Who led the First Maroon War?
It was led by self-liberated Africans who set up communities in the mountains. The name "Maroon" was given to these Africans, and for many years they fought the British colonial Government of Jamaica for their freedom. The maroons were skilled particularly in guerrilla warfare. It was followed about half a century later by the Second Maroon War .
When did the maroon rebellion start in Jamaica?
In 1735, over 100 Leeward Maroon warriors, led by Cudjoe, boldly conquered military barracks in western Jamaica. Ayscough died in office, and John Gregory became the new governor, and he immediately had to tackle the problem of Maroon attacks.
When did the Maroon War start and end?
First Maroon War. Jump to navigation Jump to search. 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 followed about half a century later by the Second Maroon War.
Who were the Leeward Maroons?
In 1673, a revolt of 200 slaves in St. Ann Parish created a separate group, the Leeward Maroons. These Maroons united with a group of Malagasy people who had survived a shipwreck and formed their own maroon community in the parish of St. George in northeastern Jamaica. Several more rebellions strengthened the numbers of this Leeward group.
Who was the leader of the Maroons?
Queen Nanny, Granny Nanny or Nanny of the Maroons ONH (c. 1686 – c. 1733), was an 18th-century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons.
Who was the leader of the First Maroon War?
In 1739, the colonial militia signed the first treaty with the Leeward Maroon leader, Cudjoe, who for years fought to maintain his people's independence.
Who led the Second Maroon war?
When six Maroon leaders, led by Montague James and including Major Jarrett, came to the British to present their grievances, the British took them as prisoners.
Who started the Maroons?
Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who formed settlements away from slavery. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos.
Why are they called Maroons?
The Maroons were escaped slaves. They ran away from their Spanish-owned plantations when the British took the Caribbean island of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The word maroon comes from the Spanish word 'cimarrones', which meant 'mountaineers'.
Do Maroons still exist?
Maroons in the 21st century Today, the four official Maroon towns still in existence in Jamaica are Accompong Town, Moore Town, Charles Town and Scott's Hall. They hold lands allotted to them in the 1739–1740 treaties with the British.
How long did the first Maroons fight last?
�Maroon oral history suggests that The First Maroon War as it is called began around 1655, spanning approximately 84 years, while records from the colonial archives suggest that its duration was about 10 years (Dunkley 2013, p. 154).
When was the First Maroon War?
1655 – 1740First Maroon War / Period
Why did the Maroon wars start?
Small revolts had broken out on Jamaica's north coast in 1694,1702, and 1704. Runaways fleeing from the repression that followed these revolts then attempted to hide with other ex-slaves in the mountains. This activity set the stage for the Maroon Wars of 1720 to 1739.
What language do Maroons speak?
Jamaican Maroon language, Maroon Spirit language, Kromanti, Jamaican Maroon Creole or Deep patwa is a ritual language and formerly mother tongue of Jamaican Maroons. It is an English-based creole with a strong Akan component, specifically from the Fante dialect of the Central Region of Ghana.
Who discovered Jamaica?
Christopher ColumbusOur documented history begins when Christopher Columbus first came to Jamaica in May of 1494.
What does the word Maroon mean?
An idiotmaroon (plural maroons) (slang, derogatory) An idiot; a fool. quotations ▼synonyms ▲ Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot.
When was the First Maroon War?
1655 – 1740First Maroon War / Period
Why did the 1st Maroon war start?
Edward argues that the primary cause of the first Maroon war was that the white Planters and the members of the militia were becoming more aggressive towards the Maroons.
What happened to the Maroons led by Colonel Cudjoe?
After waging a fifteen-year war on the island of Jamaica, what happened to the Maroons led by Colonel Cudjoe? They received recognition of their right to live independently in their own towns. women's productive and reproductive labors were highly valued in West African society.
How long did the first Maroons fight last?
�Maroon oral history suggests that The First Maroon War as it is called began around 1655, spanning approximately 84 years, while records from the colonial archives suggest that its duration was about 10 years (Dunkley 2013, p. 154).
When did the Maroons kill the whites?
A week later, on August 22, 1791, the northern maroons set their plan in motion and killed all whites whom they encountered, setting fire to many of the plantations on the island. Boukman would meet his demise when the French captured and beheaded him.
What is the maroon spirit?
It is widely believed that the maroon spirit has sustained African people’s willingness and ability to resist and revolt against all forms of oppression, then and now.
Why do Jamaican Maroons celebrate Kojo?
Each year at 10 a.m. on his birthday, January 6, the maroons meet at the Kindah Tree to renew their traditional rites and to honour their ancestors. The Kindah Tree is said to be sacred and symbolic of family unity in the community. There they prepare unsalted pork and ritually make their way to the Peace Cave, the site where the treaty was signed.
