Maroon Heritage

Maroon Heritage
Archaeological
Ethnographic and
Historical Perspectives
edited by
E Kofi Agorsah

G&hOiPitW
•BARBADOS ^JAMAICA •TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Canoe Press
The University of the West Indies
1A Aqueduct Flats, Kingston 7, Jamaica
© 1994 by Canoe Press. All rights reserved
Published 1994
Printed and bound in Canada
999897969594 654321

ISBN (pbk) 976 8125 10 1

Cataloguing in Publication Data

Maroon heritage: archaeological
ethnographic and historical
perspectives / E. Kofi Agorsah, ed.;
with foreword by B.W. Higman.
p. cm.
Papers presented at a symposium on Maroon
heritage held 18-19 October 1991 at the
University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 976 8125 10 1
1. Maroons - Jamaica - Congresses.
2. Maroons - History - Congresses.
3. Maroons - social life and customs
- Congresses. I. Agorsah, E. Kofi
F1893.M3M371994 972.92
dc20

Maps: p. 38 - Courtesy National Library of

Jamaica; p. 66 - Courtesy UWI Mona Archaeological
Research Project (UMARP)
Photo credits: p. 115 - Courtesy National Archives of
Jamaica; pp. 174-75,177-80 - Courtesy E Kofi Agorsah

Book and cover design by Prodesign Ltd, Jamaica

Text set in 9/12 Palatine and Dauphin display
Printed on acid-free paper: 501b Husky Offset
 Table of Contents

Foreword vii
Address by Prof. E. N. Ugochukwu ix
Preface xii
Acknowledgements xix

one
Background to Maroon Heritage i
E. Kofi Agorsah
two
Trje True Traditions of my Ancestors 36 36
Col. C. L. G. Harris
three
Accompany Maroons of Jamaica 64
Colonel Martin-Luther Wright
four
Maroon Culture as a Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture 72.
Kenneth Bilby
five
Maroons and Reoels (a Ditemma) 86
Carey Robinson
six
Maroon Heritage in Mexico 94
Joe Pereira

Contents v
seven
"Resistance Science": Afrocentric Ideo(oa$ in Vic Reid's Nanny Town 109
Carolyn Cooper
eight
Nanny, Patmares & t^e Carnttean Maroon Connexion 119
Kamau Brathwaite
nine
Characteristics of Maroon Music from Jamaica and Suriname 139
Marjorie Why lie and Maureen Warner-Lewis
ten
Maroon Warfare: T^e Jamaican Mo5e{ 149
Albert Edwards
eleven
Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 163
E. Kofi Agorsah
Bibliography 188
Index 2.04
Contibutors 2.09

List of Figures

1.1 Locations of New World Maroons / 3

1.2 West Africa: vegetation and climatic zones / 12
1.3 Ethnic groups of West Africa / 14
2.1 Moore Town in 1782 / 38
3.1 Accompong settlement / 66
6.1 Maroon settlements in Mexico / 95
11.1 The Maroons of Jamaica today / 166
11.2 Accompong Town quarters / 171
11.3 Location of Nanny Town in Blue Mountains / 173
IIA Nanny Town site / 176
11.5 Gold Coast (1655) showing coastal kingdoms and Kromantse / 184

Maroon Heritage v\
 Foreword

The papers published in this volume had their origin in a conference on Maroon
Heritage held at the University of the West indies, Mona, 18-19 October 1991. That
conference was memorable for a number of reasons.
Scholars often choose to keep a distance between themselves and their subjects
of study. The conference on Maroon Heritage was therefore unusual in the manner
in which it brought together observer and observed on an equal, mutually reinforc-
ing basis. Academic researchers came from Jamaica and other parts of the hemi-
sphere, and Maroons came from their main bases in Jamaica— Accompong, Moore
Town and Scott's Hall. Papers were delivered by both Maroons and academics,
and dialogue flowed freely.
Maroons have never been marooned in the sense of being lost, cast up in some
isolated, desolate place, without networks to the wider world. They have always
been in the world and of the world. An acceptance of this past and present interac-
tive relationship is essential for the future preservation of Maroon heritage as well
as the study of Maroon peoples and their history.
Maroon communities have been studied frequently and intensively by the out-
side scholarly world. What scholars have said and written about them finds its
way back into the culture, one way or another. This in turn adds to the store of
knowledge, whether it be right or wrong, and can enter the oral tradition. Students
of oral historiography call this the problem of feedback. The big question here is
how far what scholars think they are learning from people as their oral tradition is
really a product of exposure to the wider world, including the scholarship of that
wider world. No oral tradition is pure, and no written document offers an unblem-
ished record of experience. Scholars working with written documents, however,
are almost always reading accounts created by the oppressors rather than the
oppressed. This carries its own special dangers, as papers in this volume indicate,
complicating the problem of feedback. The interface between the oral and the writ-
ten becomes extremely busy, and it becomes increasingly difficult to identify and
separate the source-origins of the heritage.

Foreword v\\
 The conference on Maroon Heritage was particularly significant in facing up to
these questions, even if in the deliberations the issues were more often implicit
than explicit. It was not just a matter of healthy dialogue, but an encounter at close
quarters that provided a clearer view of the present state of understanding and
some notion of how research and dissemination should proceed in the future.
In this volume, the essential character and spirit of the conference has been
retained successfully. There are papers by Maroons and papers by academic
scholars, papers from individuals with a wide variety of disciplinary alliances.
For ensuring this achievement, full credit must go to Kofi. I had the privilege of
serving as Head of the Department of History at Mona at the time of the confer-
ence, but Kofi was the initiator and the essential energy behind all of the arrange-
ments. It was his contact with the Maroons, established through his archaeological
and cultural studies, that provided the basis for the fruitful exchange that charac-
terized the conference. Beyond any selfish scholarly concerns, there was also the
spirit of sharing, the desire to give something back. Kofi was also responsible for
seeing that the published proceedings, the contents of this book, maintained this
spirit. I am proud to have been his associate.
Finally I wish to thank all of the participants to the conference, and particularly
the authors of the papers contained in this volume, for their contribution towards
a widening and deepening of our understanding of Maroon history and culture.
B W Higman
University of the West Indies
Mona, Jamaica

vm Maroon Heritage
 The Place of the Maroons in Jamaica

I feel honoured by the fact that you recognize that as the resident representative of
Africa on the island, it is appropriate to associate me with this symposium. I want to
commend the organizers of this symposium for their foresight and I have special
commendation for the Maroons for their active participation in the analyses and dis-
cussion of research results on their heritage. This is a practice that should be encour-
aged because it provides the opportunity also for community participation in
research ventures at all levels.
I am informed that this symposium was originally planned as a local University
activity but has now turned out to be an international event with participation of
panelists from such places as the Smithsonian Institution and New York Univer-
sity, the Institute for Policy Studies, Washington DC, the Cave Hill campus of the
University of the West Indies, and other areas. I am also informed that most of the
participants paid their way to come to this conference. There is, therefore, a clear
challenge to Jamaicans to sustain this interest.
When the British conquered this island in 1655 it soon became clear to them that
the freedom-fighting Maroons were a force to be reckoned with. Apart from the
later rise in the number of black slaves and its attendant complex organizational
needs, as a result of colonial economic policy, the colonial power recognized the
escapee community as a legacy that was to determine or rather influence the
course of events. This is supported by the fact that the British, from the time of
Charles 11 in 1658 to George 111 in 1795, had to ceaselessly grapple with the
desperate fight of the slaves, who were struggling for their freedom, and escapees
also struggling to maintain their freedom. A close examination of the cultural his-
tory of Jamaica indicates clearly that the Maroon society provided a cultural link
between the indigenous societies of the island and the Spanish settlers on the
one hand, and the English on the other. Historically, this is significant because
it indicates that the history of the Maroons of Jamaica is not only a link, but has
become and remains in its entirety a part of the historical period. The importance

Opening Address ix
of Maroon heritage as a major cultural element that runs through the historical
period in the cultural development of Jamaican society is thus incomplete without
retracing the course of this major thread.
Many accounts in history misrepresent and misinterpret the Maroons. They are
considered as rebels rather than as freedom fighters. I am told that so far only one
author has had the courage to use a title for his book which emphasizes the point
of the fight for freedom. The book is entitled The Fighting Maroons, and I am
pleased to learn that the author will be actively participating in this symposium. I
salute this scholar, and hope that the message of the freedom-fighting people will
be driven deep into the minds of people to correct a wrong notion that has held
sway for centuries.
I have heard criticisms whispered against the real motives of the Maroons in
their campaigns against the British. I notice that there is still a bad feeling in the Ja-
maican community about events surrounding attempts by a part of the commu-
nity trying to establish an alternative life style to that of the plantation system on
the one hand, while on the other acting as informants against others of their own
community trying to rebel against the same system. Many people find it contradic-
tory, but this is not new in history. Examination of events in other places, for exam-
ple amongst the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, reveals similar contradictions.
Even modern day political and military situations abound with repetitions of this
kind of thing observed in Jamaica. It must be borne in mind too that the further
back we go in history the closer we come to divergences of language and culture
amongst the ethnic Jamaicans, many of whom still retained their tribal languages
and customs which often cut across national identity, if it is correct to apply this
term to those periods in history.
However, as a country trying to establish a national identity, these issues need
some more serious examination and discussion to pave the way for reconciliation
and peaceful co-existence. It is for this reason that my High Commission has, over
the years, provided strong support for all efforts geared towards issues of cultural
importance such as this symposium will be addressing.
Allow me to acknowledge the important role played by my predecessor, Prof
Adefuyehimself a historian, who maintained a strong link with the Maroons. I am
going to maintain, strengthen and diversify this link during my tour of duty.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to congratulate the University research
committee, and specifically the Department of History of the University, and
specially Dr Kofi Agorsah and the Faculty of Arts and General Studies for this
fine initiative. Let me use this opportunity to extend a hand of fellowship to the
History Department and the Faculty of Arts in any and all matters pertaining to
the teaching of African history and culture.
It is, in my view, important that Jamaica consider Maroon life as a positive
sharing experience and examine the implications of learning from this experi-
ence to build more positively at the community level. This includes sharing
Maroon values with the younger generation. The Maroons themselves must
also realize that the old enemy is gone but that a new and more serious one

x Maroon Heritage
lurks around the corner. The new enemy, economic servitude, must be fought
by all Jamaicans as one people, everyone contributing their bit.
The programme for the symposium is clear in its objective. One effective way to
carry on the search that would provide a clearer appreciation of the need for the
much desired peaceful co-existence is the inter and multi-disciplinary approach.
Why and how have Maroon communities kept their values alive over all these
years? How have these values helped them and for how long will they remain dis-
tinctive? What are the implications for assimilation? These are the questions that
ought to be uppermost, in addition to the purely academic examination of the is-
sues of this symposium. It is important to examine the past Maroon heritage. It is
equally important to examine it as it is today. But it is even more important to
speculate about its future because that is the time when future generations will
need to understand and know the true nature of their heritage.
(Abridged version of the Opening Address by Professor E.N. Ugochukwu, High Commissioner of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria to Jamaica, at the Symposium on Maroon Heritage held 18-19 October
1991 at the University of the West Indies, Mona)

Opening Address xi
 Preface

Two things are clear. First, all contributors emphasize the significance of the
Maroon heritage in the Caribbean as an indispensable element within and of the
cultural history of the region. Secondly, all contributors stress tha significance of
the need for a deeper analysis of "resistance" history in the New World. A third
theme raised by many contributors to this volume identifies and discusses the
phenomenon of "resistance" as an important element in the shaping of the history
of the New World, and the geographical distribution of Maroon resistance groups
in the Caribbean and adjoining areas. In addition, the implications of maronage
and its associated developments in the New World such as guerrilla warfare, the
treaties, the impact on colonial policy directions, the environment and environ-
mental adaptation, art and artistic expressions are discussed.
Resistance is a phenomenon that cannot be separated from slavery or oppres-
sion—as has also been repeatedly stated by several scholars such as Singleton
[1985] Beckles and Shepherd [1991], Heuman [1986]—and therefore remains an in-
separable part of New World History and particularly Caribbean History [Augier
and Gordon 1962]. The development of resistance groups was a direct response to
the cruel torture devices on slave ships and on the plantations, such as the whips
and guns, posses of soldiers and dogs sent after escaping slaves, horrible punish-
ments and executions of "troublemakers" [Beckles 1986; Brathwaite 1977; Price
1992; Robinson 1969]. These experiences were life-threatening enough for the
enslaved to resort to defensive violence. Archaeological and historical studies rec-
ognize the significance of "resistance" as an important element in the shaping of
New World History [Agorsah 1993, Beckles 1986, Price 1973]. This is even more
important for the Caribbean where the best examples of resistance to slavery
can be obtained [Augier and Gordon 1962, Hall and Beckford I960].
On their arrival in the New World, in their lust for power and precious metals
and other wealth, the Spaniards encountered many local ethnic groups such as the
Lucayanos living in the Bahamas [Keegan 1987; Keegan, Stokes and Nelson 1990;

xii Maroon Heritage

Loven 1935], the Borequinos in Puerto Rico [Alegria 1980], and the Tainos in Cuba
[Barroso 1984], the Dominican Republic and Haiti [Arrom and Aravelo 1986] and
much of the eastern Caribbean inhabited by the Caribs whose ferocity prevented
European colonization of islands such as Grenada and St Lucia. Parry and Sherlock
[1965], record that there were "negroes" on board the vessels that brought the
Spanish adventurers to the New World. As the Spaniards forced the Indians and
their slaves on board their vessels they escaped, sometimes in small groups, into
hiding. For example, it is reported that as early as 1502 an African slave escaped
from his enslaver into the interior hills of Hispaniola and that during the early
parts of the 16th century strongholds established by escaped African slaves already
existed on one of the islands referred to as Samana, off the coast of Hispaniola
[Price 1973]. These groups eventually developed into Maroon communities who
were certainly not the only resistance group in the Caribbean but whose activities
have recurred throughout, and shaped the history of the colonial period in the
New World.
Looking into the future of the research on Maroons has relied on observations of
the modern way of life of the Maroons. Maroon Chiefs very proudly recount some of
these traditional practices that serve as authentic indication of cultural continuity
from their past. Ethnographic evidence indicates some continuities of the life of the
days of marronage and its attendant wars of resistance. The study of the traditional
systems of West Africa is particularly important for the Caribbean not only because
of the link with the slave trade but also because West African social systems such as
those extant in Africa before and after colonial contact present several authentic char-
acteristics of general development that form the basis of observed continuities in the
Caribbean. Maureen Warner-Lewis and Marjorie Whylie provide very good exam-
ples of such links in the form, style and content of Maroon music.
Although transformations have been observed in several aspects of the techno-
logical [Goucher 1991] and social systems [Kopytoff 1973; Alleyne 1988] and even
in physical types [Watters et al. 1992], there still remain many detailed aspects of
these and other related areas that could indicate the trend, as well as the force, of
the impact of the various changes which have occurred over time. Ethnographi-
cally, many aspects of the West African cultural traditions before European contact
could help to identify transformations resulting from that contact, particularly af-
ter AD 1500 and they are critical for explaining cultural continuities in the Carib-
bean. Family systems, language, ethnicity, religion, festivals, marriage patterns,
art, music and dance are some of the areas with evidence of observed continuities.
However, the nature of the impact from Africa on any cultural practices in the New
World will depend to a very large extent on the part of the African continent from
which they derived. Personal names such as Cudjoe, Cuffee, Quao, Sambo; place
names such as Konkonsa Ceitful, Accompong and Abeokuta; the use of the side
blown horn (bugle) known by the name abeng among the Akan of Ghana; names
and techniques of drums and drumming; hunting techniques; musical and relig-
ious forms; names such as prako for pig and nsuo for water, known among the Akan
of Ghana; and even the approach to settling disputes at the local level —these and

