Queen Nanny was described as a small, wiry woman with piercing eyes. It is believed that she was born in Ghana of the Asante people and brought to Jamaica in her youth. Queen Nanny, also affectionately known as Granny Nanny, was a brilliant military and spiritual leader of the Maroons during the 18th century. She provided a strong and united opposition against British domination and slavery. Queen Nanny’s leadership was most important during the First Maroon War between 1720 and 1739.
The section under The Maroons above describes Queen Nanny’s exceptional skills in leadership. It is also believed that she had supernatural power and both the British and the Africans that assisted them against the Maroons feared Queen Nanny. Spending her formative years in Africa, Queen Nanny would have learnt about the presence of the ancestral spirits and their ability to intervene and assist in the life of the community. Along with her belief in a Supreme Power, Yankipon, she could call upon these forces, which gave her wisdom as a warrior and spiritual leader.
As with any good leader, Queen Nanny was strong willed and independent in her thinking. In 1739, when her brother, Quao, signed the second Peace Treaty with the British, Queen Nanny was very angry and in disagreement, because she did not trust the British. She was proved right, because it did not take long before the British started amending the treaty in a way detrimental to the Maroons.
Queen Nanny spent her last days visiting Maroon communities throughout the island as a spiritual leader. The Jamaican government declared Queen Nanny National Heroine of Jamaica in 1975 and her portrait is on the Jamaican 500 dollar bill.
