The Maroons

In Jamaica, the first Maroons were the indigenous Tainos, a group of Arawak people that migrated from South and Central America. They moved to the hills when the Spanish invaded Jamaica in 1494. A number of the first Africans that were brought into Jamaica by the Spanish, 1513 onwards, moved straight to the hills. They came into contact with and lived among the Tainos.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word Maroon as “a member of a black people living in parts of Suriname and the West Indies descended from runaway slaves”. It is important to state here that the first Taino and African Maroons in Jamaica were never slaves. They saw the signs of things to come and acted speedily to get away from it. The growing number of runaway slaves, however, later expanded the Maroon groups across the island. The main Maroon settlements were the interior mountains in the parish of Clarendon, which later moved to the Cockpit Mountains in Trelawny, and the Blue Mountains in the eastern parishes of Portland and St. Thomas.

Maroon Lifestyle

The lifestyle of the early Maroons was a combination of Taino and African traditions, which were similar in many ways. There was a chief and a council of elders. They spoke several languages – the most common was called Kramanti, which was similar to the Twi language of the Asante people of Ghana. Their main contact with the outside was their secret trade in jerk pork with the Spanish resistance, which extended to Cuba, and trade with the pirates for who jerk pork was a favourite.

Boys aged 14 and above went with the men to hunt wild hog. They used dogs to locate and chase the pigs. This was a gruelling and dangerous activity as the Maroons had to keep up with the chase through gullies, over boulders, under bushes and across streams. When the pig slowed down from exhaustion, it was speared in the heart. The pig was then deboned, salted, and seasoned with pimento, pepper and herbs before jerked on pimento wood for up to six hours. Men were generally responsible for the heavy clearing and tilling of the land. Women did the weeding and everyone participated in harvesting the crops.

Women were well respected – they were mothers, wives and farmers and the first teachers of the young. Women also participated in providing leadership and direction for their clan, for example Queen Nanny who was also known as Granny Nanny, Champong Nanny and Grandy Nanny. She was a spiritual leader, fighter and strategist.

Like among the Tainos, age was respected among the Maroons. Children were taught to respect their elders, community leaders and chief. Their education was through story telling, to learn their cultural traditions, and observation and participation, to learn bush survival. As the children grew older, they helped to clear the land for cultivation and were responsible for feeding the poultry. Plantain was the main produce.

Each village had a midwife and herbal doctor, although every family was knowledgeable in the everyday use of herbs. Much of the knowledge was carried with the original Maroons from their villages in Africa or learnt from the Tainos. Herbal doctors were able to find cures for many illnesses, from colds and fevers to infertility and eye infections. The knowledge of the herbal doctor was passed down from the ancestors, who the Maroons believed were wiser and greater than they were and was always around them and in easy reach. They believed that these ancestral spirits watched over the community and shared in their concerns and were even able to intervene in the life of the community. Maroons believed in a creator God that was called Nyancompong or Yankipon and drumming and dancing were used in religious ceremonies.

Music was very important to the Maroons. Some of the musical instruments used were the Kramanti and Goombay drums, a string instrument called banjo, a wind instrument called fife and a variety of rattles, shakers, scrapers and cymbals. The abeng or akete is a war cry instrument, which was used for warning, calling and celebrating. Their songs told stories of their African past and ancestors and moral stories of the trickster called Anancy. Songs were sung to commemorate different events. Stories and proverbs were told to teach children about their heritage and how to conduct themselves in everyday life.

Maroon Life Disturbed

The British was unaware of the Maroon settlements in the mountains. Those were the original Maroons from the time of the Spanish. In 1690, a massive rebellion of 400 Koromanti slaves took place on the Sutton’s estate in Clarendon. The slaves freed themselves and were pursued by a large party, which killed twelve of them. Seventy were recaptured and 318 found refuge in the hills.

To survive, these self-freed Africans would return to the plantation secretly to steal foodstuff and other necessities. As the number of self-freed Africans grew, invading the plantations could not produce enough food to sustain them. It was also a very dangerous way to live, as the planters had organised themselves and were sending out search parties with muskets and dogs to attack and recapture the ex-slaves. This drove the Africans further into the hills.

As new plantations were established during the second half of the 17th century, so were greater numbers of Africans imported into Jamaica. The running away of slaves was a constant problem for the planters as the number of self-freed African communities grew, mainly in Clarendon, Portland and St. Thomas. New planters coming into the island were moving inland, which drove the ex-slaves even further into the mountains.