What was Queen Nanni's bunker town?
During this time, they raided and destroyed Nanni Town, the bunker town she had established at Jamaica’s highest vantage point, atop the Blue Mountains, with the Stony and Nanny Rivers flowing through it. The town was guarded by armed sentinels, who used the abeng, the side-blown horn that came to symbolize the Jamaican maroons, to communicate with the troops.
Which group fought the most slave rebellions in the West?
Historically, two major groups inhabited either side of the Caribbean island, the Windward Maroons of the East and the Leeward Maroons of the West. They were led by Queen Nanni (Nanny) and Kojo, respectively.
Who is the most consequential military figure in Jamaican history?
Although they both fought valiantly and although the written history of the maroons is almost totally dominated by male figures, it is Queen Nanni who is arguably the most consequential military figure in Jamaican maroon history, in that she successfully united all the maroons of the island. So monumental and superhuman were the accomplishments ...
Who led the Haitian revolt?
Haiti was home to two of the largest such insurrections. One such was the six-year rebellion led by François Mackandal, a Guinean Vodun priest.
Where was the Maroon Rebellion located?
Led principally by Augustin Dieufort and supported by Bastienne Josèphe, the madame of La Dame en Rose, the Maroons were based in a coastal cavern located south west of Port-au-Prince .
Who rescued the Maroon hideout?
In 1735, the Maroon hideout was located by a number of overseers, who proceeded to attack the hidden base in an attempt to wipe out the former slaves. The slaves were rescued by Adéwalé, an Assassin who had been recruited by Bastienne to provide the resistance with some assistance, who managed to eliminate the Overseers before they could escape with knowledge of the hideout's location.
Where were the Maroons based?
Led principally by Augustin Dieufort and supported by Bastienne Josèphe, the madame of La Dame en Rose, the Maroons were based in a coastal cavern located south west of Port-au-Prince .
Who was the Assassin of the Haitian Revolution?
Decades later, during the 1790s, the Assassin Eseosa, the grandson of Adéwalé and Bastienne, played a significant role in the Haitian Revolution against their French masters who, distracted with their war in Europe, eventually surrendered control of the island to the slaves, handing them their freedom.
Who was the governor of Port-au-Prince during the Rebellion?
Over the next two years, the rebellion grew in strength and power; liberated slaves from both the slave ships and those sugar plantations attacked by the Assassin joined the rebellion, until it became clear to Pierre de Fayet, the Governor of Port-au-Prince, that things were getting out of hand.
What did De Fayet do to the slaves?
Aware that the rebels were liberating slave ships, De Fayet gave orders to sink any vessel that the Experto Crede attempted to liberate . One such act took place in 1737, leading to the deaths of hundreds of slaves and, nearly, Adéwalé's own. Determined that De Fayet should pay, the Assassin resolved to kill the governor.
What was the Maroon Rebellion?
The Maroon Rebellion (1731-1740) was a series of uprisings across the Caribbean by the maroons (coming from the Spanish word "cimarron", meaning a fugitive, runaway, or feral animal) against the major colonial powers of Great Britain, France, and Spain. The maroons were runaway plantation slaves who fought for independence against their slavers, fighting on both land and sea.
Where did the Maroons fight?
Starting in 1665, the " maroons " (coming from the Spanish word for "runaway", "cimarron") fought against the rule of England over the island of Jamaica. The Maroons would hide in easily-defended caves or ravines and would sound hunting horns whenever the British neared them; the Maroons ambushed the British army and held them off for nearly one hundred years.
What happened to the Maroons in 1735?
In 1735, after years of guerrilla fighting, the French located the maroons' main hideout on Saint-Domingue, and threatened to reveal their positions. The former quartermaster of pirate Edward Kenway Adewale rushed to the aid of the slave rebels and assassinated the Overseers who located the hideout, preventing them from notifying the French Army. Adewale linked up with Dieufort, and the two worked togehter; Adewale captured the French slave ship " Experto Crede ", and used it to attack French, Spanish, and British slaving ships in the Caribbean. Adewale gained crew members and maroon recruits by capturing slave ships, freeing slaves from caravans, and saving them from auctions.
Who ordered the French Navy to destroy all slave ships that Experto Crede intended to save?
In 1737, Governor De Fayet realized that the Maroons aimed to rescue slaves from slaving ships, so he ordered the French Navy to destroy all slave ships that "Experto Crede" intended to save, killing hundreds of slaves and nearly killing Adewale. Adewale and Dieufort planned to assassinate De Fayet, and they were able to kill him in Saint-Domingue, ironically with a branding iron.