Preface Dciii
many such examples should provide good bases for identifying continuities
and explaining the nature and mechanism of the functional adaptations of the
Maroons. Colonel C.L.G. Harris and Kenneth Bilby provide numerous examples of
this kind of evidence of continuity in language and expressions. Together, these
indications suggest that research into Maroon heritage must consider both sides of
the Atlantic.
The Maroons can be credited with many achievements. They became the fron-
tline fighters in the struggle against slavery in all its various forms. Before any
known struggles for independence in the New World, Maroon communities had
developed strong ideas and strategies of self-sufficiency, self-help and self-reliance
and fought with great skill and courage for the right to self determination. Also,
the communities managed to unite people who had come from diverse back-
grounds and regions of the world, speaking different languages and practising di-
verse customs and traditions. African traditions featured prominently in the
formation and transformation of the ways of life of these groups throughout the
entire period of their struggle. It is, however, difficult to clearly identify all aspects
of the African elements retained by the Maroons. Although the majority of the Ma-
roons consisted of slaves derived from West Africa whose cultural traditions
should help to identify any retention and how these may have contributed to the
survival of the Maroons, the fascination with the stories about the Indian in the
New World which persists among scholars today on a variety of levels needs to be
taken into consideration. For example, among scholars of Caribbean archaeology
the Indian has been the recipient of the credit for many, if not all, of the Caribbean
prehistoric cultural traditions. It is speculated that this cultural background both
constituted the basis of what early Maroons developed and survived, emphasizing
the cultural link [Price 1976,1973; Campbell 1990; Agorsah 1993].
Results of recent research in Caribbean archaeology demonstrates that the
development, growth and survival of Maroon societies provided a cultural link
between the indigenous societies and the Spanish on one hand, and the English
on the other. Historically, this is significant because it indicates that the history
of the Maroons of Jamaica is not only the most important link, but has become
and remains in its entirety a part of the historical period. The importance of
Maroon heritage as a major cultural element that runs through the historical
period in Jamaica can, therefore, not be over-emphasized. A reconstruction of
cultural development in the Caribbean and particularly in the Jamaican society
is thus incomplete without retracing the course of this major thread.
The study of some contemporary Maroon societies provides some indications
of aspects of the nature and mechanism of cultural continuities among them. New
ways of life using the old ways of the Amerindian and the African were utilized.
Hunting, fishing and farming methods recapitulated old practices. For example,
among Suriname Maroons (the Djuka), methods used to prepare cassava which
was the staple food, remained the same although one could also liken that method
to preparation of the gari or yakeyake of the Anlo of modern Ghana and eba among
modern Yoruba of Nigeria in West Africa. This may indicate both Amerindian and

xiv Maroon Heritage

West African connections. Similarly, a special food made from corn (maize) and
called dukunu among Jamaican Maroons is prepared in the same way and bears the
same name as in modern Ghana, again showing African influence. Suffki or toli,
two very popular dishes of the Seminole Maroons of Oklahoma and Texas, also ap-
pear to have been inherited from native Americans. Contemporary fishing and
trap-setting techniques as well as traditional herbal medicine among the Maroons
in Suriname and Jamaica in particular reflect Amerindian, African and European
sources. It is observed that in their attempt to survive the struggle to maintain free-
dom, the Maroons devised methods of subsistence, military strategies, systems of
shared authority, shared languages, compromising on each other's different ways
of religious practice, speaking, marriage systems, birth and death rites, ownership
and property control, music and dance, utilizing the wide range of African, Euro-
pean and Amerindian cultural resources available to them.
According to Kenneth Bilby (writing in this volume), the music, verbal arts and
spiritual traditions of contemporary Maroons remain predominantly African. As
in Africa, these features of Maroon culture are not separated. They form parts of
everyday life in activities that weave one into another. However, certain other ele-
ments have been identified in dance, for example: such as an Amerindian-style
dance—called Seminole Stomp among the Seminole Maroons; and in songs to the
dean—considered among the Aluku of Guiana to be of native American origin.
Maroon cultural development has thus been formation and transformation of a
mixture of diverse cultural elements from both sides of the Atlantic. Through Ma-
roon activities the heritage of Mexico, Suriname, Jamaica, Cuba, Colombia, North
America and many parts of the New world are linked to others of the Old World.
They provide not only the thread but also the context.
The greatest successes of the Maroons are recognized in their military ability
and leadership. Very able and charismatic leadership enabled them to attain their
goals in their struggle. Among the Maroons of Jamaica, Nanny, Cudjoe, Quao and
Accompong are names to remember. Among those from other Maroon societies
there were leaders of exceptional qualities, such as Yanga of Mexico, Boni of
Suriname, Bayano of Panama, Ganga Zumba of Brazil, Benkos Bioho of Colombia,
and John Horse (sometimes referred to as Juan Caballo or Gopher John) of
Southern USA and Mexico. Political organization appears to imitate traditional
systems of Africa. For example, in Jamaica the head of the group is referred to as
Colonel (also called Chief) of Maroons, and then a Major and Captains in that
order, each with specific roles to play in the administration and policy making with
the help of a Council of Elders (Kamati) (committee?). Similarly, Maroon groups in
Suriname and Guyana have paramount chiefs known as Ganman or Gaama. He
wields a considerable amount of power and authority and respect. He is followed
by Ede Kabiteni (head chiefs) and Kabiteni (village chiefs) and Basia (sub-chiefs)—
comprising women and men—in that order. Meetings (kuutu) are held for several
different issues as required—for administration of justice, policy formulation and
settlement of disputes.
Family organization (matrilineal or patrilineal) continues to be the core of the

Preface xv
family system. At Accompong one observed a reflection of the importance of the
family in its extended form even in the location and distribution of family residen-
tial areas. This follows a rule of family relationships—a pattern established for
many parts of West Africa [Agorsah 1985,1990].
Wood and calabash carving, body scarification, decorative art on walls,
named hair styles, as well as rituals of all kinds clearly represent continuities
from Africa although one can hardly identify the specific areas from which
many of the traditions were derived. The use of drums and side-blown cow
horns as means of communication—some of these bearing the same names as
used among some African societies—clearly emphasize the point that Maroon
cultural traditions possess a remarkable number of direct and sometimes spec-
tacular retentions. The verbal arts such as play languages, folktales, proverbs
and speeches and spirit possession are also rooted in a wide variety and range
of styles based on everyday languages. Richard Price concludes that these "keep
alive a large number of distinctive esoteric languages used only in special ritual
settings".
Carolyn Cooper and Kamau Brathwaite should be commended for present-
ing in the small space available in this volume information on the Great Nanny
of Jamaica that could fill volumes. Carolyn's statement that "marronage should
be recognized as the natural response of free people to dehumanizing attempts
to restrict and restructure them" contends, and rightly so, that "Caribbean his-
toriography needs to place the resistance science of the Maroons along a broad
ideological continuum of cultural autonomy that manifested itself, however
guardedly, even within the very belly of the plantation. Indeed, the well-docu-
mented conflicts of interest between the Jamaican Maroons and the slaves ma-
rooned on the plantations clearly resulted from a too narrow definition of who
constituted the community of essential political affiliation".
Nanny is one of the most celebrated females in the resistance history of the
New World. It is not surprising that almost all the contributions refer to her
achievements. There may have been more than one Nanny, but Nanny of the
excavated Nanny Town (the subject of Kofi Agorsah's chapter on archaeology
in this volume), epitomizes the true spirit and role of the Caribbean woman in
the fight for freedom and human dignity. Cooper further quotes a poem by
Louise Bennett, Jamaican Oman, and suggests how "it establishes in the opening
two verses . . . the cunning Jamaican woman and then proceeds in the third
verse to summons Nanny, wittily suggesting the unexpected complementarity
of the militant, magico-religious powers of the ancestor figure":
Jamaica Oman cunny, sah!
Is how dem jinnal so?
Look how long dem liberated
An de man dem never know!
Look how long Jamaican oman
- Modder, sister, wife, sweetheart -

xvi Maroon Heritage

 Outa road an eena yard deh pon
A dominate her part!
From Maroon Nanny teck her body
Bounce bullet back pon man,
To when nowadays gal-pickney tun
Spellin-Bee champion.

Nanny symbolizes the pride of the Caribbean woman. Brathwaite, Bilby, Cooper,
Harris, and Edwards make this point very strongly. Her role as a true model of the
true Caribbean woman may be summed up in Cooper's words:

The ambiguous image of domesticity and militancy that the combole embodies
is replicated in Reid's presentation of the function of women in Maroon culture.
Nanny is the prototype of all less celebrated, unnamed Maroon women who
excelled at both the domestic arts ofnurturance and the military arts of survival.
Maroon women, as much as men, were warriors actively defending their comm-
unities. If slavery was the first equal opportunity for employers of black men and
women—to cite Johnnetta Cole—the free societies of Jamaican Maroons also
provided equal opportunities for men and women to engage fully in the double-
sided life of the community.

Other writers such as Awang [1991], Beckles [1989], Bush [1990], Goveia
[1970], Mavis Campbell [1990], Green [1992] Terborg-Penn [1986] have most re-
cently demonstrated in their studies how continuities of the Nanny example
may be identified as a significant one in the history of freedom fighting not only
in the Caribbean, but in the New World as a whole.
Maronage (petit or grand marronage) had a residual effect on the plantation sys-
tem and was not just a bargaining strategy for better treatment on the plantation
but also the main basis for the formation of Maroon societies who eventually took
the leadership in the fight against slavery. Maroon history provides a very good
example of how colonial people played oppressed off against oppressed. Both the
"black shots" employed (as a kind of gendarmerie) to help curb Maroon activities
in the early 18th century, and the Maroons who later helped colonial people (as on-
hand militia) to control those marooned on the plantations as mentioned in contri-
butions by Pereira, Brathwaite and Cooper, were ignorant of the fact that they were
being played off against each other in order to sustain the plantation economy.
The events of this aspect of Caribbean history have had serious implications for
the unity and understanding of the common heritage shared by all Caribbean
people. Continued reference to incidents after the peace treaties continues to
cause bad feeling among Caribbean societies as demonstrated by Robinson. For
the African historian this strategy would not be considered as new. Playing
oppressed groups off against each other is a historical phenomenon known in
every part of the world and continues to be part of today's politics. It is in consid-
eration of this that researchers should begin to identify similarities or continuities
in the struggle against slavery and human degradation. Understanding the

Preface xv\i
nature and mechanism of the functional adaptation of Maroons and marronage
and the intricacies of human survival is of utmost importance for a meaningful
re-creation of cultural development in the Caribbean and indeed in the New
World.
An abundance of ethnographic data is available. The archaeology is just at the
initial stages. Maroon experience is a truly African and American experience and
its nature and mechanism of formation and transformation need to be explained
and understood. Why ? As Ken Bilby and N'Diaye [1992] have put it: because
Not only were the Maroons in the forefront of resistance to slavery, they were
among the first pioneers to explore and adapt to the more remote, unsettled spaces
in both American continents and the Caribbean. Maroons were among the first
Americans in the wake of 1492 to resist colonial domination, striving for inde-
pendence, forging new cultures and developing solidarity out of diversity — proc-
esses which only later took place, on a larger scale, in emerging nation-states. The
cultural uniqueness of Maroon societies rests firmly on their fidelity to "African"
cultural principles .. .whether aesthetic, political, or domestic, rather than on the
frequency of their isolated "retention" of form. Maroon groups had a rare freedom
to develop and transform African ideas from a variety of societies and to adapt
them to changing circumstances. With their hard-earned freedom and resilient
creativity they have built systems that are at once meaningfully African and
among the most truly "alive" among African-American cultures.
I consider this volume a humble beginning. Its development and birth, as is
usually the case, rested on the heads of the contributors who, I would say, deserve
every credit. I pay special tribute to our Maroon Chiefs whose contributions make
this volume the only one of its kind in Maroon heritage studies, for here we are
with the researched and the researcher engaged in a dialogue with a common goal.

xvm Maroon Heritage

 Acknowledgements

Now the volume is born. Helping to give birth to it has not been easy, and topping
the list is the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS), particularly its Chairman, Mr
Joe Pereira, senior lecturer in the Department of Spanish and a contributor to this
volume. Thank you, Joe, for your support, hard work and dedication toward the
publication of this work. The support of the Embassy of Mexico and the Nigerian
High Commission in Kingston is respectfully acknowledged with many thanks. I
wish to express sincere gratitude to the Institute of Jamaica and particularly
Mrs Beverley Hall-Alleyne, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, particularly Mr
Ainsley Henriques, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Dr Patrick Bennett,
Executive Director; to the president and members of the Archaeological Society of
Jamaica, particularly Mr Basil Reid, Mr Derrick Gray, Mr Samuel Bandara, Ms
Elaine Grant, Ms Marcia Pitt, Mr Albert Edwards (a contributor to this volume),
and Ms Audrey Francis; to the Chiefs and people of Accompong and to the Moore
Town Maroons, particularly Colonel Martin-Luther Wright and Colonel C.L.G.
Harris (contributors to this volume), and Major Aarons. To Professor Mohammed
Wader (Political Science), Professor Candice Goucher (Black Studies), and Dr
Francis Wambalaba (Black Studies and Department of Economics), all of Portland
State University, Oregon, USA, as well as Professor Chris Decorse (Department
of Anthropology, Syracuse University), I express deepest appreciation for the
invaluable contributions to this publication.
If this volume is readable and becomes a welcome addition to your libraries
it is because of the hard work and expert advise and support of Ms Linda
Cameron, Director of The Press UWI, and all the staff of that institution. I also
wish to thank Donny Miller, Manager of the University Printers Ltd, UWI, and
his staff, as well as Beresford Callum (the Jamaica National Heritage Trust),
Karen Thompson (the Archaeology Laboratory), Arlene Barnes (Office of Dis-
aster Preparedness), and Sharon Niemczyk (Portland State University) for the
illustrations. My sincerest gratitude goes, not least of all, to Mrs Hope Senior
and Ms Julliet Williams and fellow members of staff of the Department of

Acknowledgements xix
History—particularly Professor Barry Higman—for the encouragement and
support and for sponsoring the symposium on Maroon heritage the result of
which is the material of this volume. It is impossible to list all who contributed
to this volume, for to do so would be to include the names of all the participants
of the symposium, particularly those whose papers, for several reasons, could
not be included in this volume, as well as the members of the Maroon cultural
groups. To each and every one of "the unknown contributors" I wish, on behalf
of all of us who present the material in this volume, to say — as the Ewe of
Ghana would put it — "akpe na mi kataa!" (Thank you all!).
Kofi Agorsah
June 1994

xx Maroon Heritage
Maroon Heritage
This page intentionally left blank
 one

Bflc^roMMO to Maroon Heritage,

E. Kofi Agorsah

Introduction

Lust for power and precious metals attracted Columbus and the Spaniards farther
and farther into the New World where they encountered many local ethnic groups,
such as the Lucayanos, living in The Bahamas [Keegan 1987; Loven 1935], Borequi-
nos in Puerto Rico [Alegria 1980], and Tainos in Cuba [Corso 1988], Jamaica, the
Dominican Republic and Haiti [Arrom and Aravelo 1986].
Much of the eastern Caribbean was inhabited by the Caribs, whose ferocity pre-
vented European colonization of islands such as Grenada and St Lucia. Parry and
Sherlock [1965] record that there were "negroes" on board the vessels that brought
the Spanish adventurers to the New World. Some of them reportedly escaped to
freedom to join the local groups in the interior and inaccessible regions [Guillot
1961].
As the Spaniards forced the Indians and their Spanish slaves on board their ves-
sels they escaped individually or in small groups into hiding. For example, it is re-
ported [Price 1979] that in 1502 an African slave escaped from his enslaver into the
interior hills of Hispaniola and that during the early parts of the sixteenth century,
strongholds established by escaped African slaves already existed on one of the is-
lands referred to as Samana, off the coast of Hispaniola. These groups eventually
crystallized into communities today referred to as Maroon. From their settlements
they fought back against their pursuers to retain their freedom.
Resistance is a phenomenon that cannot be separated from slavery or oppres-
sion [Singleton 1985; Beckles and Shepherd 1991; Heuman 1986]. The development
of resistance groups was a direct response to the cruel torture devices on slave

Background to Maroon Heritage i

ships, the whips and guns, posses of soldiers and dogs sent after escaping slaves,
horrible punishments and executions of "troublemakers" [Beckles 1986; Brath-
waite 1977; Price 1992; Robinson 1969]. These life-threatening experiences were
enough for the enslaved to resort to defensive violence. For example, it was the
Maroons who spearheaded the Haitian revolution which resulted in the declara-
tion of that country as the first black republic in the New World.
Although there were many such communities between the sixteenth and nine-
teenth centuries, today they have been absorbed into the larger communities espe-
cially after peace treaties were signed.
Some of the known Maroon communities include those of eastern and western
Jamaica; the Paramaka, Saramaka, Matawai and Kwinti of Suriname; the Aluku of
French Guiana; the Palenqueros of Colombia; the Garifuna of the Atlantic coast of
Central America; the Maroons of the Costa Chica region of Mexico; the Quilombos
of Brazil; the Cimarrones of Cuba and the Seminole Maroons of Oklahoma, Texas,
Mexico and The Bahamas.
Richard Price [1979:1] indicates various terms used to describe these societies,
such as palenques, quilombos, mocambos, cumbes, ladeiras, or mambises. Owing to the
different circumstances and areas in which the societies were formed, different
definitions have been used to refer to the people making up those societies and the
general references that could be made to them as identifiable socio-cultural groups
or groupings.
Generally, the Maroons consisted of groups or communities of enslaved in-
digenous and African peoples who escaped from bondage and established viable
communities in various parts of their territories, and fought to maintain their hard-
won freedom.
There still remain Maroon societies in various parts of the New World, which
have preserved their identities as the creation and embodiment of the spirits of the
heroic freedom fighters [Bilby and N'Diaye 1992; Garcia 1965; Genovese 1979] (see
Fig. 1.1).
The Maroons of Jamaica have been very well known because of their long strug-
gle with the British colonial authorities, who had to pass more than forty laws in
frantic attempts to control them. These communities are now located around the
main towns of New Nanny Town (Moore Town) and Scott's Hall in the east, and
Accompong in the west of the island of Jamaica. Archaeological evidence [Agorsah
1992] indicates that the nucleus of the Maroons in the east consisted of various
groups who lived in the inaccessible areas of the Blue Mountains, before, or cer-
tainly during the period of Spanish domination, when a large number of slaves es-
caped into the hills. Documentary evidence [Morales 1952; Bryan 1971] indicates
that in the early sixteenth century, the Spanish government attempted to flush out
some of the slaves who went into "maronage" (flight) into the Blue Mountains,
where they had established themselves.
In Suriname there are the Saramaka who escaped from plantations in the early
seventeenth century, fought against the Dutch for more than a century and finally
signed a treaty in 1762 giving them the right to control the rain forest region of the

2. Maroon Heritage
Fig. 1.1 Locations of New World Maroons

Background to Maroon Heritage 3

basin of the Suriname River. In addition there are the Okanisi (Aukaners), popu-
larly known as the Djuka, who signed their peace treaty with the Dutch colonizers
in 1760 which gave them control of the Tapanahoney and the Cottica basins. The
Aluku or Boni, having come over from Surinamee into French Guiana and having
struggled to maintain their freedom, sealed by a treaty in 1860, now live across the
Maroni and Law a rivers in French Guiana.
During the seventeenth century, slaves who escaped from Spanish plantations
in Colombia established their community at Palenque de San Brasilio near the port
of Cartagena. They gained recognition and permanent control of the area after sev-
eral attempts to exterminate them failed. The result was a peace treaty signed with
the colonial government in 1717. Many of the slaves who went into flight in the
Costa Chica area of Guerrero and Oaxaca in Mexico, had escaped from Spanish
cattle ranches on the Pacific coast. Their retreat into most inaccessible areas made it
impossible for the colonial government to subdue them. The conflict ended after
the abolition of slavery in Mexico in 1829.
The Seminole Maroons consisted of groups of slaves who escaped from South
Carolina and Georgia and sought refuge in Spanish Florida, in the southeastern
United States where they established their earliest settlements. They established
good relationships with the indigenous groups who came to be known later as
Seminole Indians. They are now divided and settled in Oklahoma, Texas, The Ba-
hamas and the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. Together with their Indian al-
lies, these Maroons were deported to Oklahoma after the Seminole wars and some
of them later moved to Mexico where they are referred to as Negros Mascogos. A
century later, some of them again moved back to Texas where they were engaged
to serve as a special military unit referred to as Seminole Negro Indian scouts.
Indian escapees (indios bravos) were the first known Maroons to be referred to as
"cimarrones" in Cuba. They were later joined by others of African descent. Attempts
to wipe out the cimarrones in Cuba, like those in other Maroon areas, failed. In 1868,
a decree which abolished slavery recognized the existence of the palenques.
The Maroons, clearly, became the frontline fighters in the struggle against slav-
ery in all its forms. Before any known struggles for independence in the New
World, Maroon communities had developed strong ideas and strategies for self-
sufficiency, self-help and self-reliance and fought with great skill and courage for
the right to self determination. The communities managed to unite people who
had come from many different backgrounds and regions of the world, speaking
different languages and practising diverse customs and traditions. African tradi-
tions featured prominently in the formation and transformation of the way of life
of these groups throughout the period of their struggle. It is however difficult to
clearly identify all aspects of the African elements retained by the Maroons. It is re-
corded that the majority of the Maroons consisted of slaves derived from West Af-
rica, whose cultural traditions should help to identify any retentions and how
these may have contributed to the survival of the Maroons.
Although devoid of remote mythologies and evidence of great antiquity of the
origins of man and the development of his early cultural traditions, as is charac-

4 Maroon Heritage
teristic of the Old World, evidence exists which indicates that the Caribbean region
has a pre-history that dates back several thousand years before the Christian era
[Kozlowski 1974; Rouse 1986]. These early traditions provided the background
and the basis for the traditions from which Maroon societies initially emerged. The
following questions are therefore relevant: What was the impact of the basic tradi-
tions on those of the Maroons? What are the main features that provide the link be-
tween the old and the new?
The emerging complexity of the archaeological record that is coming to light in
the Caribbean [Rouse 1986; Singleton 1985; Drewet 1991; Tabio and Rey 1985] indi-
cates a pattern of cultural transformation in the New World that appears to have
been mosaic in character. Added to this difficulty is that the identification of its
component features is very elusive.

