers. Their language i ...
, the
Aluku (Boni), and the
Matawai.
The Ndyuka were the first to sign a peace treaty offering them territorial autonomy in 1760.
In the 1770s, the Aluku also desired a peace treaty, but the
Society of Suriname
The Society of Suriname (Dutch: ''Sociëteit van Suriname'') was a Dutch private company, modelled on the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and set up on 21 May 1683 to profit from the management and defense of the Dutch Republic's colony of Surinam ...
started a war against them, resulting in a flight into French Guiana. The other tribes signed peace treaties with the Surinamese government, the Kwinti being the last in 1887. On 25 May 1891 the Aluku officially became French citizens.
After Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands, the old treaties with the Bushinengues were abrogated. By the 1980s the Bushinengues in Suriname had begun to fight for their land rights. Between 1986 and 1992,
the
Surinamese Interior War was waged by the
Jungle Commando
The Jungle Commando (formally known as the Suriname National Liberation Army) was a guerrilla commando group in Suriname. It was founded by Ronnie Brunswijk in 1986 to ensure equal rights for Suriname's minority Maroon population. The group was fo ...
, a
guerrilla group fighting for the rights of the maroon minority, against the military dictatorship of
Dési Bouterse
Desiré Delano "Dési" Bouterse (; born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese military officer, politician, convicted murderer and drug trafficker who served as President of Suriname from 2010 to 2020. From 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname's ''de fact ...
. In 2005, following a ruling by the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR or IACtHR) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a huma ...
, the Suriname government agreed to compensate survivors of the 1986
Moiwana
Moiwana is a Maroon village in the Marowijne district in the east of Suriname.
The village was the scene of the on November 29, 1986, during the Suriname Guerrilla War between the Surinamese military regime, headed by Dési Bouterse, and the Ju ...
village massacre, in which soldiers had slaughtered 39 unarmed Ndyuka people, mainly women and children.
On 13 June 2020,
Ronnie Brunswijk
Ronnie Brunswijk (; born 7 March 1961) is a Surinamese politician, businessman, footballer, convicted drug trafficker, former rebel leader, and the current Vice President of Suriname. Brunswijk served in the early 1980s as the personal bodyguard ...
was elected
Vice President of Suriname
The vice president of Suriname ( nl, Vicepresident van de Republiek Suriname) is the second-highest political position in Suriname, after the president. The president and the vice president are elected by the National Assembly for five-year ter ...
by acclamation in an
uncontested election
An uncontested election is an election in which the number of candidates is the same as or fewer than the number of places available for election, so that all candidates are guaranteed to be elected. An uncontested single-winner election is one w ...
. He was inaugurated on 16 July as the first Maroon in Suriname to serve as vice president.
In modern-day
Guyana, Dutch officials in 1744 conducted an expedition against encampments of at least 300 Maroons in the Northwest district of
Essequibo. The Dutch nailed severed hands of Maroons killed in the expedition to posts in the colony as a warning to other slaves.
In 1782, a French official in the region estimated there were more than 2,000 Maroons in the vicinity of
Berbice,
Demerara
Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state ...
, and Essequibo.
Venezuela
There were a number of rebellions of slaves throughout the history of the colony.
Through the region of
Barlovento, many free and escaped slaves founded communities, known as ''cumbes''. One of the most well-known of these settlements is
Curiepe, where the annual
Fiesta de San Juan is celebrated. Another was the ''cumbe'' of Ocoyta, led by runaway Guillermo Ribas, which reportedly engaged in a number of attacks on the neighbouring towns of
Chuspa and
Panaquire
Panaquire is a town in the state of Miranda, Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting o ...
. These Venezuelan maroons also traded in cocoa. Guillermo ran away in 1768, and formed a ''cumbe'' which included runaways of African and Indian origin.
The ''cumbe'' of Ocoyta was eventually destroyed in 1771. A military expedition led by German de Aguilera destroyed the settlement, killing Guillermo, but only succeeded in capturing eight adults and two children. The rest of the runaways withdrew into the surrounding forests, where they remained at large.
One of Guillermo's deputies, Ubaldo the Englishman, whose christened name was Jose Eduardo de la Luz Perera, was initially born a slave in London, sold to a ship captain, and took a number of trips before eventually being granted his freedom. He was one of a number of free black people who joined the community of Ocoyta. In 1772, he was captured by the Spanish authorities.
There were many ''cumbes'' in the interior of what later became Venezuela. In 1810, when the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List o ...
began, many members of these ''cumbes'' fought on the side of the rebels, and abandoned their villages.
