Cockpit Country
Cockpit Country is an area in Trelawny and Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Ann, Manchester and the northern tip of Clarendon parishes in Jamaica. The land is marked by steep-sided hollows, as much as deep in places, which are separated ...
of western
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 ...
. It is now a part of a district called
Aberdeen, Jamaica
Aberdeen is a location in Jamaica getting its name from the Aberdeen Estate. It is in Saint Elizabeth Parish.
History
The Aberdeen Estate was originally leased by Alexander Forbes from Alexander MacFarlane from 1736-55. Forbes was the white superi ...
, in the north-east section of
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 Elizabet ...
, and is not extinct, as was originally believed. From the Jamaican dialect, the village name translates in English as, 'If I don't send for you, don't come.'
Located at 430 metres above sea level, it was founded by runaway slaves escaping from estates in
Trelawny Parish
Trelawny (Jamaican Patois: ''Trilaani'' or ''Chrilaani'') is a parish in the county of Cornwall in northwest Jamaica. Its capital is Falmouth. It is bordered by the parishes of Saint Ann in the east, Saint James in the west, and Saint Eliza ...
at the start of the nineteenth century.
Origins
In 1812, a community of runaways started when a dozen men and some women escaped from the sugar plantations of Trelawny into the Cockpit Country, and they created a village named Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come. It is located near some cliffs and boasted fertile soils in its valleys. The unofficial maroon community 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 ...
grew from its start of less than 20 runaway slaves to a large village that supported 14 buildings with shingle roofs and wood floors, raised poultry, hogs and nearly two hundred acres of cultivated land, thickly planted with provisions.Sivapragasam, ''After the Treaties'', pp. 191–2.Mavis Campbell, ''The Maroons of Jamaica 1655–1796'' (Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey, 1988), p.159.
It is believed that runaway slaves who secured their freedom during the
Second Maroon War
The Second Maroon War of 1795–1796 was an eight-month conflict between the Maroons of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town), a Maroon settlement later re-named after Governor Edward Trelawny at the end of First Maroon War, located near Trelawny Par ...
, and had been a part of the community of
Cuffee
Cuffee, Cuffey, or Coffey is a first name and surname recorded in African-American culture, believed to be derived from the Akan language name Kofi, meaning "born on a Friday". This was noted as one of the most common male names of West Africa, ...
, joined Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come in succeeding years.
Conflict with colonial authorities
By the 1820s, Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come housed between 50 and 60 runaways. The headmen of the community were escaped slaves named Warren and Forbes. Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come also conducted a thriving trade with slaves from the north coast, who exchanged their salt provisions with the runaways for their ground provisions.
In October 1824, the colonial militias tried to destroy this maroon community. Some historians believe that the
Maroons
Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...
of
Accompong Town
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 fort ...
successfully crushed this runaway community.
However, recent research shows that these Maroons had limited success, because after they left Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come to return to Accompong Town, a number of the runaways returned to the village and rebuilt huts. The Accompong Maroons succeeded only in killing one man, and capturing two women and three children.
Legacy
The community of Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come continued to thrive in the Cockpit Country until Emancipation in the 1830s. It is located in the southwest corner of the Cockpit Country, which is called "The District of Look Behind," now a part of the Upper Aberdeen community, because the redcoats rode two to a horse, one man facing the rear and nervously scanning the trees.
Today, Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come is called Quickstep.
Jamaican poet