The ex-slave community in Clarendon elected a leader whose name was Cudjoe. Cudjoe was a strong and clever leader who moved his community westward, deep into the cockpits – they became the Leeward Maroons. Those ex-slaves that escaped from plantations in the east of the island eventually found themselves in the Blue Mountains where they merged with the original maroons and became the Windward Maroons.

Cudjoe Chosen as Leader in Clarendon

Cudjoe was chosen as leader of the Leeward Maroons around 1693. He was thought to be in his early twenties at the time and became the most renowned and most highly respected by the Englishmen. Cudjoe united the Spanish-African resistance that was still located in the Clarendon mountains and the growing number of self-freed Africans under one leadership.

 Rules and regulations were formulated for the government of the new communities, and military strategies were developed to protect the villages against attacks from the planters. After Cudjoe’s decision to move his people into the cockpits, they were able to live unmolested for years. Cudjoe had a long life and died around 1765.

Major General Robert Hunter, a Scotsman, became Governor of Jamaica in January 1728. His main tasks were to improve the military defences of the island against an expected attack from the Spanish and to destroy the Maroon resistance within the island. Shortly after measures to strengthen the military forces in Port Antonio was completed, the Maroons attacked an estate on the outskirts in which an overseer was injured, huts set on fire and the slaves set free. Jeddo, a famous warrior from the Stony River Valley, led the Maroon attack. Lieutenant Soaper and his troops, based in Port Antonio, were sent in pursuit of the Maroons over the mountains into the Stony River Valley. Soaper and his troops were defeated in an ambush.

Queen Nanny of the Windward Maroons

Soaper’s defeat started what would be known as The First Maroon War and marked the era of the leadership by the brave fighter and strategist, Queen Nanny of the Maroons.

After Soaper’s pursuit deep into Maroon territory, it was important that the Maroons adapt strategies to defend their communities. Four of the strategies were:

 Under Queen Nanny’s leadership, they established their footpaths on the edge of precipices and under rock overhangs so the British soldiers had to walk in single file. That made it easy for the Maroons to stage an attack and many soldiers fell to their death without a single shot fire.

The Maroons used bush as camouflage, so the militia would pass close by and not recognise their presence. By the time the militia knew what was taking place, it was too late.

They practiced psychological warfare by circulating stories of their supernatural powers and especially the supernatural powers of Queen Nanny. Often, the British used slaves or employed loyal Africans as baggage-bearers and fighters. On hearing the stories about Queen Nanny’s powers, the Africans got scared and avoided confrontation – some used the opportunity to free themselves and join the Maroons.

The Maroon’s system of communication. Specialist hornsmen and drummers perfected an unspoken language using the abeng and the drum. They were able to communicate over very long distances informing each group of warriors of the movement of the English troops.

In March 1730, the House of Assembly requested Governor Hunter to order a large party to suppress the activities of the Maroons. Soaper set out on May 28th with ninety-five men, on a route that took them inland around the Blue Mountains and on June 6th, they were on the back mountains overlooking a Maroon settlement. The women and children ran for cover, while the men (about 300 strong) prepared for battle. Later that night, the troops ordered the Maroons to return ex-slaves that had recently escaped. The Maroons said they would not.

In the morning, an advanced party of twenty was sent into the town. The Maroons surrounded and engaged them in close fighting. Most of the advanced party were killed from musket fire. Soaper ordered his men to retreat down to a river below the town. The Maroons had anticipated this manoeuvre and staged an attack. Soaper lost forty-eight men in that battle and ordered those remaining to return to Port Antonio. Queen Nanny realised that there was a problem with their defence. While they were concentrating on defending the main approach to the settlement, the enemy came from a different direction. Queen Nanny also identified more remote and hidden sites where she started large-scale cultivations and started to relocate her people.

Two regiments arrived from England in 1731 to reinforce Hunter’s army. Three parties were split up and sent to capture Nanny Town. The first party approached Nanny Town on March 20th, 1732. Nanny dispersed warriors in all directions and defeated an advanced party that was sent into the town. The second party arrived outnumbering the Maroons who had to retreat. An occupation of Nanny Town and other adjacent towns started, which was to last for months. Queen Nanny regrouped and eventually drove the English out of their towns.