How did the Southern public react to the Maroon Rebellion?
The Southern public reacted to the Maroon Rebellion with general outrage, horror, and panic. Fears of a nationwide slave rebellion led to lynchings throughout the Confederacy and demands for government officials to do take preventative measures. While President Hagood had entered office with popular support, public approval for him and the States’ Rights Democratic Party fell sharply with his management of the crisis.
What was the Maroons war?
In the United States, the general public rallied towards the Maroons, with many regarding the conflict as both a war of liberation and retribution against the South. Many Northern philanthropists took an interest in promotion of educational opportunities for Black people in the South, often coordinated by Booker T. Washington; many torpedo runners continued running munitions to the South, hoping to foment a slave rebellion.
Why did the Hagood administration want the Maroons extradited to the South?
Negotiations began with both sides unyielding: the Hagood administration demanded that the Maroons be extradited to the South to face punishment for waging war, as well as the return of the commandeered vessels; the Julian administration claimed that the Maroons were United States citizens and should be treated as such, and that John Mercer Langston and the rest of the Mallory Institute students be returned to the North.
What happened to the Maroons at Cedar Square?
The motive of the men is not entirely clear – likely to raid for supplies or attempt a rescue of one or more of the plantation’s slaves – but shots were exchanged and Gatling hit one of the men, who fled with the wounded man. Gatling alerted the local Home Guard, which organized and pursued them to the nearby Elmwood Plantation. The Maroons had taken refuge in the plantation’s freestanding kitchen, firing on the Home Guard and wounding two over the next several hours. Shortly after dawn, the Home Guard burned the kitchen with the men still inside and left to alert other local guardsmen and militia, fearing a slave rebellion.
Where did Gardner take the Maroons?
Following a short shootout with citizens of the city and the small contingent of the Home Guard, Gardner overwhelmed city's defenses, taking Mayor George M. Scott hostage. A company of Gardner's men overtook the shore-based battery of four guns at Cobb's Point, near the southeastern border of the town , to give cover for the Maroons as they made their way to the harbor and boarded several of the vessels.
Where did the word "maroon" come from?
The origin of the term "maroon" is uncertain, with competing theories linking it to Spanish, Arawak or Taino root words . The words "Maroon" and "Seminole" almost certainly share the same etymology in the Spanish word ‘’cimarrón,’’ meaning "wild" or "untamed". Maroons existed in all the Southern states; swamp-based maroon communities existed in the Deep South, while Maroon settlements in the Upper South were largely limited to Virginia and the Great Dismal Swamp. Maroons had begun to settle Great Dismal Swamp by the seventeenth century, forming their homes and camps on the relatively high and dry mesic islands, which could span several acres and host dozens of families and individuals. They often built cabins or longhouses on wooden posts to elevate them above the marsh and cultivated rice and grain fields, trading with other Maroon communities on neighboring islands and banding together for defense. Inhabitants included people who had purchased their freedom as well as those who had escaped. Others used the swamp as a waystation on the Underground Railroad.
Who was the governor of North Carolina when the Maroons were driven from the swamp?
Upon hearing of Beck's expedition, Governor Thomas Jordan Jarvis of North Carolina called up the state militia to drive the Maroons from the Great Dismal Swamp. He sent a telegram from Raleigh to Atlanta, notifying President Wade Hampton III and John Bratton, Secretary of War. Bratton sent General Micah Jenkins with two brigades to command, with the order to “clear the swamp” of the Maroons.
Who were the leaders of the Maroons?
At this time, the leaders who emerged in the Eastern Maroons were Quao and Queen Nanny. The Windward Maroons, in the wilder parts of eastern Jamaica, were always composed of separate highly mobile and culturally heterogeneous groups. It is possible that the runaway slaves from de Serras' group of Karmahaly Maroons formed the initial nucleus of the Windward Maroons. From early on, the Jamaican governors considered their settlements an impediment to English development of the interior. They ordered raids on the Maroon settlements in 1686 and 1702, to little effect.
Who was the ruler of the Western Maroons?
They established an Ashanti -style polity based in the western parts of the Cockpit Country, notably Cudjo e's Town (Trelawny Town); the most famous ruler of the Western Maroons was Cudjoe. They incorporated outsiders only after newcomers had satisfied a strict probationary period.
What was the first Maroon war?
The Windward Maroons and those from the Cockpit Country resisted conquest in the First Maroon War ( c. 1728 to 1740), which the government ended in 1739–1740 by making treaties to grant lands and to respect maroon autonomy, in exchange for peace and aiding the colonial militia if needed against external enemies.
Why did the Maroon population grow?