New World foundation

The treatment of subjects of human movements and developments through time

and space, as if they occurred in a linear evolutionary sense, as implied in chrono-
logical schemes proposed by Rouse, Kozlowski and others, is misleading [Agorsah
1993]. The cultural categories used by archaeologists in their interpretations must
make distinctions between technological and chronological evidence, or between
these and other facets of culture. The philosophy behind the drawing of these
schemes should be geared towards the reconstruction of past human behaviour,
using the schemes as means to an end. In other words, although the concept of
time is of singular importance in archaeology, it constitutes a tool towards facilitat-
ing interpretation of temporal variability as well as synchronic and diachronic pat-
terning and changes or transformations. These cannot be achieved except on the
basis of chronological considerations that objectively eliminate all biases and use
analytical approaches suitable for the evidence available.
So far, it appears that the chronological schemes for the Caribbean seem to
have been constructed only on strict lithic typology for the prehistoric and early
part of the historical period. But the problem is that these typological construc-
tions—whether stylistic, functional or cognitive—although important tools
used in archaeological analysis, are of archaeologists' making and are abstrac-
tions and therefore should not be equated to human movements or cultural tra-
ditions, except where evidence clearly identifies such movements or traditions.
Failure to do this might imply that all traditions in the New World, particularly
the Caribbean, had a single common origin. A discussion of the early back-
ground cultural traditions should clearly demonstrate that many different cul-
tural traditions played a part in laying the foundation for the development of
these early freedom fighters.

Background to Maroon Heritage 5

The prehistoric period

The prehistoric period in the Caribbean is divided into two: Early Prehistoric Age
and Late Prehistoric Age. This period covers the times of the earliest human beings
in the Caribbean and adjoining areas where Maroon societies took seed. It covers
the periods termed Palaeo-Indian I and II and Meso-Indian by Kozlowski [1974]
and Rouse and Allaire's [1978] Lithic period. The main features of this period, from
available evidence, include bifacially-chipped stemmed projectile points, chop-
pers, scrapers and leaf-shaped (tanged) arrowheads, all made of stone. The socie-
ties may have been hunting and gathering groups in varying degrees and intensity
over time. The earliest evidence known so far comes from Venezuela, where this
assemblage is dated to 7,000 years ago [Rouse and Allaire 1978] at the sites of
Caroni in the Middle Orinoco basin area (5000 BC) and El Jobo.
Finds from the site of Blanchisseuse in Trinidad [Harris 1989] are thought to
belong to this period as well. The only Lithic Age finds in the Lesser Antilles
consists of what has been described as workshop debris off the coast of Antigua
on Long Island and flint flakes and shell celts found in a shell mound at the site
of Jolly Beach, dating to approximately 2000 BC [Nodine 1990]. From the
Greater Antilles the Early Prehistoric Age evidence comes from the Dominican
Republic where dates to between 3000 and 2000 BC have been obtained from
the sites of Casimira [Cruxent and Rouse 1969], and from Haiti from the sites of
Cabaret and Mangones. Evidence comes from Cuba in the presence of highly
developed lithic industries which have been observed [Nunez 1948, 1963] and
dated at the sites of Seboruco to about 4000 BC, Residuario Fuenche to about
2050 BC and Guayabo Blanco to 1300 BC.
Kozlowski [1974] has often referred to a combination of the lithic material from
Seboruco in Cuba [Moure 1984] and Mordan in the Dominican Republic as repre-
senting a dominant lithic tradition in the Greater Antilles, calls it the Seboruco-
Mordan Culture (in which case the new scheme will call it a cultural complex). It
may be observed that the dating of the earliest period in Caribbean chronology de-
creases in time, as one draws a line from the northern coast of South America
across the Lesser to the Greater Antilles. This is often the basis of the diffusionist
theories regarding human movements which constitute a whole subject that can-
not be discussed here.
The second stage of the prehistoric period which continued from the earliest signs
of settlement and the advent of ceramic traditions also saw the earliest development
of agriculture in the Caribbean. It covers what Kozlowski [1974] refers to as Forma-
tive period, or what Rouse and Allaire [1978] refer to as Archaic and Ceramic. The
last part of this Late Prehistoric Age is considered as the period of agricultural socie-
ties, the earliest part being considered as the transitional period between them and
the hunting and gathering societies predominantly non-food producers. The Late
Prehistoric Age therefore includes Kozlowski's Neo-Indian period.
Numerous Late Prehistoric Age ceramic manufacturing and early agricultural
sites have been identified in the Caribbean. Again, the earliest evidence comes from

6 Maroon Heritage
Venezuela, where sites include La Gruta dating to between 1585 and 2140 BC, Los
Merecurotes 1020 BC, Parmana 700 BC, Saladero 920-850 BC and Los Barrancos AD
580 [Sanoja and Vargas 1983]. Often, finds from these sites have been considered as
representing specific ethnic groups or populations by the use of terms such as
"Saladoid" or "Barrancoid", "series", "people" [Rouse and Allaire 1978], or the more
preferable term, "Saladero complex". An attempt has been made by Rouse to corre-
late the distribution of the Saladero cultural complex with the linguistic evidence that
shows the divergence of the Maipurau and the known proto-Arawakan language
groups. This cannot be discussed fully because of an inability to check for details at
this time.
Evidence of the Late Prehistoric Age in Trinidad comes from the site of Banwari
[Harris 1989] dating to approximately 5000-4000 BC and Pitch Lake (500 BC). From
the Lesser Antilles evidence of cultural material that dates to the early centuries
AD has come from the site of Jolly Beach in Antigua [Nodine 1990]. Other sites in
the Lesser Antilles include Chancery Lane and Silver Crest among others in Bar-
bados [Drewet 1991], Banana Bay in the Grenadines, as well as Toumassee, Gi-
randy and Lavoulte in St Lucia. However, the earliest date for the area seems to
point to the times the Jolly Beach finds in Antigua.
The Late Prehistoric Age in the Greater Antilles shows chipped and pecked
stone tools, grinding stones and pestles alongside pottery and several midden
sites. Sites in the Virgin Islands include Krum Bay (880 BC), Cancel Hill (870 BC)
and Aboretum (AD 50). Puerto Rico is represented by the sites of Cayo Hondo
(1060 BC), Cayo Cofresi (325 BC) and Hacienda Grande (AD 120). Mordan (2610
BC), El Porvenir (1030 BC), El Caimite (180 BC) and San Juan de Maguana (AD
695), are the main sites in the Dominican Republic representing the Late Prehistoric
Age; while White Marl (AD 877) and Bottom Bay (AD 650) provide the earliest
known tradition in Jamaica [Robotham 1980]. Sites of this age in Cuba include
Residuario Fuenche (2050 BC), Damajayabo (1200 BC), and Mogote de la Cueva
(AD 330).
One feature of the Late Prehistoric Age is the regional diversification repre-
sented by a gradual shift from the broad base of cultural complexes to regional or
zonal traditions.
The reason is that as the traditional societies gained greater control over the en-
vironment, the adaptive mechanisms began to crystallize into distinct traditions.
While it appears that developments in some areas followed roughly parallel
courses, in other areas, as expected, these processes followed completely different
courses. This regional diversification is a phenomenon observed for cultural tradi-
tions reaching that stage of development in various parts of the New World as well
as in Europe and Africa. The reason may be found in the environmental resource
differences. For example, Cuba, with a land area comprising more than half the to-
tal area of Antillean islands has terrestrial, marine, freshwater and estuarine envi-
ronmental conditions which are significantly different from those of the smaller
islands, particularly in the eastern Caribbean. Even among islands in close proxim-
ity, such as the low-lying limestone islands of Barbuda and the volcanic island of

Mckgrounb to Maroon Heritage 7

Montserrat (only 100 kilometres apart), differences exist in the environmental con-
ditions and resources. Evidence also shows that while some of the traditions be-
came more complex and grew faster, others developed slowly until very recent
times.

The historical period

The historical period is a convenient division in Caribbean chronology that attempts
to deal with the contact of the region with cultural traditions from outside. Specifi-
cally, the period refers to the earliest contact with European cultural traditions and
starts at different times in different parts of the region, although by and large such
contacts cover the last 500 years in the greater part.
Two sub-periods are proposed for the period [Agorsah 1993], the first one being
the transitional period with the end stages of the Late Prehistoric Age which con-
cerns evidence of the contacts with the cultural traditions of the Mesoamerican
area such as the Mayan traditions and the Andean cultural areas, as well as the ear-
lier cultural traditions of the northern South American coast that interacted with
the other Caribbean and adjoining areas.
The second historical period begins with the contact between European and Car-
ibbean traditions. In Jamaica, for example, this last sub-period could be broken down
into (a) the Spanish era and (b) the English era. These may be further sub-divided,
depending on the preferred grouping of the events of the general period. It appears
that it is during this period that the formation of Maroon societies started in earnest.
The difficulty in archaeological reconstruction of the historical period does not
lie with the chronology because of the support it has from documentary evidence,
such as public records [Garrow 1986], census materials [Moran 1986], maps [Hig-
man 1986], missionary records [Whiteman 1986], and travellers' accounts such as
the report by Columbus on his first encounter with the people he met in the area.
The main issues needing attention continue to include:
• the identification of the archaeological proof of the ethnic elements car-
ried over from the prehistoric into the historic period, artifact patterns
and how they lead to the identification of socioeconomic lifestyles;
• "Afro-Caribbean traditions" and the identification of the elements of con-
tinuity in traditions, and the processes that led to their transformation
[Armstrong 1982,1985].
These and other issues, more than the chronology, are vital to the study of the
period, but cannot be discussed here.
It is unfortunate, however, that Caribbean historians have accepted the errone-
ous claim of early scholars that relates the early populations of the Caribbean to
those "observed" for northern America—"Palaeo-Indians", "Indian groups", as
well as even those casually referred to in travellers' report. Fascination with the
story about the Indian persists among scholars today on a variety of levels. Among
scholars of Caribbean archaeology, the Indian has been recipient of the credit for

8 Maroon Heritage
many, if not all, of the Caribbean prehistoric cultural traditions. Rouse [1982] in
tracing continuities in norms in ceramic stylistic features in the Caribbean during
the later stages of the prehistoric period, drew the conclusion that "styles and their
series are analogous to languages and their families"—a statement that he may not
accept in totality today. However, this view demonstrates the basis for many of the
pioneer chronological schemes drawn for the Caribbean. Although the historical
period can be clearly identified in many areas of the New World as beginning with
European contact, the true picture of a transitional period—between the prehis-
toric and historical—is still unclear with respect to whether it is referred to as
"preColumbian" or "protohistoric". However, it is the African background that
has been emphasized in much of the discussion of the formation and transforma-
tion of Maroon societies.

African foundations

The development and growth of societies and social organizations of West Africa
are closely linked with those of the African continent. So are the links of African
with Maroon societies of the New World, particularly the Caribbean. The study of
the traditional systems of West Africa is particularly important for the Caribbean,
not only because of the link with the slave trade, but also because West African so-
cial systems present several authentic characteristics of general development (such
as systems extant in Africa before and after colonial contacts) that form the basis of
observed continuities in the Caribbean. Although transformations have been ob-
served in several features of the social systems, there still remain elements that in-
dicate the trend as well as the force of the impact of the various events that have
occurred over time.
Many aspects of the West African cultural traditions before the European con-
tact could help to identify transformations resulting from that contact, particularly
after AD 1500, and are also critical for explaining cultural continuities in the Carib-
bean. Family systems, language, ethnicity, religion, festivals, marriage patterns,
art, music and dance are some of the issues of relevance that need to be discussed.
These aspects of the West African cultural systems related closely to political, eco-
nomic and technological systems of the area. Fortunately, with the increase in
scholarly studies and with the aid of new scientific research methods and tech-
niques, many of the misconceptions about the African, his continent and its past
have been corrected. For example, Africa has been viewed as a homogenous cul-
tural entity with a single stream of cultural development. This is now proven to be
erroneous. It must be noted at the outset that as a result of the combination of its
long history, size and very varied environmental setting, Africa has developed a
highly heterogeneous society, more than can be found elsewhere. With such het-
erogeneity came the development of varied traditional forms of social organization
and institutions. It is also important to associate the ethnic groups of social systems

Background to Maroon Heritage 9

with specific geographical areas or social groups which constituted the context in
which we observe cultural practices and transformations that possibly cut across
ethnic areas and boundaries. But one thing is clear about Caribbean culture, and
that is the fact that it developed from a mixture of cultural traditions of which Af-
rican culture was an important component. This is an issue that needs to be dis-
cussed much more seriously.
Archaeological and historical evidence available indicate that the earliest forms
of social organization in West Africa date back to prehistoric times. The turning
point of this development occurred in many parts of West Africa in the wake of
European and other outside contacts. But the foundation had been established
prior to that.

The prehistoric period

Approximately 10,000 years ago, in many parts of Africa, the fundamental change
of utmost importance was the origin of agriculture. Implicit in this was the early
beginnings of controlled food supply and development of more permanent settle-
ments [Phillipson 1985; Clark, 1982]. The pioneering technology and new settle-
ments of the Stone Age man were closely linked with the need for food as well as
social organization. Societies moved and cooperated not only because of the love
of adventure but much more because they wanted fresh pastures or fields to culti-
vate. With increased supplies of food provided by farming and improved tool
types, settlements grew larger and larger causing the "splitting-up" of groups, and
as the centuries passed new groups began to spread. Social relations became more
complex, languages increased not only in number but in complexity and individu-
ality as well, resulting in the hundreds of languages and dialects observed today.
Developing along with these have been strong and viable family groupings, dans,
villages, cities, kingdoms and traditional industries such as potting and metal working.
Good examples of the evidence come from ancient Nigeria and the Sudanic areas
of West Africa.
Other developments included customs related to birth, initiation, marriage, pu-
rification and funerals. In addition, there came traditional religious, as well as har
vest, reunion and thanksgiving festivals; social relationships and taboos; and various
aspects of art and craft such as sculpture, architecture, painting and basketry, ceramic,
textile and metal industries—all of which began to develop towards the diversity
that characterized the West African culture at the time of European contact. Our
limited sources include archaeology, travellers' accounts, ethnography, linguistics
and historical documents.

The historical period

Kamau Brathwaite [1988], a leading West Indian cultural anthropologist, points
out that West Indians seeking their identity require an objective study of the trans-
atlantic trade period, and especially the background folk culture of the slaves. The

10 Maroon Heritage,
West African slave must be seen as coming from quite a far distance away from the
original area of his tradition and planted in a new environment to which he must
adapt, using the available tools and memories of his traditional heritage. The slave
set something new—something Caribbean—but something recognizably African.
Clearly, like the study of other cultures, understanding the root African heritage as
it evolved before and during slavery is especially important to an understanding of
present-day Caribbean societies.
One may well ask if there is any justification for this. Although they are not al-
ways totally reliable, available figures suggest that throughout the entire period of
the slave trade, the Caribbean was the recipient of the largest number of slaves im-
ported from Africa, receiving over 43 per cent of all slave imports [Postma 1990].
Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, the Leeward Islands and Barbados were the islands that re-
ceived the largest number of these slaves. An estimate of about six million is pro-
vided for the slaves imported. Given the vast number of Africans imported, there
can be no doubt that Africans made an important contribution not only to the
population of the Caribbean region but also to the culture of the region.
At the time of the intensification of the slave trade in the seventeenth and eight-
eenth centuries, important social and economic systems were already established
in West-Central Africa. Agriculture was the basis for most of the economic activity
in this region. Slash and burn and crop rotation were the main techniques used in
crop production. Hoes and axes were the most important tools used. The main
crops grown were millet, sorghum, maize, beans and cowpeas. While agriculture
was the main economic activity, not all the Africans living in West-Central Africa
were farmers. Those who lived in areas where grass or savanna lands existed were
for the most part pastoralists. They reared cattle, goats, chickens, ducks and pigs.
Apart from agriculture and animal husbandry, at the time of the slave trade
Africans in West-Central Africa were also skilled craftsmen and craftswomen.
They produced iron goods such as knives, arrowheads, axes and bracelets. The
pottery industry was also well developed. Items such as cooking utensils, ves-
sels for storing corn and beans and for brewing beer were also made. Africans in
this region were also skilled in mat-making, leather work and woodcarving.
Woodcarvers were responsible for the production of chairs, mortars, handles for
iron implements and tables. As far as occupations were concerned, it is clear
that the slaves who came to the West Indies from the West-Central African re-
gion possessed a variety of skills.
In contrast to West-Central Africa, the slaves who were taken to the West Indies
from West Africa came from a region which had greater variety in climate and ge-
ography and belonged to different ethnic groups (Fig. 1.2). The slaves came from
two major climatic zones in West Africa: the forests and the grasslands. The forest
region stretches across West Africa; from Sierra Leone in the west to the Cameroon
in the east. It reaches from the coast for about 200 miles. For much of the period
prior to the development of the Atlantic slave trade the forests of West Africa were
sparsely populated. This was mainly because of the hot, humid conditions, the
density of the vegetation and the presence of the tsetse fly (an insect which kills

