Jamaican Maroons are a group descended from Africans who freed themselves from slavery in 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 enslaved during Spanish rule over Jamaica (1493–1655) may have been the first to develop such refugee communities.
The English, who invaded the island in 1655, continued the importation of enslaved Africans to work on the island's sugar-cane plantations. Africans in Jamaica continually resisted enslavement, with many who freed themselves becoming maroons. The revolts disrupted the sugar economy in Jamaica and made it less profitable. The uprisings decreased after the British colonial authorities signed treaties with the Leeward Maroons in 1738 and the Windward Maroons in 1739. The importance of the Maroons to the colonial authorities declined after slavery was abolished in 1838.
The Windward Maroons and those from the Cockpit Country resisted conquest in the First Maroon War ( 1728 to 1740), which the colonial 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. The tension between Governor Alexander Lindsay and the majority of the Leeward Maroons resulted in the Second Maroon War from 1795 to 1796. Although the governor promised leniency if the maroons surrendered, he later betrayed them and, supported by the Assembly, insisted on deporting just under 600 Maroons to British settlements in Nova Scotia, where enslaved African Americans who escaped from the United States were also resettled. The deported Maroons were unhappy with conditions in Nova Scotia, and in 1800 about 600 left, having obtained passage to Freetown eight years after the Sierra Leone Company established it in West Africa (in present-day Sierra Leone) as a British colony., originally published by Longman & Dalhousie University Press (1976).Campbell, Mavis (1993), Back to Africa: George Ross and the Maroons (Trenton: Africa World Press), p. 48.Sivapragasam, Michael (2020), "The Returned Maroons of Trelawny Town", Navigating Crosscurrents: Trans-linguality, Trans-culturality and Trans-identification in the Dutch Caribbean and Beyond, ed. by Nicholas Faraclas, etc (Curacao/Puerto Rico: University of Curacao), p. 17.
Origins
The word "maroon" is 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. The etymology of the Spanish word cimarrón is unknown.
The term "Jamaican Maroons" refers to Africans who were stranded in Jamaica.
When the English invaded Jamaica in 1655, most Spanish colonists fled. Many of their slaves escaped and, together with free Black people and mulattoes, former slaves, and possibly Indigenous people as well,Sivapragasam, Michael (2018), After the Treaties: A Social, Economic and Demographic History of Maroon Society in Jamaica, 1739–1842 , PhD Dissertation, African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica library (Southampton: Southampton University), pp. 23–24.Agorsah, E. Kofi (1994), "Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica", Maroon Heritage: Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Perspectives, ed. E. Kofi Agorsah (Kingston: University of the West Indies Canoe Press), pp. 180–81. coalesced into a number of ethnically diverse groups in the Jamaican interior.
History Spanish Maroons Some Spanish Maroons created palenques, or stockaded mountain farms, first at Lluidas Vale, in modern-day Saint Catherine Parish, under Juan de Bolas (also known as Lubolo). Toward the western end of Cockpit Country were the "Varmahaly or Karmahaly Negroes" under the leadership of Juan de Serras. There was possibly a third group that was active in the region of Porus, in modern Manchester Parish; and a fourth in the Blue Mountains.Campbell (1988), The Maroons of Jamaica 1655–1796: a History of Resistance, Collaboration & Betrayal (Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey), pp. 25–26. During the first decade of English rule, these groups were active on behalf of the Spanish. But, as it became increasingly obvious that the British would hold their conquest, the group run by de Bolas changed its position.
Faced with discovery and defeat in 1659, de Bolas allied with the English and guided their troops on a raid which resulted in the final expulsion of the Spanish in 1660. In exchange, in 1663, Governor Sir Charles Lyttelton, 3rd Baronet, signed the first maroon treaty, granting de Bolas and his people land on the same terms as English settlers. The colonial authorities paid the men of de Bolas to hunt the supporters of de Serras and recent runaways.Carey, Bev (1997), The Maroon Story: The Authentic and Original History of the Maroons in the History of Jamaica 1490–1880 (Kingston, Jamaica: Agouti Press), p. 113. However, de Bolas was eventually killed in an ambush, probably by Maroons belonging to de Serras. While the Maroons belonging to de Bolas disappeared from history, the English authorities failed to subdue the Karmahaly Maroons.Campbell (1988), The Maroons of Jamaica, pp. 14–25.
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.
In the 1670s and 1680s, in his capacity as an owner of a large slave plantation, former buccaneer and now lieutenant-governor of Jamaica Sir Henry Morgan led three campaigns against the Karmahaly Maroons of de Serras. Morgan achieved some success against the Maroons, who withdrew further into the Blue Mountains, where they were able to stay out of the reach of Morgan and his forces. It is possible the Maroons of de Serras merged with the Windward Maroons.Campbell (1988), The Maroons of Jamaica 1655–1796, pp. 23, 32–33.