The Maroon towns grew in numbers at a time when the population of black slaves and white slave-holders alike declined from disease. One historian argues that this is due to the healthier environment of the Maroon towns.
What ethnic group escaped slavery?
WikiProject Ethnic groups may be able to help recruit an expert. (February 2009) Jamaican Maroons descend from maroons, Africans who escaped from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established free communities in the mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes.
How did the Maroons survive?
The other Maroon groups remained independent in the mountainous interior of Jamaica, surviving by subsistence farming and periodic raids of plantations. These initial Maroon groups faded from colonial history records, possibly migrating to more mountainous or remote regions of the interior. Others may have coalesced to form the nucleus of what would later be called the Windward Maroons. Over time, runaway slaves increased the Maroon population, which eventually came to control large areas of the Jamaican mountainous interior.
How did the Jamaican revolt affect the sugar industry?
The revolts had the effect of disrupting the sugar economy in Jamaica and making it less profitable. The revolts simmered down after the British government signed treaties with the Leeward Maroons in 1739 and the Windward Maroons in 1740, which required them to support the institution of slavery.
What was the name of the group of Maroons that dwindled?
These initial maroon groups dwindled, migrating or merging with settlers. Others may have coalesced to form the nucleus of what would later be called the Windward Maroons. Over time, runaway slaves increased the maroon population of the Jamaican mountainous interior.
When did the Jamaican governors raid the Maroon settlements?
They ordered raids on the Maroon settlements in 1686 and 1702, to little effect.
What are the Maroons in Jamaica?
In the 21 st century, the maroons in Jamaica are to a small extent autonomous and separate from Jamaican culture. Those of Accompong have preserved their land since 1739. The isolation used to their advantage by their ancestors has today resulted in their communities being amongst the most inaccessible on the island. The four official maroon towns still in existence in Jamaica are Accompong Town, Moore Town, Charles Town, and Scott's Hall. They hold lands allotted to them in the 1739–1740 treaties with the British. These maroons still maintain their traditional celebrations and practices, some of which have West African origin. Native Jamaicans and island tourists are allowed to attend many of these events. Others considered sacred are held in secret and shrouded in mystery. Singing, dancing, drum-playing, and preparation of traditional foods form a central part of most gatherings. In their largest town, Accompong, in the parish of St. Elizabeth, the Leeward Maroons have a vibrant community of about 600. Tours of the village are offered to foreigners. They hold a large festival annually on January 6 to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty with the British after the Maroon War.
What is the Maroons' largest town?
In their largest town, Accompong, in the parish of St. Elizabeth, the Leeward Maroons have a vibrant community of about 600. Tours of the village are offered to foreigners. They hold a large festival annually on January 6 to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty with the British after the Maroon War.
Where did the Maroons come from?
The Maroons are African decedents of the French and Spanish transatlantic slave trade. They inhabit the Caribbean. The term Maroon was derived via French from the Spanish word cimarrón, meaning "wild" or "untamed". This word usually referred to runaways, castaways, or the shipwrecked; those marooned probably would never return.
Who was the Spanish leader who led the British troops to the Spanish colony?
Faced with discovery and defeat in 1659, de Bolas allied with the British and guided their troops on a raid which resulted in the final expulsion of the Spanish in 1660. In exchange, in 1663, Governor Lyttleton signed the first maroon treaty, granting de Bolas and his people land on the same terms as British settlers.
Do maroons still celebrate?
These maroons still maintain their traditional celebrations and practice s, some of which have West African origin. Native Jamaicans and island tourists are allowed to attend many of these events. Others considered sacred are held in secret and shrouded in mystery.
Where did the Maroons escape?
The Maroons were escaped slaves. They ran away from their Spanish-owned plantations when the British took the Caribbean island of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The word maroon comes from the Spanish word ‘cimarrones ‘, which meant ‘mountaineers’. They fled to the mountainous areas of Jamaica, ...
What were the Maroons' goals?
The Maroons were to govern themselves. In return they would support the British government in Jamaica against foreign invasion and would help capture rebel slaves and runaways from the plantations and return them to their owners.
How long did the Maroons fight in Trelawney?
This started the Second Maroon War. 300 Maroons in Trelawney Town held out against 1500 troops and 3000 local volunteer troops. After five months of fighting, the undefeated Maroons were offered an agreement for peace.
Who was the new governor of Jamaica in 1795?
There were many years of peace between the Maroons and the British in Jamaica. But, in 1795, the new Governor of Jamaica, Balcarres, decided to deal with some minor breaches of the peace treaty by a community of Maroons called the Trelawney Town Maroons. The plantation owners asked the governor not to take action.