background to Maroon Heritage n

Fig.1.2 West Africa: vegetation and climatic zones

animals and causes sleeping sickness in humans). Nevertheless, by the time the
slave trade developed, Africans such as the Yoruba and Ibo (Nigeria), the Fon
(Togo), and the Ashanti (Ghana) had succeeded in overcoming some of these bar-
riers and had settled in various parts of the forest.
As a result of the threat posed to animals by the tsetse fly, the majority of slaves
drawn from the forest region would have been involved in some form of agricul-
ture. The main crops cultivated included yams and oil-palm (which were indige-
nous to the forests) together with rice, cassava and maize which were introduced
as a result of West Africa's contact with areas in the Americas and Asia. Africans of
the forest regions of West Africa were for the most part agriculturalists.
Despite its importance, agriculture was not the only means through which Af-
ricans who lived in the forest region earned their livelihood. Those who lived in the
Akan forests would have had some knowledge of gold mining, smelting and forg-
ing [Goucher 1990,1991] because in Akan states such as Gyaman, Bono and Banda
gold mining and processing were major economic activities. In addition, the Akan
speaking people of the forest region were also skilled at pottery [Crossland 1989],
the spinning and weaving of cloth and manufacture of soap.
Women played an important role in specialized occupations among the
Yoruba and Ibo people who dwelt in the forests of West Africa. For example,
Yoruba (Nigeria) and Brong (Ghana) women made dyes, manufactured shea
butter and produced palm-oil and cosmetics. They also dominated occupations

ii Maroon Heritage,
such as hairdressing and tattooing. Among the Ibo, women tended to dominate
the same type of occupations, one of the exceptions being that they were re-
sponsible for decorating houses and building and plastering walls. In addition
to these occupations, the forest dwellers were also skilled at making pins, stir-
rups, horse-bits, bells, chains, bangles, hoes, cutlasses and in the production of
musical instruments such as drums and flutes. Slaves drawn from the forest re-
gion of West Africa were well equipped to make a significant contribution to life
in the West Indies.
Savanna or grasslands cover a substantial portion of the land area called
West Africa. The species of grass would have varying height of between five to
ten feet as one moves north to south. However, in parts such as the Guinea Sa-
vannah they could grow as much as fifty feet in height. The tsetse fly is preva-
lent in this area and as a consequence animals cannot be reared in order to make
a livelihood. This area was sparsely populated and agriculture formed the basis
of economic activity.
In other parts of the Sudanic grasslands, especially the areas around the head-
waters of the Niger River, the practice of agriculture was the main means through
which Africans here earned their livelihood. The crops cultivated included pearl
millet, sorghum, cowpeas, bambara groundnut and cotton. In other areas to the
north and east of the main river systems, especially the extensive open plains, the
rearing of animals—especially cattle, donkeys, horses and camels—is the most im-
portant occupation. Because of the need to find land to graze their herds, most of
the pastoralists in the Sudanic zone were nomads.
In general, therefore, slaves drawn from the savanna or Sudanic zones came
from a region in which agriculture and pastoral farming were the dominant means
by which people earned a livelihood. Agriculture was particularly important
among the Mandingo speaking people such as the Soninke, Malinke and the Bam-
bara; the Mossi, the Songhai and the Hausa (Fig. 1.3). Pastoral farming was very
important to people such as the Fulani, the only people in West Africa to whom it
became a fundamental way of life.
Despite their overall importance, agriculture and animal husbandry were not
the only means through which Africans in the savannah or Sudanic zones
earned a livelihood. Some people earned a living as blacksmiths; others were
skilled in the production of textiles and a variety of leather goods (including
hides, shoes and bags), the making of boats and canoes, and in fishing. Like
their counterparts in the forests, Africans in the Sudanic savanna zones also
made musical instruments such as drums, flutes and rattles. Like their counter-
parts in the forest zone, therefore, the slaves who were drawn from the savan-
nah or Sudanic zones came from occupations which would have enabled them
to make an important contribution to life in the West Indies.
The majority of Caribbean slave imports came from two main areas in Africa—
the Lower Guinea coast and West-Central Africa, in particular Angola. In the Sudanic
zone in areas such as Hausaland, parts of the Senegambia and lands lying to the
north of the Akan forests, foodstuff such as rice, groundnuts, millet, sorghum, dried

Background to Maroon Heritage 13

Fig. 1.3 Ethnic groups of West Africa

fish and fruits and vegetables were the main items of trade. An important feature of
these markets was that the bulk of the trading was conducted by women.
Apart from catering to local needs, the domestic market also provided an op-
portunity for traders of various regions to exchange their goods. States in the forest
zone purchased large quantities of goods produced in the Sudan and the Sahara
such as salts of various kinds, cattle products and cloth. States in the Sudan pur-
chased gold, kola nuts and iron goods which were produced in the forest zone. The
inter-regional aspect of the domestic trade was dominated by two major groups of
West African merchants — the Juula (also known as the Wangara and the Dyula) of
the Western Sudan and the Hausa of the Central Sudan. Both terms refer to the lan-
guages spoken by the traders which, in each case, is that of the largest local
savanna cultivator group, the Mandingo in the west and the Hausa farther east.
The Dyula were the first group of merchants to emerge. They began as gold
traders. The Hausa merchants emerged later and have always concentrated on the
internal market. However, they sometimes dealt in ivory and slaves for trans-
Saharan export trade.

Social factors

Social groupings in West Africa have been identified on the basis of linguistic affili-
ations. The geographical distribution of these groups was often wrongly referred to
as "tribes". Fig. 1.3 is, in fact, a very simplified map of these "major" ethnic groups,

14 Maroon Heritage,
as it includes only groups that have been historically documented rather than the
real existing groups. The concept of "ethnic" only appeared in the historical literature
in the past fifty years and has been considered as "named, bonded units of people
who identify themselves or others as different; they have distinctive patterns of so-
cial, economic and political organization, but strictly social-based".
In West Africa, for most of its history social behaviour and value systems such
as language and religious affiliations have been important but not essential mark-
ers of "ethnic" identity. However, owing to the fluidity and multidimensionality of
ethnicity as well as the frequency with which it is differently used, it has been ex-
tremely difficult to clearly demarcate their geographical distribution. By design
and partly through ignorance, political boundaries initiated by colonial powers af-
ter AD 1500, cut across these groups unevenly, resulting in the separation of fami-
lies, clans and other social affiliations. The impact of this arbitrary separation is too
well known to be further discussed here. The main effect of this action on ethnic
groups was the undermining of the unity that was the backbone of the socio-cul-
tural institutions and entities. More divisions meant less interaction and greater
differentiation in the trend of cultural development. Of course, differentiations
caused by environmental conditions are well known—the pastoral ethnic groups
occupying much of the savanna while the agricultural ethnic groups occupy the
forest lands for obvious reasons.
West African family and clan systems are directly connected with ethnic group-
ing. This aspect of the social system has remained until today among many groups,
despite the negative impact on them from outside contacts. In modern Ghana, Ni-
geria, Benin (Dahomey), Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon the relationships may
be summarized as follows, although local names for these divisions vary from
place to place:
• Individual
• Family
• Clan
• Major clan
• Ethnic group
In descending order, the family usually forms the nucleus of all the units along
the line, each being so defined that members belonging to each have common
bonds and traditions that differentiate them from non-members. One feature of
these relationships is the extended family system — whether patrilineal or matri-
lineal. Changes in the size and composition of these domestic groupings are
brought about mainly by the births, marriages and deaths within them. The impact
of the slave trade and the recent job hunting in urban areas by the rural people
have also caused changes in the size and composition of the family and clan units.
However, kinship and family relations continue to play important roles in the
ownership and transmission of property and the productive capacity of many
West African societies, and forms the basis of political and economic institutions
such as kingships.

RackgroiwJb to Maroon Heritage 15

Time and seasons
The African concept of time is one that has never been properly understood. The
reason is that time is considered to be tied in to activities of the season, day or
night. In many parts of West Africa, time is thought of as periods in a chain of
events gradually culminating one into another. Time is seen as a sequence of activi-
ties such as planting, sowing and harvesting. Among some societies, such as the
Guan and Akan of Ghana, there has been the tradition of the six-day week. For the
Tallensi of Ghana, for example, the year starts in mid-October and the number of
days in each month varies from year to year. In the periods after European contact
in most of West Africa, seasons or periods have built the calendrical system of
seven days in a week and twelve months in a year. In areas influenced by Islam, the
Islamic calendar is used side by side the solar calendar.
Despite the influence of western contact on the timing of events among many
societies in West Africa, most areas still operate the traditional system. In fact, fes-
tivals and festivities are still observed on the basis of the traditional seasons in
many parts of West Africa.

Names and naming systems

In many West African societies, systems of family names, given names and other
identification procedures have been used by traditional societies with specific
meanings that identify places, persons, families, clans or individuals, objects or
concepts. Names may also have religious connotations. The name of a person or
traditional phenomenon must also reveal a little of the history of the person or his
ancestors. Day names such as those used in Ghana—Kofi for males born on Friday,
Kwame for Saturday, etc.—are also common and usually refer to the deity or the
local god of the day on which a person was born.
Among the Ewe of Ghana, for example, several names are linked to the over-
whelming authority of Se (Mawuga), the Supreme being and ruler of the uni-
verse. Names such as Senyo (meaning Se or God is good), Senanii (Se or God
gives); Senagbe (Se or God is giver of life) are examples. Names may also be as-
sociated with life (agbe in Ewe or nkwa in Akan), or after different local gods, or
the circumstances of birth. Fond names are also common.
In the Islamised areas, people have adopted Arabic names since the first millen-
nium AD. These relate mainly to names in the Koran or to the great practices of Mo-
hammed. Saidu, Alidu, Tahiru, Abdullah, Iddi are examples. Contrast this with other
traditional names such as Agyei, Adefuye, Agorsah, Boateng, Bonsu, Ogwuchuku, Ogun,
Oudraogo, Okai, Musonda, Abebe, Addae, Gyima, Gyeffour and Diop.
Since the fifteenth century, through contact with Europeans and missionar-
ies, names in West Africa have tended to be Europeanized or Christianized or
even in some cases completely changed to foreign names. Many of these
changes were effected through baptism into a Christian church. Non-Moslem
groups were the main victims. For example, a name such as Kofi Dua became

16 Maroon Heritage.
Kofi Wood; Kwame Ansa became Quansah or Quansa, and we find names end-
ing in -son indicating the son of someone (e.g. Johnson, Addison, Forson, Kama-
son, Lawson, etc.). While some of these names were consciously changed,
others changed gradually over time. Some West Africans adopted names of
their colonial masters and some of them still exist. Some of the changes were
adopted either as a means of identification or for the prestige of bearing Euro-
pean names. Other names became established by the Europeans because they
could not pronounce West African names such as Agbemabiase, Agbemafle or
Amematekpor, Oloruntimihin, Bemenebenya or Kitntukimunku.
Generally, there have been more changes in names in the southern forest ar-
eas of West Africa than in the northern Sudanic areas, where Islamic influences
have more strongly persisted over a long period of time. Names of places
(towns, village towns) and of physical features such as rivers and mountains
have also been affected by European contact. In local settings, traditional
names existed for such rivers as Volta, Niger, the Gambia. The changes recently
effected in Burkina Faso and Togo in personal names are deliberate attempts to
change this situation back to the status quo.

Religious practices
Anthropologists generally think that human societies belong to two worlds. One is
the mundane and practical in which man recognizes what is going on. The other is
the world of the strange, the unseen and the unpredictable, i.e. the supernatural. In
the context of West African religious practice, both worlds flow together and dis-
harmony between the two is attributed to man's general behaviour. African relig-
ious practices have been extensively discussed as they formed the reason and
medium of colonization. Among the significant aspects discussed are:
(1) The concept of God as the creator and maker of the universe. The Yoruba
of Nigeria, the Kpelle of Liberia, the Limba and Yalunka of Sierra Leone,
the Mossi of Burkina Faso conceive of the Supreme Being in the same
fashion.
(2) The belief in spirits of the dead—hence ancestor veneration. Ancestors
are considered as the saints of the communities to which they belonged.
(3) Associated rituals, observances such as libation, taboos and spirit
possession. Although these issues are central to religious practices in
West Africa, they do not by any means constitute any single thing that
can be termed "one West African religion", because there are different
mechanisms or approaches to these practices in different areas.

Festivals and festivities

Festivals in West African tradition consist of the most significant and richest forms
of art and cultural practice. Often ritually based, West African festivals consist of

Background to Maroon Heritage 17

socio-political events, heroes and heroic events and also serve as a strategy for po-
litical or social control, or they may be purely memorial. Each festival has a special
message such as the Olimi festival of the Ukpila of Nigeria, which is a festival of
the dead; the festival of the bull of the Kirdi of North Cameroon called Maray; the
Aboakyir festival of the Efutu of Ghana (animal-hunting festival); the Homowo
festival of the Ga of Ghana; the rain-making festival of the Mossi of Burkina Faso
called Tengana and the Tedudu festival of the Ewe of Togo and Ghana; the Damba
festival of the Dagomba of Ghana; and the Odwira festival (cleansing festival) of
the Akwamu of Ghana. There are military elements in some of these festivals that
are related to the organization of para-military groups to recount the struggle of
the past.
The coming of Europeans to West Africa has affected the timing of these festi-
vals and modifications have been made to suit the new religious and political or-
der. Some of these festivals have changed in character while others still survive
with almost no changes. The Aboakyir (hunting) festival of the Winneba of Ghana,
for example, has added European military costumes and names that make them
appear foreign. Masquerade festivals have added faces that are strictly foreign. But
the most important point is that many of these festivals maintain their traditional
artistic forms and ritual characteristics. The effect of European influences on these
festivals varies and can only be discussed on an individual basis, as each has spe-
cific traditional features that offer specific responses to the influences from outside
the ocalities.

Marriage systems
In West Africa, like many parts of Africa, marriage goes far beyond the bounds of
mere relationship between man and woman. It creates alliance between groups,
because in addition to involving sexual and economic union between two people,
marriage establishes reciprocal rights and obligations among husbands, wives,
families and their offspring. However, in some groups such as the Kpelle of Libe-
ria, a wife is considered a husband's financial asset, so that the more wives a man
has, therefore, the stronger his labour force in terms of their offspring. This has led
to the development of the tendency to be polygamous among some groups who
are strictly subsistence-based. It is for this reason that many scholars have consid-
ered African marriages as merely a means for reproduction. Marriage in Africa has
also been a means for fostering bonds of unity and friendship. Among the Tiv of
Nigeria, in pre-colonial times a man may exchange one of his sisters for the sister
of another man, thus mutually binding their families together. This is rare today.
Another important aspect of West African marriage is premarital moral educa-
tion. The process of such education varies from society to society, but generally the
process ends with initiation and puberty rites. While premarital moral education is
very formal among societies such as the Nchumuru and Krobo of Ghana, it may be
quite informal in others. Such education involves the teaching of housekeeping
skills, the fundamentals of subsistence practices such as farming, cattle keeping

18 Maroon Heritage
and fishing, or craftwork such as weaving, carving or smelting. Some emphasis is
also placed on morality in greeting, obedience of and respect for elderly people,
food preparation, human relations and knowledge of local traditions, as well as
sanctions related to these modes of behaviour.
In recent times, especially since the colonial era, the aesthetic aspects of initia-
tion rites for the youth have been emphasized. However, the moral value is still
maintained. To the Krobo of Ghana, for example, the puberty rite referred to as dipo
is the first qualification of a girl towards marriage. Its main goal is to regulate the
marriageable age of girls and to make sure that they are properly schooled in the
rudiments of married life. Similarly the Gbotowowo of the Ewe of Ghana and Togo
aim for detailed premarital education about good housekeeping and moral behav-
iour.
Another important aspect of marriage in West Africa is the exchange of gifts or
payment often referred to as brideprice or bridewealth or dowry. These involve the
transmission of gifts or property. In pre-colonial days and even until recently
among the Gonja of northern Ghana, such a price consisted of a calabash or cowry
shells and 12 kola nuts. Later, in colonial times, it was 12 shillings and 12 kola nuts.
Among the Lowilli of the same geographical and cultural area, the payment was
350 cowries, in addition to kola nuts. The terms of bridewealth differ from group
to group and is influenced in recent years by the religious practices. The wedding
ceremonies also differ from society to society, but generally are community affairs
down the line. The main stages are:
a) knocking the door and betrothal
b) family negotiations and consultation
c) bridewealth payment
d) the wedding ceremony and ritual
e) the final blessing and public declaration of the marriage.
All these have their accompanying ritual and other performances. Excision (the
removal of certain portions of the female genitals as custom) is a controversial is-
sue related to marriage in Africa. In West Africa it was quite popular in parts of the
Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo. It is said to protect virgin-
ity, or is seen as a rite of passage to adulthood to assure fertility (as claimed by the
Bambara, Dogon and Mossi) or as a means of purification. Its medical effects are
well known and have been the main reason for discouraging this custom. It still
persists in some communities.
Many of the marriage rites and practices have been affected by new ideas com-
ing from both Christian and Islamic religions. In the urban areas in particular, tra-
ditional marriage has been overshadowed by new forms introduced through
colonial contact. The extent of effect also varies from society to society and from
one geographical area to another.