Establishment of the Leeward and Windward Maroons Between 1673 and 1690 there were several major slave uprisings, mainly prompted by newly arrived, highly militaristic Akan groups called Coromantee that were captives in Cape Coast, Ghana. On 31 July 1690, a rebellion involving 500 slaves from the Sutton estate in Clarendon Parish led to the formation of Jamaica's most stable and best organized Maroon group. Although some were killed, recaptured, or surrendered, more than 200, including women and children, remained free after the rebellion ended.Craton (1982), pp. 75–76.
They established an Akan-style polity based in the western parts of the Cockpit Country, notably Cudjoe'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.Craton (1982), pp. 77–78.
At this time, the leaders who emerged in the Eastern Maroons were Quao and Queen Nanny.Thicknesse, Philip (1790), Memoirs and Anecdotes of Philip Thicknesse (Dublin: Craisberry and Campbell), pp. 56–77. The Windward Maroons, in the wilder parts of eastern Jamaica, were always composed of separate highly mobile and culturally heterogeneous groups.Craton (1982), pp. 78–81. It is possible that the runaway slaves from de Serras' group of Karmahaly Maroons formed the initial nucleus of the Windward Maroons.Campbell (1988), The Maroons of Jamaica, pp. 48–49. 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.Craton (1982), pp. 78–79.
By about 1720, a stronger Windward community had developed around the culturally Africanised group of three villages known as Nanny Town, under the spiritual leadership of Queen Nanny, an Ashanti woman, sometimes in allegiance and sometimes in competition with other Windward groups.Craton (1982), p. 81. She was known for her exceptional leadership skills, especially in guerrilla warfare during the First Maroon War. One tactic particular to the Jamaican Maroons involved the art of camouflage using plants. Queen Nanny's remains are reputedly buried at "Bump Grave" in Moore Town, the main town of the Windward Maroons, who are concentrated in and around the Rio Grande valley in the north-eastern parish of Portland. Also known as Granny Nanny (died c. 1750s), she is the only woman honoured as one of Jamaica's National Heroes. She has been immortalised in songs and legends.
Maroons in the 18th century First Maroon War 1728–1739
Disturbed by plantation raiding, the colonial authorities of Jamaica wanted to eradicate the Maroon communities in order to promote British settlement. Their strategy, beginning in the 1730s, was to break off lines of communication between the Windward and Leeward Maroons, then first pick off the less organized Windward Maroons. In practice, the Maroon troops' command of the territory and skill in guerrilla warfare gave them a strong advantage over colonial forces.Craton, Testing the Chains (1982), pp. 82–84.
After much fighting, the British took and destroyed Nanny Town in 1734, but most of the Windward Maroons simply dispersed and formed new settlements.Craton (1982), p. 85. At this point, however, fighting shifted to Leeward, where the British troops had equally limited success against the well-trained and organized forces of Cudjoe.Craton (1982), p. 87.
By the mid-1730s, warfare was proving costly to Maroons and British alike and was turning into an ongoing stalemate. Cudjoe rejected suggestions of a treaty in 1734 and 1736, but by 1738 he agreed to parley with John Guthrie. This local planter and militia officer was known to and respected by the Maroons.Craton (1982), pp. 87–88. In 1739, the treaty signed under British governor Edward Trelawny granted Cudjoe's Maroons 1500 acres of land between their strongholds of Trelawny Town and Accompong in the Cockpit Country and a certain amount of political autonomy and economic freedoms, in return for which the Maroons were to provide military support in case of invasion or rebellion, and to return runaway slaves in exchange for a bounty of two dollars each. This last clause in the treaty caused tension between the Maroons and the enslaved black population, although from time to time runaways from the plantations still found their way into Maroon settlements.Craton (1982), pp. 88–90.
In addition, a British superintendent was to be assigned to live in each Maroon town. In 1740, similar treaties were signed by Quao and Nanny, major leaders of the Windward Maroons.Craton (1982), pp. 91–92. The Windward Maroons were originally located at Crawford's Town and the new Nanny Town (now called Moore Town). In all, about 600 Maroons came to terms with the British authorities through these two treaties.Sivapragasam (2018), After the Treaties, p. 56.
Not all the Maroons accepted the treaties. Rebellions occurred in Maroon communities in the years that followed. After the treaties, the white superintendents appointed by the governors eventually took control of the Maroon towns.Kopytoff, Barbara (1976), "Jamaican Maroon Political Organization: the Effects of the Treaties", Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 92–97. In the 1740s, some Leeward Maroons who opposed the 1739 treaty rose in revolt, but Cudjoe crushed those rebellions.Paterson, Orlando (1996), "Slavery and Slave Revolts: A Sociohistorical Analysis of the First Maroon War, 1665–1740", Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas, ed. Richard Price (London: Johns Hopkins University Press), p. 273.