The Maroons realised that the English had started a full-scale war on them, so they employed a spying system where Maroon spies went to Port Antonio, with the help of plantation slaves, to gather information. The Maroon spies learnt of a massive build-up of troops and arms. Their new strategy was to positioning spies further away from the settlements and taking the war directly to the English. They set about building up a large stock of arms and purchased gunpowder from Jewish merchants in Kingston. They attacked outlying estates and barracks and even made an ambitious attack on Forte George.

Hunter had failed to control the Maroons. He fell ill and finally succumbed to his illness on March 31st 1734. Ayscough was appointed as acting Governor. His plan was to step up the heat on the Maroons, but the Maroons were aggressively putting all their energy into what they saw as a fight for survival. Their attack on the estates and barracks became more frequent as they sought to contain the English forces within the grounds of Titchfield fort and destroy their capability to attack Nanny Town and the surrounding settlements. The militia was having difficulty recruiting as the young men feared the Maroons and were going into hiding to avoid being ordered to volunteer for party duty. The Council of Trade and Plantations agreed to offer a sum of £5 for each one apprehended.

In June 1734, the King of England approved the immediate dispatching of six independent companies of 100 men each from Gibraltar. Added to the 200 soldiers in Jamaica, this made an army of 800 soldiers ready to attack Nanny Town. A party led by Colonel George Brooks set out from Morant Bay on December 7th 1734. Approaching Nanny Town, Brooks ordered an advance party to attack Nanny Town. The Maroons on watch signalled their approach on the abeng. The Maroons fired on the party, but being outnumbered the Maroons retreated to a more secure position where they held the troops at bay with sustained fire. Brooks sent in another party of 50 men, but nightfall kept them from entering Nanny Town.

Brooks took the town the following day, but their occupation was an uneasy one as they could see the Maroons circling in the distance, out of the range of fire. Because of the Maroon war, productivity on the plantations was falling and many planters were leaving Jamaica for North America. In early 1735, the English tried to agree a peace treaty with the Windward Maroons, but the Maroons said they were not interested in a peace treaty. It took another three years until 1738 when the first Maroon war was terminated by a treaty between the British and the Leeward Maroons, led by Captain Cudjoe. The Peace Treaty was signed under a huge cotton tree in Accompong. At the time of the treaty, Cudjoe was based in Trelawny Town (later called Maroon Town and Flagstaff) on the edge of the Cockpit Country.

The second Peace Treaty was signed between the British and Captain Quao of the Windward Maroons on June 23rd 1739 at their new settlement at the Lower Back Rio Grande Valley. Queen Nanny was present at the signing but did not participate because she did not trust the British.

Slave rebellions continued after the signing of the treaties. One of the largest rebellions in Jamaica took place in 1760. It was planned island-wide and started in St. Mary by a Coromantee slave named Tacky. Sixty British were killed and between 300 and 600 slaves died in battle, committed suicide or executed. The Leeward Maroons, under Cudjoe, assisted the British and were responsible for Tacky’s death – he was shot while attempting to make his escape from the pursuing Maroons.

After the peace treaties, Queen Nanny eventually moved to New Nanny Town. She spent her final years visiting Maroon communities throughout the island, reminding residents of the fights that their ancestors had fought to provide them with the freedom they enjoyed. Queen Nanny set an example for the Maroons by collecting and bundling up the ‘Nanny thatch’ on John Crow Mountains, for thatching roofs and making walls of maroon houses. This was the start of a famous Maroon saying when someone is being selfish, “Nanny did not bundle up thatch for you alone”. Queen Nanny fell ill and finally made her transition. She will live forever in our memory as a powerful, wise and great ancestor who unified the Maroon people.

The British were not satisfied with some of the contents of the peace treaties and started making amendments without consulting the Maroons. These amendments were not in the Maroon’s favour and this was the trigger for the second Maroon war (between the British and the Leeward Maroons), which lasted from August to December 1795. After the war, the Maroons continued building new communities and establishing themselves across the island. On March first 1834, slavery was abolished but that did not take away the mistrust between the black and white population.

Today, the Maroons celebrate their heritage on the first week of each year commencing with the blowing of the abeng and the beating of the gumbay drum. The Maroons of Jamaica are retracing their steps back to Ghana and will be joining a large gathering of groups from all over the world in Ghana in 2007.

[OURSTORY] [African Heritage] [Taino heritage] [Transatlantic Slavery] [After Emancipation] [The Maroons] [Jamaica's Heroes] [Idependance]