Background to Maroon Heritage, 19

Art, music and dance
Art plays a vital role in helping to bind men together in organized groups. No-
where is this better manifested than in Africa. The best examples are derived from
West Africa where one can trace a clear continuity in the development of art from
prehistoric times. Art in West Africa carries the sharpest imprint of the peculiar
genius of each family, clan or larger society. Although many scholars speak of "Af-
rican art", "African culture", or "African philosophy", etc., it would be a serious
error to assume that African art forms are characterized by a unique style and that
all art forms are identical in scope and orientation. However, one can recognize
similar currents that flow through them. One important characteristic is that many
art forms in West Africa are related to a social or religious content. For example,
masks are not to be contemplated as works of art per se, but for use in connection
with religious or social rituals or ceremonies.
Similarly, while art forms such as dance, spoken drama or concerts, and music
are generally practised as separate forms in the western world, there is no such dis-
tinction in the African context. Of course, there are instances of dance displays or
musical performances that are practised in isolation. Music, dance and ritual are
often linked in a single framework related to a specific, religious or social cere-
mony. This is not to say, for example, that the mask carver is not guided by any for-
mal aesthetic considerations or does not strive for stylistic perfection. It only
means that the aesthetic value is not the end in itself, but a means to an end.
Art forms generally found among West African societies range from sculpture
(in wood, stone, bronze, terracotta, etc.) to weaving, basketry, architecture, body
decoration, music, dance, ritual performances embodying dramatic elements, oral
literature, etc. The decorative and symbolic representations in all these cannot be
fully discussed here. The proverbial symbols linked with the "adinkra" cloth of the
Akan of Ghana as well as the gold weights of Ghana are good examples of how
symbolism, concepts about the universe and art are linked to the social system in
West Africa.
There have been considerable ranges of artistic freedom and improvisation
within the larger framework of communal beliefs and conventions in Africa. It
is for this reason that much of the art, music and dance of West Africa has ac-
commodated much of the external influences. Another problem is that most of
the thinking and writing about African art, music, and dance have been done by
non-Africans or westernized African scholars, most of whom simply see out-
dated, substandard religious practices, initiation symbols, ill-assorted and
purely functional cult and art objects, folktales and proverbs, music, supersti-
tion and magic. Nevertheless, many of the art, music and dance forms still
maintain their traditional sense and value within individual West African social
systems, for which good examples still exist in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo.
This chapter cannot be said to have done full justice to the historical develop-
ment and transformations within West African social systems. Rather, only a

2.0 Maroon Heritage

few significant specific aspects have been enumerated and discussed, the reason
being the heterogeneity of the societies in the region. Important changes have
occurred in the social systems since prehistoric times, but the most significant
ones occurred in the colonial era, during which the most widespread contact
opportunity was available. These can only be identified on an individual basis.
The purpose of this chapter has been to raise issues related to individual social
systems that could be transferred to the Caribbean. It is essential to identify the
transformations within individual social practices as the slaves arrived in the
Caribbean from the West African region. The development of post-colonial so-
cieties such as the Krio societies of Liberia and Sierra Leone, have provided ad-
ditional dimension to the understanding of the transformation aspects which
we see today in many parts of the region.
The significant aspects of the social systems of West Africa have changed
since colonial times. Evidence can also be adduced to demonstrate that many of
the social practices, organization and institutions that characterized much of the
sub-region of Africa have persisted to today and, also that some elements have
been carried over to areas that later became occupied by Africa-derived popula-
tions such as the Caribbean.
Clans or lineages are maintained by a congregation of elders whose status
was determined by their "rank" or an age-set system. It is because of the high
level of political development of some of the empires and kingdoms, that some
earlier observers tended to believe that the institutions may have been imported
— a notion that has now been found to be unacceptable. But it is not possible to
go into the details of the causes of the rise and fall of these states.
In western Africa, by AD 300 the ancient Sudanic empire of Ghana had taken
root, probably stimulated by the trans-desert trade in gold and other goods. It
rose to considerable prominence by AD 1000 but gave way 200 years later to
Mali, which also gave way to Songhay by AD 1600. Also important were the
Kanew-Bornu states, the Mossi states, Oyo and Benin states that flourished dur-
ing the second part of the first millennium AD. The early states of the Egypt
land, Axum and Ethiopian areas are well known. Thus we see the long history
of Africa culminating in viable political entities. During the same period, we
also see foreign contacts both inland and along the coast. But the history of Af-
rica was to take a new turn: fast development—structural and social—but at the
same time, exploitation by foreign elements.

Political factors

The last 1,000 years have seen a faster and more elaborate cultural development in
Africa. African history records not only the importance of metallurgy and popula-
tion movements but more importantly the rise of states or urbanization. In many ar-
eas of Africa the creation of states was fundamental to the gradual development of

background to Maroon Heritage n

societies. The question of the development of the centralized state and its related
institutions of kinship or chieftaincy, had been bedevilled by theories about the
spread of divine kinship from other areas. Centralized states have developed
through many processes:
(1) conquest of a majority by a minority such as happened with many West
and East African groups;
(2) defence needs requiring a society to demand a leader at a time of attack
or invasion;
(3) control of trade leading to acquisition of wealth and political power —
this probably happened with the Zimbabwe of eastern Africa;
(4) group migration or groups on the move often requiring leaders;
(5) the emergence of charismatic leaders;
(6) natural instinct;
(7) strategic location.
In some cases, the origins of African states were not intimately linked to the re-
mote prehistoric past. For some regions such as the Sudanic belt of West Africa or
the Swahili coast of eastern Africa, written sources (often in Arabic) concerning the
rise of states exist from the last few centuries BC. Scholars have often proposed two
basic kinds of traditional political organization:
• centralized states with political authority vested in the hand of hereditary
rulers
• the more egalitarian decentralized communities where political power
was regulated by interactions between kinship groups.

Colonization and independence

Another factor of significance to this later part of the history of Africa, was the im-
pact of Islam and Christianity, in both cases for better or for worse. Islam, accord-
ing to scholars, is not just a religion. It is a culture, a state or vast economic
complex, a common market. Founded by the Prophet Mohammed (AD 570-632), it
spread quickly over the Arabian Peninsula and Syria and many other places in-
cluding Africa—by soldiers, then settlers and then traders.
In Ethiopia, for example, it was first introduced by Muslims, i.e. "those who ac-
cept Islam"—refugees from the Arabian side of the Red Sea. It soon became deeply
rooted, answering to the spiritual and cultural needs of millions of people and,
within a few centuries, large numbers of Africans. These people were not only in
North Africa but also further south across the Sahara and along the East African
coast. Islam in West Africa has a clear link with Islam in North Africa. The large
states of Ghana, Mali and Songhai which developed as a result of gold and slave
trade links became increasingly Islamised.
Islam in East Africa was built on old foundations laid by pre-Islamic Arabs from
South Arabia and the Persian Gulf who had been engaged in slave and ivory trade

22. Maroon Heritage

—a factor to which Mohammed referred in the following way: "The merchant is
the favourite of Islam". Islamic culture and ethics were therefore clearly compat-
ible with commerce, reflecting the fact that early Islam was often the religion of ur-
ban merchant classes. Thus long distance trade, seaborne trade and the
trans-Saharan trade must have brought many Africans in touch with Islam, perma-
nently or temporarily. The impact of Islam on the social and political life of Afri-
cans is clearly recorded in settlements along the coast of eastern Africa and
importantly, in settlements in various parts of the interior of western Africa.
Christianity, on the other hand, came to Africa with many more identifiable ele-
ments. It came through explorers (so-called civilizing agencies, traders and later
colonizers). The dual purpose of the contact with western societies is exemplified
in one of the castles (Elmina) where part of the structure includes a chapel on top
of a room where slaves were locked up: religious missionary work over the slave
trade, or what I call the R/ST factor (Religious factor over Slave Trade factor) of so-
cial analysis in colonial Africa. This is to introduce the results of the contact with re-
spect to African history.
• Slave trade
• Urbanization and initiation into international trade
• Partition of Africa
• Depletion of economic resources of gold
These issues are quite well known to many and will not be discussed here.
The desire for organization resulting in the establishment of lines of authority,
patterns of behaviour and a code of conduct is a basic instinct common to all
human societies. West Africans have from time immemorial designed systems
of social and political organization through which the values of the society are
enforced and individuals are guaranteed their safety and well-being.
But the character of the social and political organization is influenced by a num-
ber of factors. As mentioned earlier, the history of the society, the geographical en-
vironment in which particular groups were located, and their modes of earning a
livelihood were crucial. Before the coming of the Europeans, West African societies
had developed social and political organizations which were highly dynamic—
adjusting to changes as they occurred. Similarly, the political institutions were be-
ing transformed—modifying and adapting.
The manner in which West African societies first evolved had much to do with
the nature of the environment in which the societies were located. There were three
major zones defined earlier — the coastal, the forest and the savannah zones were
significant for the adaptations of the time; each had its own distinctive terrain, cli-
mate and vegetation. But it was much more than that. In many areas, people had
similar livelihoods, as well as similar forms of political institutions and religious
patterns. Languages transcended geographical or political boundaries.
The coastal zone is the area closest to the Atlantic Ocean. It extends inland for a
distance of twenty to eighty miles. It is a low-lying land of plains in the Senegam-
bia and mangrove swamps in Portuguese Guinea and the Niger Delta area. People

Background to Niaroon Heritage, 13

in this area appear to have spoken common branches of the Kwa language. Origi-
nally, some lived nomadic lives, others settled permanently and took part in fish-
ing, hunting, and gathering wild fruits andm vegetables. But with time, they
acquired better knowledge of farming techniques, fish storage and salt refining
and the settlements grew larger.
The forest zone stretching from Sierra Leone to the Cameroon is an area of
heavy rainfall between June and November. With tall trees and thick vegetation,
this area was largely uninhabitable until West Africans learnt how to forge iron
tools. The forest was inhabited by people who lived in wandering bands which
gathered wild crops and hunted. They lived in small villages ruled by the head-
man. The dense forest prevented contact between groups. By AD 1000, the forest
people experienced what is called the neolithic revolution during which they
learnt how to make polished stone tools, with which they cultivated the soil. They
also learnt how to domesticate animals. The gradual improvement in agricultural
techniques—especially with the acquisition of better tools—enabled some people
to have a food surplus which they traded. Initially, most forest units were small,
fairly isolated and politically independent. Within each village, the main political
and social bond was kinship which is blood relationship. The heads of families, the
kin group elders, led their people and ensured that law and order were main-
tained. In cooperation with the priests of the local cults, they saw that customs
were followed and the year's activities planned in advance. Small states and chie-
fdoms were the characteristic form of political organization until the eighteenth
century. There were, however, two major exceptions to this general rule, namely
Benin and Oyo. In both cases, growth on a commercial scale began to take place
from the fourteenth century onwards. Oyo and Benin kingdoms had been in exist-
ence from about the twelfth century.
The Sudan belt which stretches across West Africa from the Atlantic Coast to Lake
Chad and beyond is a region of tall Savannah grass and open woodland, covering
the vast fertile plains that lie between the tropical forest and the Sahara. It is the home
of numerous people mostly referred to as "negroid stock" among whom are the
Wolof, Jukun and Fulani who speak the West Atlantic languages [Dakubu 1973;
Ehret and Posnansky 1982]. The Fulani are widely dispersed and had been the main
apostles of Islam in this area. Although there were communities run by village elders
and priests, the typical political unit was a kingdom. One man appointed by estab-
lished traditional laws of succession was the Chief Executive. With the advice of his
principal officers, he governed an area containing a number of settlements of his peo-
ple and his authority was bolstered by his headship of the local religion.
With the improvement of traditional technology [Goucher 1985,1991; Vansina
1984], people in the different zones interacted and through activities such as trade
network, introduction of new political ideas and migration of people from one
zone to the other, custom and culture intermingled. One major result was the emer-
gence of political units which were much larger than those in existence by AD 1000.
Small political units based on kinship and headed by lineage elders were absorbed
by larger units thus leading to the emergence of kingdoms. Among the kingdoms

14 Maroon Heritage
that emerged were Benin, Oyo, Dahomey, Mossi, Gonja, Asante, Kanem Bornu,
Kom and the Sokoto Caliphate.
The manner of the emergence of the kingdoms dictated the nature of their social
and political organization. Many of the kingdoms of West Africa grew out of the
desire of a core group to extend its frontiers and incorporate into its fold neigh-
bouring groups which were usually smaller and lacking in elaborate political sys-
tems. Thus in all the kingdoms, there was always the easily identifiable core group
which controlled much of the political and economic power. In Oyo the Yoruba
constituted the core group. In Benin the Edo held sway. In the Gold Coast it was
Asante, and Dahomey was dominated by the Fon. The Kom and the Mossi had the
kingdoms named after them while the Fulani dominated the Sokoto Caliphate.
The core group usually took advantage of such factors as advantageous location
with its attendant economic privileges, the existence of a strong military force and
the presence of outstanding individuals who used diplomacy and/or force to weld
together people from diverse origin. Security was another means by which one
neighbouring group dominated another. Oyo, for examples, took advantage of its
strategic location between the coast and the Savannah to establish trading contacts
and build up its power; Asante exploited the fear of a threat from Denkyra to incor-
porate the smaller communities. The history of Oyo would not be complete with-
out the mention of Alafin Orompoto, while the Agadja contributed much to the
rise of Dahomey. Osei Bonsu and Osei Tutu of the Gold Coast were hero leaders of
Asante. In some cases the process of state formation was enhanced by religious fac-
tors such as the emergence of a spirit cult, which tended to compel obedience to
whoever held religious authority. The result was that between 1400 and 1800, po-
litical entities made up of people of diverse origin emerged in West Africa, and ad-
ministrative structures that coped with situations created by the emergence of
these kingdoms evolved.
The system of government which eventually emerged was to a large extent a
product of the experience to which the various peoples that made up the empire
had been subjected. It is, however, clear that in case of a clash, the experience of the
core group would dominate. In some parts of Africa, the mode of conquest some-
times influenced the relationship between the capital and the provinces—as, for
example, Shaka's Zulu kingdom and Mosheh's Basuto empire. However, in West
Africa the distinction did not seem to matter much. The core people made use of a
combination of force and/or diplomacy to establish control over the other groups.
There is always a form of marriage and other links between the capital and the
provinces so as to ensure the loyalty of the provinces.
The head of the political entity was the king who was usually referred to by
several names and titles in the different traditional areas. He often belonged to
the ruling dynasty. In every African kingdom, a tradition regarding the origin of
the ruling dynastyis preserved. This tradition asserts the claim of a single de-
scent line to sole right to rule. It is what some social scientists have called "a
mythical charter"—an account of the past that serves to justify the present. The
first rulers were sometimes believed to be endowed with miraculous power and

Background to Maroon Heritage 15

their claim to authority and obedience had the element of the supernatural. The
unity of the several towns and settlements which eventually made up the As-
ante kingdom was symbolized in the institution of the Sidakwa—the Golden
Stool—which was regarded as having descended from the sky and which com-
pelled obedience to the Asantehene.
What usually happened was that individuals who played important roles in the
emergence of other kingdoms had their leadership role acknowledged by being
conferred with the headship of the kingdoms. Such roles involved leading the cam-
paign to incorporate small groups into the kingdom; leading the group during the
course of migration; these individuals probably influenced critical decisions such
as place of settlement. The "mythical charter" also influenced appointments to
other positions of authority, in that important offices of state within the capital and
the provinces could only be inherited by people from a particular lineage or family.
There was the belief that ritual power and the ability to perform certain tasks were
hereditary and therefore the monopoly of particular lineages.
The king, in theory, held sway in the kingdom. His authority could not be chal-
lenged. All activities were carried out in his name, but in actual practice there were
certain rules and regulations that governed his conduct of affairs. The king was ex-
pected to listen to the views of specified groups of people forming councils which
often had their distinctive names. In most kingdoms, there were specified persons
with the right and responsibility of nominating the successor to a dead king, and
even where succession was regulated by strict rules, the people in charge of the in-
stallation of the new ruler had considerable influence. In many kingdoms, the ruler
depended on the cooperation of priests whose ritual powers derived their validity
from sources outside the control of the king. Although the Oyo recognized a com-
mon ritual head in the Alafin, he did not exercise much political control and no one
Alafin controlled a very extensive domain. And, in many other kingdoms, the
power of the king was limited by the need to take the army commander and the
chief justice into his confidence. What is being stressed is that the organization of
the kingdoms was such that it was difficult, if not impossible, for any one king to
be dictatorial or tyrannical. Institutional checks against such excesses existed and
were frequently applied.
In Nigeria, for example, there were two important sections of the kingdom:
the capital and the provinces. The king lived in the capital which comprised a
greater complex of buildings and a larger population than could be found else-
where in the king's domain. There were categories of officials concerned specifi-
cally with its organization and provision. The kings had elaborate regalia, for
the upkeep of each of which, again, a specific official was responsible. In addi-
tion, members of the highest political authority under the king had their resi-
dences at court or the capital.
In the provinces, the highest authority was exercised by an individual, the pro-
vincial ruler, whose relationship with the king at the capital was determined by a
number of factors, the most important of which was the manner in which the po-
litical entity came into being. In some cases (in Benin, for example), the provincial

16 Maroon Heritage
rulers were sons of the reigning Oba in the capital. In others (Mossi, for example),
they were leaders of the communities incorporated into the kingdom. They were
allowed to continue to exercise authority so long as they acknowledged the author-
ity of the capital by sending annual tributes and going to the king in the capital in
celebrating important festivals. This served to emphasize the province's subjection
to and dependence on the capital.
The relationship between the Asantehene, king of the Asante and the Oman-
hene (provincial ruler) is typical of what obtained between the centre and the pe-
riphery. Each Omanhene held his own annual religious political festival during
which his subjects reaffirmed allegiance to him. But the Omanhene would not hold
his festival until he himself had attended the Asantehene's in Kumasi and thereby
confirmed his allegiance to the king. The Omanhene maintained his own treasury
and raised revenue by taxing his subjects. But from his treasury, the Asantehene
could demand contributions for use in the overall interest of the kingdom.
Each Omanhene maintained his own courts, but from such courts a right of ap-
peal to the Asantehene could be exercised. Finally, an Omanhene possessed his
own military organization and was responsible for mobilization and demobiliza-
tion, and could command the use of his army in the national interest and could re-
strict the use of his forces when it was considered inimical to the overall interest of
the kingdom—as, for example, in the case of a conflict between one Omanhene and
another personality of the traditional area or one of his sub-chiefs.
The political structures described above were not without their weaknesses.
Most of the West African kingdoms existed for centuries. The amount of political
stability that they enjoyed was affected by factors such as the quality of their lead-
ership and the resilience displayed by the kingdom in coping with fundamental
weaknesses. Most of the kingdoms were too large for effective administration.
Against the background of poor communication, the ability of the king at the capi-
tal to effectively monitor events in the provinces was limited. In Oyo, for instance,
state officials were inefficient, corrupt and exploited the weaknesses in the political
system for personal gain. There was the example of the council of king makers
who, in exercise of their right to force the king to abdicate, forced six successive rul-
ers to commit suicide. There were also many instances in which the provinces re-
fused to honour their economic obligation to the capital in the form of tribute
payment, and the process weakened the kingdom.
But the most important factor which caused the decline of these kingdoms was
the invasion by the European. The slave trade had a devastating effect on some Af-
rican kingdoms and was largely responsible for the collapse of ancient West Afri-
can kingdoms. The official abolition of the slave trade and the attempts by
European powers to establish areas of influence was a more direct cause of the col-
lapse of the kingdoms. The industrial revolution which resulted in the production
of more goods in Europe led to a situation in which Europeans wanted areas of in-
fluence where they could collect raw materials and sell their finished products. At
first, the Europeans were content to stay at the coast, and they relied on the African
middlemen to bring them the raw materials from the interior. But the middlemen

Background to Maroon Heritage 2.7

took advantage of the stiff competition among the Europeans to maximise their
profit, particularly during the period of the scramble for Africa.
The Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884, during which African states were as-
signed to European nations, specifically conferred on some European nations the
right to penetrate and establish their rule on the African territories. European trad-
ers realized how much of the profit margin they lost as a result of the activities of
the African middlemen. They therefore sought ways of trading directly with the in-
terior where the raw materials existed. But the African kingdoms, with their well
established authority and effective machinery for the conduct of trade, were seen
as obstacles to the realization of the goal of the Europeans whose officials, such as
consuls and governors, either took advantage of rivalry among rival local groups,
as in the case of Asante and Fante, or the Yoruba civil wars in 1888. Sometimes,
they directly attacked the kingdoms, as in the case of Benin in 1897, thus bringing
an end to the kingdoms. The collapse of the kingdoms was accompanied by the es-
tablishment of colonial administration.
Two European powers, the British and French, established their presence in
West Africa. The French policy of association and assimilation did not leave much
room for the continuation of the African traditional system of government. But the
British policy of indirect rule was essentially a continuation of the traditional
system, with the imposition of an agent of the British government at the apex of
the administration. At independence the essentials of the traditional system still re-
mained and were recognized by the African governments. They were made the
basis of the local government administration in the African nations.