See also
*
Slave catcher
In the United States a slave catcher was a person employed to track down and return escaped slaves to their enslavers. The first slave catchers in the Americas were active in European colonies in the West Indies during the sixteenth century. I ...
*
Slave rebellion
*
Afro-Latin American:
Latin Americans
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-et ...
of significant or mainly African ancestry.
*
Black Seminoles
The Black Seminoles, or Afro-Seminoles are Native American-Africans associated with the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma. They are mostly blood descendants of the Seminole people, free Africans, and escaped slaves, who allied with Seminole ...
: Indians associated with the
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...
people in Florida and Oklahoma.
*
Bushinengue
Surinamese Maroons (Marrons or Businenge, meaning ''black people of the forest'') are the descendants of enslaved Africans that escaped from the plantations and settled in the inland of Suriname (Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana. The Surinamese ...
s: in
French Guiana, meaning people of the forest, descendants of slaves who escaped enslavement and established independent communities in the forest.
*
Gaspar Yanga
Established and achieved self-government for a maroon colony of freed Africans.
Gaspar Yanga—often simply Yanga or Nyanga (May 14, 1545 - 1618) : an African known for being the leader of a maroon colony of slaves in New Spain.
*
Saramaka
The Saramaka, Saamaka or Saramacca are one of six Maroon peoples (formerly called "Bush Negroes") in the Republic of Suriname and one of the Maroon peoples in French Guiana. In 2007, the Saramaka won a ruling by the Inter-American Court for ...
: one of six Maroon peoples in the Republic of Suriname and one of the Maroon peoples in French Guiana.
*
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 ...
: one of the few countries where Maroon communities still exist.
* ''
Quilombo
A ''quilombo'' (; from the Kimbundu word , ) is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, and others sometimes called Carabali. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos, called quilombolas, were maroons, a term for es ...
'' a 1985 film about Quilombo dos Palmares, a fugitive community of escaped slaves and others, in colonial Brazil.
References
Sources
Literature
History of the Maroons*
Russell Banks
Russell Banks (born March 28, 1940) is an American writer of fiction and poetry. As a novelist, Banks is best known for his "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". His stories usua ...
(1980), ''The Book of Jamaica''.
* Campbell, Mavis Christine (1988), ''The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655–1796: a history of resistance, collaboration & betrayal'', Granby, Mass.: Bergin & Garvey.
* Corzo, Gabino La Rosa (2003), ''Runaway Slave Settlements in Cuba: Resistance and Repression'' (translated by Mary Todd), Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
*
Dallas, R. C. ''The History of the Maroons, from Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone''. 2 vols. London: Longman. 1803.
* De Granada, Germán (1970), ''Cimarronismo, palenques y Hablas "Criollas" en Hispanoamérica'' Instituto Caro y Cuero, Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia
OCLC 37821053(in Spanish)
* Diouf, Sylviane A. (2014), ''Slavery's Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons'', New York: NYU Press,
* Honychurch, Lennox (1995), ''The Dominica Story'', London: Macmillan. (Includes extensive chapters on the Maroons of Dominica)
* Hoogbergen, Wim S. M. Brill (1997), ''The Boni Maroon Wars in Suriname'', Academic Publishers.
* Learning, Hugo Prosper (1995), ''Hidden Americans: Maroons of Virginia and the Carolinas'' Garland Publishing, New York,
* Price, Richard (ed.) (1973), ''Maroon Societies: rebel slave communities in the Americas'', Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books.
* Thompson, Alvin O. (2006), ''Flight to Freedom: African runaways and maroons in the Americas'' University of West Indies Press, Kingston, Jamaica,
*
* van Velzen, H.U.E. Thoden and van Wetering, Wilhelmina (2004), ''In the Shadow of the Oracle: Religion as Politics in a Suriname Maroon Society'', Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press.
External links
* (The Maroons, Hindustanis and others of Surinam.)
* A good short history of the "Bush Negroes" of Suriname.
*
* (A history of Jamaican Maroons.)
*
*
''Black Prisoners of War at Porchester Castle''''Lands of Freedom: the oral histories and cultural heritage of the Matawai Maroons in Suriname''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maroon (People)
People of African descent
Ethnic groups in the Caribbean
Ethnic groups in Haiti
Ethnic groups in South America
Ethnic groups in Suriname
People of Saint-Domingue
People of the Colony of Santo Domingo
Pre-emancipation African-American history
Fugitive American slaves