Economic factors

The trans-Saharan trade enabled Africans of West Africa to make contact with
North Africa and the Middle East. It was made possible by the camel, an animal
with a unique capacity for carrying heavy loads over lengthy waterless tracts. The
exact date of the beginning of the trans-Saharan trade remains a matter of much
dispute. Evidence from records and Arabic accounts [Trimingham 1962] suggests
that major trade in precious metal may have begun as early as the 8th century AD.
The exchange of goods and services has been an important feature of economic ac-
tivity in West Africa since time immemorial. There were three distinct markets in
West Africa during the era of the slave trade. These were:
a) the domestic market
b) the trans-Saharan market, and
c) the Atlantic market.
The domestic market provided Africans in the various areas of West Africa
with an opportunity to exchange their surplus produce and obtain those goods
that were in short supply. In order to facilitate trade, regular market days were

2.8 Maroon Heritage,

instituted on which traders gathered to buy and sell goods. The commodities
traded varied in accordance with the regions concerned. In the case of foodstuff,
for example, in the forest zone areas such as Niger Delta and parts of Yoruba land
yams, palm oil, gari (cassava flour), dried fish and fresh fruits and vegetables
would have been the major items of trade, in the sixteenth century. However, a
clear record of the trade emerges from around the mid-eighteenth century.
Prior to the discovery of the New World, gold was the most important item in
the trans-Saharan trade. In fact, the Sudan was the major source of gold, both for
Europe and the Muslim world. Although the quantity traded across the Sahara di-
minished, following the advent of Europeans to the West African coast, gold never
disappeared entirely from the trans-Saharan trade. Next to gold, slaves were the
most important export across the Sahara. During the period 1600-1800, demand
appears to have fallen away in places such as Egypt, Tunisia and the Fertile Cres-
cent. However, this was offset somewhat by increases in demand in Morocco and
in the Ottoman regions of the north-eastern Mediterranean. After 1800, the de-
mand for slaves in the Islamic areas again increased, especially after supplies from
the competing Caucasus regions were cut off by Russian expansion.
Apart from gold and slaves, the forest and Sudanic zones exported leather
goods, gum arabic, wax, ivory and ostrich plumes to regions across the Sahara. The
goods imported into West Africa from North Africa and the Middle East were for
the most part, luxury and military items. These included fine cloths, horses, ar-
mour and weapons (sword blades and scabbards). The trans-Saharan trade was
dominated by Muslim merchants.
Caravans for crossing the Sahara usually assembled at towns founded by
Muslims along the northern frontiers of the desert. These included a) Sijilmasa,
near Morocco; and b) Wangla in south-eastern Algeria and Ghadames in Tuni-
sia. The Sudanic merchants operating on the West African side of the Sahara
supplied the Muslim merchants with items to be traded in the north and distrib-
uted the imported goods in the forest and Sudanic zones.
The Atlantic market was opened up following the advent of the Europeans in
the fifteenth century. During the period 1600-1800, slaves were the most impor-
tant item of trade. Although estimates vary, 10-15 million slaves were traded to
the New World while the trade was in progress. Apart from slaves, the other
commodities traded include bees wax, indigo, ivory, cotton and palm oil. How-
ever, these items were never as important as the trade in slaves. During this pe-
riod, West Africa's imports from Europe comprised mainly iron goods,
weapons, cloth, silks and glass beads.
The development of the Atlantic market marked the beginning of an era
which ended with the European conquest of West African states in the nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries. The trade in slaves was controlled by
European merchants (who operated from forts which were built along the West
African coast) and African rulers and middlemen who secured the slaves to be
exported from the interior. When the English arrived on the coast of the then
Gold Coast, the Portuguese and the Dutch had set up bases from where they

Background to Maroon Heritage 2.9

operated their trading activities with the local people. Kromantse,5 a small set-
tlement of the Fante-speaking people of the then Gold Coast, became the first
location from which the English commenced their operation while settling in.
It was from Koromantse that the English began in 1631 to ship out their very
first consignment of slaves from the Gold Coast, now Ghana. Consequently, all
slaves coming from that point of embarkation were referred to as "Coromantin"
slaves. The town called "Kromantse" by its modern inhabitants was and still is a
small fishing village on the coast very close to Cape Coast and Elmina, the latter
being the largest slave trading locations on the coast of the Gold Coast.
Controlling that whole area of Cape Coast and Elmina was the traditional
kingdom of Efutu, whose kings were the first to have been involved in trading
activities with the Europeans. However short the slave's stay at the coast may
have been before being shipped out, life in the Efutu kingdom was clearly the
last one that they experienced before being forced into the journey across the
Atlantic to various destinations in the Caribbean.
Historians and archaeologists have now agreed that the slaves often referred
to as "Kromantee" did not all come from Kromantse. The memory of the last ex-
perience of life before leaving the West African coast is one that did not seem to
have been passed down well by the slaves, and the colonial records that at-
tempted to describe some of them have failed to present the information that
would lead to a meaningful reconstruction of the cultural formation and trans-
formation of Maroon societies, which the contributors to this volume will in
various ways attempt to address.

Continuities

Rarely do human societies transfer, intact, social systems from one locale to an-
other, especially under circumstances that brought African people to the West In-
dies and also as the people involved came from diverse cultural groups [Price and
Mintz 1992]. Nevertheless, it has been recognized by scholars that Africans from
the West African coast brought with them knowledge and information unique to
their individual cultural traditions and that later, in their new areas, they devel-
oped groupings and institutions that met their needs. There are some specific char-
acteristics of the West African social system that can be cited as examples to
demonstrate this cultural carry-over or retention.
Many scholars claim that Africans brought to the West Indies used their experiences
of ethnic affiliations to organize themselves, and have identified groups of people as
Yoruba or Nago, Mandingo, Ardra and Congo. In many areas, the runaway slave
populations are known to have formed bands that were often grouped along ethnic
lines. In Jamaica, for example, a Maroon society exists with names of leaders such as
Cudjoe, Accompong, Quaku, Kishee and Quao—names that are strictly derived from
the West Africa coast. Quite clearly, although derived from diverse ethnic back-

30 Maroon Heritage
grounds, Africans who were brought to the Caribbean employed similar elements,
as they formed strong and viable communities [Alleyne 1988; Price and Mintz
1992].
Religious ideas and practices have also persisted. Elements of Yoruba religious
practices around cults such as Orisha and African magic, known in the West Indies
as obeah and its connection with witchcraft (bayie) or witch (bayifo) of the Akan of
Ghana are quite well known. Elements of music and dancing characterized by a
rhythmic complexity involving several distinctly different signatures are also dis-
cernible in African-derived West Indian cultural traditions. Warner-Lewis and
Whylie examine this aspect in their chapter. The survival of the talking drum as
means of communication and entertainment is a well known example. How often
have we not heard of master drummers from Africa in the Caribbean? West African
traditional art and symbolism have not yet been demonstrated in the cultural mi-
lieu of the West Indies, although one suspects that some ideas related to these have
been carried over. Customs related to birth, death and marriage seem to have been
revived, though not in their entirety.
Another area of social continuity is the African tradition of folklore and oratory,
which often featured animal trickster (Ananse) and Rabbit. The nature of folklore,
the mode of presentation as well as the use of formal speech patterns, have left
their impact. Some of these folklore traditions have forms similar to biblical story-
telling or are evident in libatio (prayers) and in proverbs.
Most importantly, although the family systems developed in the West Indies
were derived from different backgrounds, social organizations such as the family
survived despite the unfavourable conditions of slavery. Evidence for this exists
among slave societies, particularly those in Jamaica and Haiti. Above all, is the fact
that West African-derived societies have not, on the whole, become fully part of the
societies into which they were introduced.

Notes

1 The term "maroon" has been defined in various ways. Richard Price in Maroon Societies
(1969) has this to say: "The English word 'maroon' like the French 'marron' derives from
Spanish 'cimarron'". As used in the New World, "cimarron" originally referred to domes-
tic cattle that had taken to the hills in Hispaniola [Parry & Sherlock 1956:14] and soon
after, to Indian slaves who had escaped from the Spanish as well[(Franco 1968:92]. By
the end of the 1530s, it was already beginning to refer to Afro-American runaways
[Franco 1968: 93]; see also Guillot [1961: 38], and had strong connotations of "fierceness"
of being "wild" and "unbroken". According to Pereira (ed), Caribbean Literature in Com-
parison [1990] the term "maroon" has different social connotations in different areas. It
is noted that "in Jamaica 'maroon' is applied generally to members of those free commu-
nities. The equivalent in Cuba is apalencado, or inhabitant of a palenque; while the term
'runaway' in Jamaica or 'cimarron' in Cuba applies more specifically to individuals not
organized in a community". Bilby and N'Diaye [1992] spell "Maroon" in the lower case
when its used in its original descriptive sense, synonymous with "escaped slave" and

Background to Maroon Heritage 31

 capitalize only when used generically to refer to contemporary peoples or ethnic groups.
Evidence available on the Maroons indicates that the term does not apply only to indi-
viduals, communities or groups of people of African descent.
2 A much more detailed discussion of the issue of a chronological scheme for the
archaeology and history of the Caribbean may be found in Agorsah [1993]. Chronologi-
cal schemes in archaeology always aim at providing frameworks for reconstructing the
trend of cultural development. They possess two crucial features: the time dimension
and the various stages or events of transformation within the development. The result
has often been the listing of sequences of events or chronological charts as depicted by
the material evidence, or attempting to determine the relative ages of different groups
of artifacts. One such attempt and probably one of the earliest, was made by an Ameri-
can geologist working in the Dominican Republic in 1869. From a cave near Samana Bay
in that country, the geologist William Gabb [1872] observed what has been referred to as
pre-ceramic layer beneath a ceramic layer indicating that there had been in the area a
cultural tradition that pre-dated the use of ceramic equipment. Similarly, in 1919 the
historian Adolfo de Hostos, observed from the site of Ostiones in Puerto Rico that
within the ceramic tradition, similar to what Gabb noticed in the Dominican Republic,
there were differences. For example, he distinguished between red slip and incised
decorated pottery and noted an increase in the quantity of pottery with those types
of decorations from the lower stratigraphic levels [Adolfo de Hostos 1919]. The implica-
tion was that the ceramic tradition observed at the site of Ostiones became much more
complex in decoration during later periods.
It was Gudmund Hatt, a Danish anthropologist, who first attempted to use similarities
in ceramic styles to build, not only a sequence, but also posit cultural diffusion within the
Caribbean. Hatt, using material excavated from various sites in the Virgin Islands in the
early twenties, proposed a two stage-sequence:
1. Pre-ceramic (Krum Bay)
2. Ceramic: a) Coral-Longford b) Magens Bay - Salt River
The earliest cultural tradition known from the Krum Bay site was referred to as prehis-
toric because it lacked pottery, while the ceramic phase was divided into two stages of
development on the basis of decorative motifs. Ceramics from the Coral Bay and Long-
ford sites were painted white on red, while those from Salt River and Magen's Bay were
incised. The latter was considered to be a more complex tradition and, therefore, later.
Hatt [1924] drew comparison between ceramics from the Lesser Antilles to the South and
the Greater Antilles to the west and suggested that the two groups of pottery were de-
rived one from the south and the other from the west. However, in 1933-1934, further ex-
cavations in Puerto Rico by Froelich Rainey indicated deposits of white-on-red painted
pottery like that of Hatt's, beneath incised pottery similar to pottery observed in the Do-
minican Republic by de Hostos. Rainey [1940] on that basis, then proposed two succes-
sive cultural traditions he referred to as Crab and Shell on the basis of associated remains
and postulated migration of cultural traditions from South America. Later, Rouse's
study, beginning 1936, detected flaws in Rainey's sequence. Rouse observed a continu-
ous sequence in the data from Puerto Rico, although that feature was not clear from evi-
dence from the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic [Rouse 1939,1941]. He
therefore proposed a scheme which, although based on localised pottery styles and "cul-
tures", did not effectively depart from Hatt's sequence [Rouse 1948] as follows:
Period I - Pre-ceramic
Period II - Ceramic (White-on-red painted)
Period III - Ceramic (Largely plain pottery)
Period TV - Ceramic (modeled incised)
Later, George Howard, then a student using evidence from sites in Venezuela referred

yi Maroon Heritage
to Rouse's Periods II, IE and IV as Early, Middle and Late Ceramic [Howard 1943,1947].
Terms such as "cultures", "aspects", "phases" or "periods" were ignored. About the
same time, Alfred Kidder [1948] was also proposing a stratigraphic sequence for Vene-
zuela, using material from the sites of La Cabrera and Valencia, a sequence that was com-
plemented by that of Howard as Early and Late Ronquin cultural traditions from the site
of that name located in the Orinoco basin of Venezuela.
The dependence on ceramic styles as a crucial factor in the analysis of the archaeologi-
cal record is quite clear from schemes proposed so far. This is not an unexpected situ-
ation because in those periods in the development of archaeological research, the
appearance of pottery was considered to be one simple significant sign of the develop-
ment of human culture. The idea of the beginning of food preparation, permanent settle-
ment and urbanism, were related concepts.
Emphasis on pre-ceramic and ceramic traditions also featured in Guyana where Clif-
ford Evans and Betty Meggers of the U.S. National Museum, have identified a "pre-ce-
ramic lithic horizon", "a largely pre-ceramic phase" and three "ceramic" phases [Evans
& Meggers I960]. In the Lesser Antilles in St Lucia, Marshall McKussick, a student work-
ing under the supervision of Rouse, also identified four ceramic "styles" the first two of
which were fitted into Period II and the other two into Period IV of Rouse's scheme
[McKussick I960]. A similar sequence of six periods was proposed for Grenada by R.P.
Bullen [1964]. Rouse's Period V was an additional period that was proposed by him to
take the historical period into consideration.
Although radioactive dating methods and techniques became available at the begin-
ning of the 1950s, many of the chronological schemes were still referred to in vague
terms. For example, Rouse and Cruxent in their revision, used the term "complexes" to
describe cultural traditions if they were pre-ceramic, and "styles" for ceramic tradition, a
purely arbitrary and subjective approach. Similarly, the use of such terms as "series" and
"units", and the addition of such suffixes as "-oid" to differentiate those "complexes" or
"series", assumes not only stylistic homogeneity, but also common origins and uni-direc-
tional development of those "complexes" and "series". Such an approach does not consti-
tute an objective framework for understanding the individual or local cultural traditions.
Further, it lacks a basis for cross-cultural or comparative analysis. The result has been
that chronological charts which have been drawn do not exactly provide the objectivity
required in the interpretation of the data they represent. The main cause of this problem
has been the continuedattempt to relate the archaeological material to already existing
schemes based on evidence from North American archaeology [Willey & Phillips 1966].
In a scheme later proposed by Rouse, the Palaeo-Indian, Meso-Indian and Indo-Hispanic
periods of North America are used as standard measures for cultural traditions of the
Caribbean [Rouse & Cruxent 1963]. The stages of cultural development in North America
were defined as follows.
1. Palaeo-Indian - presence of chipped stones big game hunting.
2. Neo-Indian - ground stone and shell artifacts; emphasis on gathering and fishing.
3. Neo-Indian - appearance of pottery and agriculture.
4. Indo-Hispanic - European artifacts and foods.
Considerable reliance has been placed on the use of pottery as a main feature for the
scheme which also uses the term "series" to describe groupings within his classification and
gives the impression that stylistic homogeneity or similarities of certain attributes or types
and forms should be considered to show common origins or movement of populations.
Kozlowski [1974] in an attempt to revise Rouse's chronological scheme, used his
knowledge of Venezuela, and Cuba and other areas of the Caribbean to propose a
scheme that was not effectively different. Although he professed to use economic and
social transformations as bases for his scheme, his descriptions employed the same
technological factors used by Rouse and other scholars. He identified the following:

Background to Maroon Heritage 33

 1. Palaeo-Indian I: - Development of stone implements (blade, flake and leaf-shaped
points); hunting of big land animals.
2. Palaeo-Indian II: - Chipped stone tools, leaf-shaped points and ground and pecked
stone tools; marks transition from hunting of big game to gathering and incidental
agriculture.
3. Meso-Indian - Characterized by shell bone and wooden tools; decline in big game
hunting; and fishing.
4. Formative : - Appearance of pottery; more intensive food production; beginning of
urbanism.
5. Neo-Indian: - Formation of classic Meso-American cultures.
Kozlowski's scheme, although not specifically indicated, more or less follows that
of Gordon Willey, whose scheme has formed the basis for the chronological framework
used in North America [Willey 1956]. Kozlowski [1978] seems to have, however, placed
emphasis on the socioeconomic development somehow "pretending" to have de-empha-
sized chronology and refers to the first of these stages of human movements as prehis-
toric.
Recently, Rouse and Allaire [1978] have proposed a four-period sequence which has
been quite popularly used. He refers to the first of the three stages, the Lithic Age, which
is said to be the time between the beginning of stonework and the appearance of ground
stone, shell and bone artifacts. This period covers Kozlowski's Palaeo-Indian I and II.
The Archaic, the second stage, is the time from the appearance of ground stone artifacts
to the appearance of pottery (Kozlowski's Meso-Indian). The third stage is the Ceramic
Age which starts from the time of the advent of pottery making (Kozlowski's Formative
and Neo-Indian stages). The final stage, according to Rouse and Allaire, is the Historical
period starting with European contact. With the advent of radiometric dates since the
early fifties, chronological schemes gained a more meaningful dimension and much
more accurate and reliable local sequences. The result, however, is the arrangement of
sites according to dates, while little attention was being given to explaining the cultural
context within conceptual frameworks that were devoid of diffusionist principles. For
example, Rouse and Allaire [1978: 437] stated that:
The time has come to drop Cruxent and Rouse's distinction between pre-ceramic complexes
and ceramic styles. Not only is this cumbersome but also it clashes with the trend among
some workers to define ceramic units in terms of pottery styles rather than elements of style
therefore, we shall drop the term style and call all the local chronological units complexes,
regardless ofwhether they are pre-ceramic, or ceramic. Whenever possible, the complexes
will be grouped into series, as in previous formulations.
However, the decision to drop the use of styles was reversed soon after, when it was
realized that it was only by stylistic classification that comparisons could be drawn be-
tween cultural traditions [Rouse 1986].
Another impact of the advent of radiometric dates was that inconsistencies began to
be sorted out in some of the sequences. For example, dates from sites such as LaGruta,
Ronquin Sombra and Corozal in the Orinoco region of Venezuela, raised questions of
doubt in the local sequence of the area. While they were considered too young [Rouse &
Allaire 1978], the main reason may have been that they did not fit into the sequence
already established on the basis of the ceramic stylistic classification.
Sanoja and Vargas [1983] have criticized Rouse and Roosevelt [1976] that by the use of
their chronological ordering for the site of La Gruta, several long gaps have been created.
Rouse and Roosevelt are further criticised for assuming great ceramic stability in the se-
quence. The development of archaeological approaches, particularly in the New World
[Patterson 1990] require that archaeologists working in the Caribbean must adopt a logi-
cal, objective approach in interpretation of cultural events as well as using single factors,

34 Maroon Heritage
 such as ceramics, to generalize on issues. Clearly, therefore, there is the need for a review
of the chronological framework(s) applied to the Caribbean in order to render them more
effective and meaningful.
The schemes developed for the Caribbean identify at least two major periods: prehis-
toric and historical. Within these broad periods local sequences have been worked out,
some going back several thousand years. The earliest dates come from Venezuela. In fact,
Kozlowski [1978] speculates that early prehistoric industries in Venezuela could date to
about 17,000 years before present (BP), although the earliest dates confirmed so far centre
around 7,000 years ago. Because earlier dates have been obtained for cultural traditions
in the areas outside the Greater and Lesser Antilles, scholars have always felt strongly
that areas with cultural evidence dating later than others are receivers of cultural influ-
ence coming from outside.
For a proposed new scheme, see Agorsah "An objective chronological scheme for
Caribbean archaeology and history", Social and Economic Studies 42, no. 1 (1993): 119-48.
3 See R.S. Price and S.W. Mintz, The Birth of African-American Culture: An Anthropological
Perspective (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992); K.E. Kiple, The Caribbean Slave: A Biological
History (Cambridge University Press, 1984); M. Craton, Testing the Chains: Resistance
to Slavery in the British West Indies (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982).
4 In recent times, the identification of connections covers several areas such as social, eco-
nomic, artistic and artistic expressions, as well as technological which has been a major
areas of research in the West Indies. See Goucher [1991].
5 Kromantse was a small fishing village on the coast of the former Gold Coast, now Ghana,
which was the first port established by the English to facilitate their trade in slaves and
commodities obtained in parts of the West African region. Many of the slaves coming
through this port have always been referred to as "Kromanti" although they may have
been derived from areas outside the traditional area of the village.

Background to Maroon Heritage 35

 two

T(;e True Traditions of my Ancestors

Colonel C.L.G. Harris

Introduction

If a prize should be offered to any section of the Jamaican population that has been
able to establish the longest and most colourful association with the island as its
undeniable accomplishment, the winner would be my ancestors, the Maroons, and
by a wide margin. Only the aborigines—the Arawak Indians—surpass the Ma-
roons in terms of duration of occupancy. The story is a short and simple one, but to
tell it in a meaningful way means a long and winding chain of explanations of vari-
ous aspects of the story.
The majority of Maroons, as my ancestors came to be referred to, originally
came from West Africa. Oral tradition claims that the majority of those who came
were mainly of the Ashanti ethnic group, who were forcibly brought to Jamaica as
slaves by the Spaniards who, as history has it, were later defeated by the English.
Consequently, some of the slaves fled to Cuba. Others who did not flee swore
never to be slaves again. They stood by their word, escaped from bondage and
fought to maintain their freedom for over eighty years of bitter warfare against the
British. The victory of the Maroons had far-reaching implications for world history.
Firstly, for black people throughout the world it established the fact that slav-
ery was not an acceptable condition of life. Secondly, compliance might have
eased the conscience of those devout men in England who argued for the aboli-
tion of the system, and allowed their tacit support. Unequivocal repudiation by
the Maroons created an atmosphere charged with life-giving oxygen for the
lungs of sanity. Today, it is not immediately obvious to people from outside Ja-
maica, and even to many insiders, how different the Maroons were or are from

36 Maroon Heritage
other communities. This is so because of the long period of association, access to
common resources as well as experiences shared over the centuries. Some of the
outstanding features that are more characteristic of the Maroons than other
group of Jamaicans constitute the discussion of this chapter. The focus is on the
Maroons in eastern Jamaica, popularly referred to as "Moore Town Maroons".

Maroon Lands

Thousands of acres of land are involved and no one has any legal document for
the individual portions owned. This fact, taken in conjunction with the population
explosion, would seem to suggest an exceedingly fertile area for disputes among
Maroons. However, the contrary is true and the few cases that arise are mostly con-
cerned with boundaries.
The early Maroons controlled large portions of the island in the days of the
struggle. No deliberate effort was made to cordon off areas because of the nature of
the wars they had to fight. However, whether on the move or stationary, the spe-
cific location of each Maroon settlement was very well defined and controlled,
making it extremely difficult for colonial forces to penetrate. My ancestors devised
several ways to secure each victory, such as using certain types of landmarks to
guide their military movements. Knowledge of the terrain, plant and animal life
were crucial for the control of land by our Maroon ancestors. It was after the peace
treaties that land occupied by Maroons came to be surveyed and mapped. Many of
the sites occupied by Maroons in ancient times are now being identified and stud-
ied. For us, the Moore Town Maroons, sites such as Nanny Town, Watch Hill,
Killdead, Gun Barrel, Marshall's Hall, Pumpkin Hill and Mammee Hill are but a
few of those ancient towns.
The order for the first land allotment was made by Governor Sir Edward Tre-
lawny on 12 December 1740. This order was carried out by Thomas Newland, a
surveyor, on 22 December 1740, and his signed declaration to this effect was wit-
nessed and sealed by the three commissioners, John Smith, Richard Farril and John
Ashworth. The patent contained five hundred acres and was at first named Nanny
Town. Soon after, however, certain historical and geographical considerations com-
bined and resulted in the change of the name to New Nanny Town.
Years later, the Grand Chieftainess after whom the original Nanny Town was
named, requested more land because of the increased Maroon population. The
governor, General Archibald Campbell, was greatly impressed, and on 28 Decem-
ber 1781 he signed an order granting her request. This order was carried out by the
surveyor, Dugall Macpherson, on 31 July 1782. He was told by the Maroons that
the name of their community was changed to Moretown, but it is evident that he
did not understand that this new name was in anticipation of more land being re-
ceived. He spelt it Muretown and some of his contemporaries even spelt it Muir-
town. His declaration was sworn to before Commissioner Thomas Gray on 6

T(>e True Traditions o\ my Ancestors 37

Fig. 2.1 Moore Town in 1782

December 1782. When the mistake was pointed out and eliminated, another mis-
take, in the form of an extra "o" resulted and so instead of "More Town" we have
"Moore Town" (Fig. 2.1). This small point is of critical importance to any effort
aimed at determining the period in which the great Grand Lady took her leave of
earth. Conjecture regarding the 1750s as the time Nanny died has been given
prominence, but this clearly is at least thirty years too early.
In 1884 the Maroons outmanoeuvred the United Fruit Company in the purchas-
ing of an adjoining property to which, for a very special reason, they gave the name
"Kent" in honour of the Duke of Kent. The acquisition was made under the agree-
ment for one thousand more acres of land, but in actual fact the acreage was vastly
more. The price was sixty pounds. In totality, in this regard they had an extra arrow
in their quiver—Colonel James Harrison, whose family they had saved during the

38 Maroon Heritage
Morant Bay uprising and who had consented to be their Colonel and spokesman.
Prior to the purchase of other contiguous lands such as Cornwall Barracks and
Ginger House, Mount Cameron had also been acquired and, subsequently, Josiah,
Kennedy, Nottingham, Nottingham Pen and Joe Hill were also bought. This briefly
provides an idea of the areas of territorial control by the Maroons since the end of
wars of freedom against the British.

Sociological Issues

One of the most important sociological issues among the Maroons of Moore Town
and Charles Town in Portland was the ancestral language, known as "Kramanti".
It was spoken freely up to some six decades ago—in the early 1930s. There were
special times and situations in which it was given prominence over vernacular, as
at Christmas time, which used to be a decidedly prolonged period of merriment,
and during the frequent staging of Play, which is an extremely specialized ritual
ceremony. "Kramanti", as my ancestors knew it to be called, is regarded as a hybrid
having Twi, the Ashanti language of the Gold Coast (now Ghana in West Africa), as
the more vigorous of its parents. Throughout that period, however, vernacular was
the chief mode of speech, and when spoken by the old people it presented much
difficulty to most non-Maroons, since the latter nearly always believed that they
were hearing Kramanti in its richest form. A few examples will suffice:
English Vernacular as spoken by youth Vernacular as spoken by the old
1. Who is that? A udda dat deh? (a) Na umma dareh?
(b) Na umma da summa?
2. Who will help Udda guieh gu help mi ova Na umma sa ji mi gudda
me across that dat deh bad place deh? wakka na dah uggi preh?
bad place?
3. Your sister came to Yes! yes! yu sista cuhnh fi faight Yees! yees! hu sissa cuhnh fi
fight the white man backra fi Moo Tung; yu tell h'n fetteh obroni fi Brakka Rubba;
for Moore Town: seh fi gu siddung. Awright! hu teyh h'n seh fi gu sroum.
You told her to go Awright! Tiddeh, Tiddeh, yu Arretteh! Terreh, terreh, hu
and sit down. All wiawfi kill summady. wiawfi yerrehfu samma.
right, all right!
Today, today, you
will have to kill
someone.

In the third example above, a woman is being chided for preventing her
younger sister from joining the fight against an invader. Although the difference
appears overwhelming, once a few key words in the old are understood, all diffi-
culties lose their terrors. Let us consider a few more examples. They are not neces-
sarily in alphabetical order:

Tpe True Traditions o\ my Ancestors 39

 (a) Hunte: (pronounced hunty) changes its meaning in different situations
but generally represents "why", "what", or "for what purpose". The
word na is often placed before it. Thus, Na hunte yu cuhnh yehfi? means
"Why have you come here?"
(b) Summa: represents "someone", "somebody", "person", as in Emba ting
seh Chaa Harris no prem ay eh tern nafu-fu summa, meaning "Anyone who
thinks that Charles Harris is not primed at all times is a very foolish per-
son".
(c) Emba: represents "anybody" or "anyone".
(d) Nfl: represents "is", "as" or "as to" but is almost unrestricted in its use as
mere aural embellishment. However, even in places where it would
seem redundant, its removal could militate against desired emphasis or
meaning.
(e) Sa: represents "able", "is able", "is capable", "willing", "ready", as in Na
umma sa cha di pikibo na di biggi huss? meaning "Who is able to carry this
child to the big house?"
(f) Umma: represents "which" or "which of you" as in Na umma safetteh Ny-
ankipon—that is, "Who is able to fight against God?"
(g) Uffa: represents "how" or "whose" and is rendered immortal by a state-
ment once made by an old gentleman who, on hearing that one of his col-
leagues was preparing to go to the market, shouted to him in these
words: Hai baa, yu deh gu na maakit! Bayhfippance wut a di red moid'
grunt—de female one. No kai uffa noh sumeh waice noh nuff. The speaker al-
most instantaneously regretted using those words for they were re-
peated, jocularly, each day by young, old, sick, lame, maimed. This is
interpreted to mean: "Hello, brother, you are going to the market! Buy
threepence worth of shad (for me). It does not matter how offensive is its
odour, provided that it is sold cheaply".
Some very special words common to both the old and the new vernacular, with
their meanings are:
Abbehbu proverbs
Brehbrehbeh inclined to gossip
Bubuwahfu physically handicapped
Bussufii known for making statements and otherwise acting with a
responsibility beyond one's chronological age
Dappafu known for a tendency to rationalize one's own feelings and
philosophize in the case of others
Djijifo to make a mockery of
Karanapo he/she, on being questioned, remained silent
Poo imbussu to do something merely to please someone else with
hypocritical pleasure during performance

40 Mflroow Heritage
 Sangkuku or Buttu to sit on the haunches
Wawatu to make much of someone for accomplishing something worth-
while, for example marriage
Yerfu to kill or destroy
A point that could not possibly escape the attention of anyone who listened as
Maroons converse in the old vernacular, was the manner in which many monosyl-
labic verbs, adjectives and nouns were each given an added syllable by repeating
the vowel sound as the final syllable. Thus, walk became wakka; good became guddu;
fret became fretteh, and so on.
Consider the question, Na umma sa ji mi guddu wakka na da uggi preh? Literally,
this means "Who will give me good walk at the ugly place?" But the better (more
imaginative) translation is, "Who will help me at that bad (dangerous) place?" Is it
strange that even this older vernacular drew far more heavily on English than on
Kramanti? No. Theirs was an English-speaking environment and so not only
should they (the Maroons) understand, but should also be able to make themselves
understood. In order to clear away any lingering doubt in this respect, we may
consider a few simple expressions in all three languages.
Vernacular (old) English Kramanti
Ba mi sa nyeah summa (idiom) I am hungry Ekom dim
Pikibo (or pikkin) siddung Child sit down Akwoda tsina asi
Ji na hin Give it to him Fa ma nuh
Wakka guddu or Guggu wakka Goodbye Nante yieh or Ma dencheh

It is a sad fact that today Kramanti, for most Maroons, is a dead language. How
ever, greet any Maroon on the streets of Moore Town with the traditional, Salam
aliko (Salaam aleikum) which is interpreted as "Peace be unto you", and you are al-
most certain to receive the ready response: Aleiko salam (aleikum salaam) meaning,
"And unto you also be peace". This is as far as most would go. However, among
themselves the older Maroons have a multiplicity of set greetings and of these the
two most used are:
(1) A Maroon meets another whom he has not seen for an appreciable length
of time. Both are happy at the meeting and one stretches forth a hand while ex-
claiming, "Yengkungkung!" The other grasps the hand and responds eagerly,
"Yengkungkung srehf srehf." The first is saying, "Maroon!" and the second is re-
sponding, "Maroon please!" The formal Kramanti expression for "please" is me
sreheh wu.

(2) Let us suppose person A and person B are greeting each other:
A: "Breh breh Asante"
B: "Asante kotoko", meaning "Asante the porcupine"
A: "Wekum apema", meaning "If they kill a thousand"
B: "Apem beba", meaning "A thousand more will come"

li;e True Traditions of wy Ancestors 41

 Here, reference to the porcupine is significant. As is known, when attacked this
rodent rolls itself into a "ball" with its erectile spines sticking out in all directions,
and it is claimed that if one of these is broken out another falls into that empty
space. It is also said that this special greeting had its roots in the long war with the
British. Even if this is not strictly correct, there is no doubt that during that period
every Maroon would stoutly declare that if the foe should succeed in killing a
thousand of them, then a thousand more would rise up to defend and preserve
their freedom which, to them, was the breath of life.
The name for the god Nyankopong or Nyame and certain objects such as unsu
(water), unsa (rum), edwiani (food), kwedu (banana), ekutu (orange), and prako
(pig) indicate West African connections, as many of these words are the same in
the Akan language of modern Ghana. It is of interest that although the
Kramanti word for money is sika, at least ninety-five per cent of Maroons use
the word takifa or tekofa to refer to money, which in reality represents only one
denomination of currency.

Maroon family and names

Time was when the Maroons found their spouses exclusively from among members
of their various communities. Consequently, even up to this day in Moore Town all
Maroons are related—very closely in some cases and more remotely in others. It was
most remarkable how without written records of lineage, parents would know the
exact positions of individuals on the family trees so that their children could be given
effective guidance in choosing wives and husbands. It was an unwritten but invio-
lable law that the young did not enter into formal sexual relationships without the
approval of both sides of parentage. The pattern followed was stereotyped: A young
man becoming interested in a young lady to the point of marriage would communi-
cate this fact to his parents, who would examine the situation carefully. If the blood-
relationship was considered as too close or if there had been a family feud even in the
dim and forgotten past, this would be fully examined with him and the matter ended
there. If, however, there were no such impediments the parents would communicate
with the young lady's parents and a day—almost invariably a Sunday afternoon—
would be set for a meeting at the home of the parents of the latter. This was the mo-
mentous "asking-for" meeting in which one set of parents, on behalf of their son,
sought the daughter of another in marriage. In recent times, things have changed
drastically—the formalities are few and anyone is free to take a spouse from outside
without going through this process.
One other important tradition which, unfortunately, appears to have almost
disappeared except in history books, is name derivations based on the day on
which one was born. In the ancient days the tradition was as important to our
ancestors, as it is known to have been practised in some parts of Africa from
time immemorial. Examples of such names include:

41 Maroon Heritage
 Days Male Female
Sunday Kwasi Akosia
Monday Kwadwo (Cudjoe) Adwoa
Tuesday Kwabena Abena
Wednesday Kwaku Akua
Thursday Yaw Yaa
Friday Kofi Afua
Saturday Kwame Amma

As late as in the early 1940s, by far the two chief family names were Harris and
Osborne. The true and somewhat amusing story is told of a prominent person who
had an important appointment in Kingston. The ease with which he got through
the test caused members of staff to regard him as a genius. Later, he was inter-
viewed by the manager who asked where he was from. On being told Moore
Town, the interviewer remarked coldly, "You are from Moore Town and your name
isn't Harris or Osborne? Sorry, I don't believe you. We cannot use you."
In the three chief daughter districts of Moore Town (Cornwall Barracks, Ginger
House, Comfort Castle) in the modern parish of Portland, a similar predominance
of special names occurred.
In the first these were McKenzie, Fuller, and Smith; in the second, Fuller, White,
Clarke; in the third, White, Gray, Anderson. Today in Moore Town proper, however,
although the giants still maintain a significant lead, the numerical disparities have
been greatly reduced. Here follows a list of the chief contenders, not necessarily in
order of importance:
Anderson McFarlane
Passley Patterson
Phillips Pryce
Roberts Robinson
Sterling Bernard
Brown Burke
Crawford Deans
Douglas Downer
Sutherland Thompson
Valentine Ireland
It may be pointed out that these names are by no means limited to Maroons,
although it is certain that they are more prevalent among Maroons than other
sectors.

Names and naming

The names discussed so far are family names. In the case of individual or first
names, two important factors must be given consideration. The first relates to what
is believed to be the reality of incarnation. It should be noted that many persons are
often known by the same first name and the reason is that a child is born and it is
imperative that the "returnee" be properly identified and his/her name restored.

Tpe True Traditions of vny Ancestors 43

In this respect dreams play an essential role. On a night close to the time of birth, a
member of the family (and here it must be remembered that the Maroon family
stretches wide) would be approached in a dream by a relative who was no longer
alive. The visitant would send a message to the expectant mother informing her of
his/her intention of "coming to stay with her". The message would be delivered
and, more often than not, at birth the child would bear some physical signs indica-
tive of the true identity in support of the dream.
As growth takes place, the mannerisms of the "sender" of the message be-
come more and more evident in that person's behaviour. But there are excep-
tions to the smooth flow of events. Someone could, for various reasons beyond
his control, fail to report the message from a dream and so naming of the child
would have to be done on the basis of a surmise. Needless to say, this course can
lead to mistakes. Here is a case of this latter kind: The baby is named but does
not respond physically to the care lavished on it. In fact it becomes frail and fee-
ble. Then a dreamer dreams. In this dream Brother John, who died six months
previously sends this message to the worried mother: "I came to stay with you
but I am not appreciated and so will be leaving soon." The message is delivered
with alacrity. Immediately, Brother John, the new name, is given. Apologies are
made for the "foolish error" and as the vibrant image emerges from the dead
chrysalis case, so the child arises from the slough of feebleness on to the
threshold of warm, pulsating, vigorous life. We are not here discussing some
fanciful situation but rather certain hard facts of life. This accounts for the fact
that formerly the following note appeared on nearly all birth certificates of
Maroon children: male child or female child instead of actual names. This meant
that the "returnee" might not have been satisfactorily identified at the time of
registration and the parents took what they considered the safe course—allow-
ing the official naming to await the real blessing. However, there is now a
change in this particular practice since nameless certificates have caused too
many difficulties when travel and other documents are to be prepared.

Traditional political structure and organization

A cursory examination of the Maroon political structure would seem to indicate a

certain lack of sophistication. A closer examination should reveal otherwise. For in-
stance, in Moore Town there is a system of simple codified rules spoken of as the
by-laws specific to Maroons and which are additional to the laws of the country.
The core of the government comprises the Colonel or Chief, the Major, two
Captains, a Secretary, and a Foreman of the Council. All these posts are elective
and under normal circumstances are held for the rest of the incumbents' life-
time. A peculiarity of the system is that never has there been a political cam-
paign on the part of those to be elected. However, there is nothing to prevent a
supporter of an officer-to-be from very discreetly planting seeds of the la tier's

44 Maroon Heritage
pre-eminent qualification in the minds of others. Records of Maroon tradition
demonstrate that no one not deemed worthy of a post has ever been known to
receive the honour of nomination. It means, therefore, that provided the nominee
is agreeable, once nominated he is elected. An election takes place at a general
meeting place called safu huss or muster ground.
Two types of meetings are held: township meetings and Council meetings. For
the township the obraafu (town crier) gives the necessary information in a stento-
rian voice from a hilltop in the late evening and after this pattern: "Oooyeel Oooyee!
Oooyee! Colonel wants to see all Maroons at safii huss on Wednesday evening." This is
twice repeated and then the message ends with the injunction, "Oooyee! Udda no
yerrie tell tadda!"—meaning, "Anyone who did not hear is required to tell someone
else!". The implication is clear, imperious, irrefragable—that is, everyone under all
circumstances, is expected to communicate the information to at least one other
person.
Some time before the set hour on the appointed day, the abeng or akikreh is
blown and this means that all adults attending will be free to take full part in the
proceedings. As regards Council meetings, the obraafu does not shout the informa-
tion; the abeng is not blown and only members of Council and those summoned to
appear may attend. Matters dealt with at these meetings are of various types and
are chiefly concerned with the welfare of the community. For example, time was
when by virtue of the treaty signed with the British in 1739 every offence except
murder would be appropriately dealt with by the Chief and his officers. Even in a
murder case, handing over of the accused was dependent on whether he was
thought to be guilty by the Chief. However, over the years changes have crept in
and there are now only few issues that cannot be transferred to the courts. These
are mainly concerned with ownership and administration of Maroon lands, for
these are still held in common.
Deeply embedded in Maroon affairs is the essence of cooperative effort
which, in the not-too-distant past, was profoundly concerned with the enhance-
ment of individual and collective welfare. It was all-pervading and like the cool,
clean, invigorating mountain air of the region, gave zest and meaning to the
business of life. When someone, say, John Brown, required community assis-
tance to build a house, the obraafu would make the announcement just as in the
case of a township meeting, but with the appropriate information, for example:
"... John Brown going to carry thatch next week Tuesday morning ..." Thatch,
the fronds of a special type of palm that grew in abundance on the mountains,
was used almost exclusively as roofing material. On the morning mentioned,
members of the community would go into the hills and bring back enough of
the material to roof John's house and his kitchen as well. This area of the organi-
zation gradually ceased to function as more and more persons turned to shin-
gles and then to zinc sheets for roof covering.
Farming, marriage and death are three of the occasions that produced gems
of cooperative effort. On farming, from the cutting down of the bush to the
planting of the crop, each person giving assistance worked as though he was the

Tpe True Traditions of my Ancestors 45

owner and hoping to reap the richest dividends from those operations. In the
case of marriage it was similarly everybody's business, but today this all-en-
compassing character has undergone drastic modifications.
When the death of a Maroon occurs, apart from the long period of mourning
and the table-setting, nothing has changed and all signs point to a changeless fu-
ture. Whereas today financial contribution towards funeral expenses is made once,
formerly, two separate operations were involved: a fortnight after the funeral the
ceremony known as table-setting was conducted. An enquirer might have asked a
member of the bereaved family, "When are you going to set table?" And the an-
swer could very well be: "Next week Tuesday." Usually a booth of bamboo and
fronds of the coconut palm would be constructed immediately before the home of
the bereaved and a large table placed in its centre. From about eight o'clock in the
morning of the appointed day, people would start arriving in a manner reminis-
cent of electors about the business of polling their votes. A man with a touch of
flamboyance and the voice of an obraafu stands at the table. He mentally surveys
the scene. At a moment appropriateness of which is determined in his mind alone,
he holds onto the sides of the table with both hands, shakes it and thunders, "Walk
up, ladies and gentlemen, walk up! Walk up ladies and gentlemen, walk up!" And
an orderly procession begins. It moves in single file towards the table on which a
shiny silver basin sits. The person at the head of the line reaches it, reverentially
places a contribution therein and passes on through to the opposite side. No one
takes change from the money thus offered. By mid-afternoon the exercise is over.
The money donated is handed to the head of the household and preparations get
underway for a lively set of quadrille to last throughout the night.

Military affairs

The war between the Maroons and the British was inevitable, but is only touched
on briefly here as it is fully dealt with in later chapters. One of the turning points in
Maroon military defence and survival was marked by the appearance at one stage
of a supreme leader—a woman of amazing qualities who was popularly known
only as Grandy Nanny. To posterity she is the indomitable Grandy Nanny—The
Rt. Excellent Nanny, National Heroine of Jamaica. Her four brothers, Kwadwo
(Cudjoe), Accompong, Kofi and Johnny were all leaders of high calibre. It was she,
however, who was the originator of the camouflage, known among Maroons to
this day as ambush, that so baffled and deceived the British. Her highly developed
extra-physical capabilities were astounding. If to these facts we add the ability to
communicate over great distances by means of the abeng or akikreh and the unerr-
ing dexterity with which ihejunga, a heavy spear, was thrown, the unwavering be-
lief that her genius was a result of divine guidance would be appreciated.
Some distance downhill from Nanny Town (spoken of as Stony River by my
ancestors) the Magnificent Lady single-handedly defeated a battalion whose

46 Maroon Heritage
members had been forced to peep into the "boiling pot" because of its strategic
position on an acute angle along the narrow trail, as she allowed the lone survi-
vor to survey the scene of destruction as the basis of his contemplated report to
his superiors.
Calculating that this would spur the foe into making a do-or-die attack on her
citadel, Nanny made elaborate plans for such an event. She knew that the attack,
when it came, would not be from the north since her sentinels on Watch Hill could
never fail to spot any approach. The south, therefore, though vastly more difficult to
ascend would be the direction on which to concentrate. The deduction was perfect. It
was not long afterwards that the attackers were making their labourious march. This
time their array of weapons comprised swivel guns which were bigger than any-
thing ever before against the Maroons. The town was eventually entered and occu-
pied but the inhabitants had fled. The invaders saw the remnants throwing
themselves over a precipice to avoid being captured. For the Maroons, the fight for
freedom had no end until absolute victory was achieved. That eventually happened.
An era was now rapidly drawing to its close. The governor of Jamaica was Sir
Edward Trelawny and the Maroons were asked to become the friends of the gov-
ernment and, in confirmation of this, signed a treaty of peace. Reference has al-
ready been made to the treaty. There are in fact two of these documents: one signed
by Captain Cudjoe (Kwadwo) on 1 March 1739 and the other by Quao on Grandy
Nanny's behalf on 23 June 1739. The time differential resulted from the fact that at
the beginning Nanny displayed skepticism regarding the offer. She reasoned that it
could be the initial part of a stratagem calculated to do what force of arms had as
yet failed to accomplish. But because she was not averse to the idea of genuine
peace, she had no objection to Cudjoe's "testing of the waters" provided appropri-
ate security measures were given the necessary attention. It is evident that this
time-lag of nearly four months determined the fact of the former, with its fifteen
clauses being more favourable than the latter with its fourteen. It is certain that
neither Cudjoe nor Quao could read English. It is clear that they signed these
treaties in all sincerity. One of the issues addressed was as follows:
"And whereas peace and friendship among mankind, and preventing the
effusion of blood is agreeable to God, consonant to reason, and desired by every
good man; and whereas peace and His Majesty George the Second, King of Great
Britain, France and Ireland and of Jamaica Lord, Defender of the Faith, Etc., has
by letter patent, dated February the twenty-fourth, one thousand seven hundred
and thirty-eight, in the twelfth year of his reign, granted frill power and authority
to John Guthrie and Francis Sadler, Esquire, to negotiate and finally conclude a
treaty of peace and friendship with the aforesaid Captain Cudjoe; the rest of his
captains, adherents, and others of his men, they mutually, sincerely, and amicably
have agreed to the following articles . . . "
— then giving thought to a preceding statement:
"Whereas upon the late submission of Cudjoe, and all the rebels then under his
command, to accept of such terms as the said Cudjoe sued for..."

Tpe True Traditions of my Ancestors 47

 How does one equate splendour with squalor? The Maroon leaders did not sue
for peace. They were victors who had been approached by the vanquished desir-
ous of negotiating and concluding an honourable peace. They would not have ac-
cepted the lie of their begging for peace had they known of its presence in the
treaty document. At the end of the last signing ceremony the Wonder Lady for the
last time displayed her unusual capability of rendering harmless the bullets fired
at her: she asked the British commandant to give the order for a volley to be fired
at her. When the request was at last hesitantly granted, she rose from the stooping
position she had taken up and handed him all the bullets fired at her, as a memento
of the occasion.
Despite the impressive statement declaring the treaty as one of eternal duration
war broke out between the government and the Trelawny Maroons in 1795. It be-
came known as the Second Maroon War and the Trelawnys stood alone. There is
unchallengeable proof that their counterparts in nearby Accompong Town gave
important assistance, even if unwittingly so, to the enemy. There is unquestionable
proof that although outnumbered by at least ten to one and at times enduring
hardships, their bravery and resourcefulness more than compensated for the supe-
rior firepower of the foe who, as they did fifty-six years before, asked for peace.
Just before this, the Maroons of Moore Town put together a formidable force in or-
der to hurry to the support of their brethren.
War songs of inspiration roared through the whole of Maroon country, calling
for the support of the gods and the spirits of our ancestors. These songs were real
songs and were sung in the Kramanti language. Of the two examples given here,
one is called "Jawbone Song", sung on the initial uncertainty regarding the fate of
our brothers and sisters of Trelawny, and the other a prapra, and is related to the de-
cision to become active participants in the conflict. Both songs were spontaneously
composed at the time. The first:
Wadda hai!
Wabda wha'dem du wid Dumbar!
Maroon! Soldier kill Dumbar?
Du wekkeh du mi nana wanda oh!
Wanda wha'dem du wid Dumbar!
Wanda oh!
and the second:
War dung a Trelawny
War O!
Wi a gu a Trelawny!
Yu nu hear di war?
War O!
The march had actually begun when news was received that an honourable peace
had been proposed by the British. But all was not well. The Trelawnys had not been de-
feated in war. They laid down their arms in a gesture of good faith towards a proposal
put forward by General Walpole. Governor Balcarres—that most contemptible of

48 Maroon Heritage
despicable rascals—refused, however, to ratify the agreement drawn up by Walpole,
a gentleman. Thus the valiant but deceived Trelawnys were taken to Halifax,
Canada, and thence to Sierra Leone. We have since been cut off from our brothers
and sisters—relatives who were in that group.
On hearing of the war preparations that had been made by the Moore Town Ma-
roons, Balcarres tried his blandishments and perfidy on them but failed. Enraged, he
threatened Charles Town but again Moore Town stood between him and his nefari-
ous designs. If the British government of today—less than a decade from the twenty-
first century—could spare just a moment to inform itself of the grievously
dishonourable deeds of this man against the intrepid Trelawnys, no restraining force
of earth would be capable of preventing it from seeking out the descendants of these
people and presenting to them what (even in terms of millions of pounds) could only
be a token of the inestimable reparation that is their due.

Maroon religion

Yet there are beliefs and customs whose Christian character would be questioned
by some devout servants of Christ. As an example, we shall consider the Play. Up
to about three decades ago, most of those persons who were seriously ill would be
taken to a Play to be cured but the practice is not much in evidence today. Play is a
ritual ceremony held chiefly in a booth made after the pattern of that in which ta-
ble-setting was conducted. The drummers are seated but most of the other partici-
pants must stand. The drums (Kramanti drums) are made from hollow portions of
tree trunks, covered at one end with tightly drawn goat skin from which the hair
has been skilfully removed. They are played by artistes, each of whom is called ok-
remma and the songs (Kramanti songs) are sung to the music of the drums, and the
dance (Kramanti dance) is done by top-rated performers. For the songs the name
Kramanti is an umbrella-designation, for under it stand special groups such as
Jawbone, Prapra, Sa Leone, Mandinga Country.
As soon as the dancing begins one of the dancers—a dancerman orfettehman,
becomes possessed by the spirit of a departed member of the clan. In this state, he
is called the grangfarra or oldman (pronounced owlman). He reveals matters of the
past in relation to the illness of the person brought there to be healed and predic-
tions regarding the future are also made. Apologies, if the circumstances warrant,
are tendered and after a session of libation, incantations and manipulatory anoint-
ment is concluded, the illness disppears dramatically. At other times the healing is
of a more gradual nature.

Detecting the petty thief

Various methods of exposing the petty thief were once practised not only by Ma-
roons but by other Jamaican communities as well. What is known today in Maroon

T^e True Traditions of my Ancestors 49

tradition appears to have merged with the usual aspects of Christianity. Most of
these (such as the Bible and key, the gold wedding-ring and tumbler of water) could eas-
ily have been manipulated, even if the results turned out to be accurate. One can-
not consider this process as completely magical and it varies in procedure from
community to community, but with several similarities.
However, there is one process which perhaps is still unknown outside Maroon
territory which maintains its mysterious, anti-manipulation character. In the re-
gion there is a type of grass known as mawt grass because the ladies of those former
years would wash their pungent roots and tie them in small bundles which were
placed in their tin cases as an insect repellant (all insects that damaged stored cloth-
ing were categorized as mawt or moths). For the test, a handful of evenly cut grass
is held in each hand so that the even end is towards the little finger. A strong person
holds both ends of a man's belt at arm's length, one end to a hand, but with one
hand lower than the other. Both persons face each other; the first opens his arms
wide and utters the words: "By St Peter, by St Paul, by the Living God of all, is
Mary Joe tek di pillow-slip!"—and at this moment the bundles are suddenly
brought crashing together, end to end, on the side of the belt remote from the
speaker. The holder of the belt is now required to pull it through the point of union.
If Mary Joe is guiltless the task is easily done. On the other hand, if she is guilty
even the aid of Hercules is but a waste of time.

Maroon traditional technology: ancient and modern

Lamp wicks
Years ago cotton grew wide and wild in Moore Town and the down was used for the
two main purposes of filling pillows and as material for the manufacture of wicks for
the oil-lamps. A stout piece of split bamboo about eighteen inches tall, was whittled
smoothly to a circumference of about two inches. A section of about an inch from one
end was tapered symmetrically to a point and pushed through a close-fitting hole in
the middle of a kakoon. This is the lower end. The upper end was carefully split down
perhaps for three inches. In this cleft some down was placed and other amounts con-
nected to it until a length sufficient for a start was obtained, and the slack end held
by light pressure to the floor. Between the open palms and outstretched fingers the
spindle was rubbed in such a manner as to cause it to spin with a whirring sound
while at the same time twisting the down into yarn. As the yarn lengthened, it was
wound around the lower end of the spindle until the desired amount was obtained.
It is from this homespun material that the wick would then be made.

Shot pocket
A Maroon was never without shot pocket during the war and even as late as the
1940s. It is made of thick cloth such as fore-bag or denim and, more often than not,

50 Maroon Heritage
measures about fifteen inches in length and ten inches wide. A piece of the same
material is sown on the outside across the full width and reaching up to the mid-
dle. A vertical double stitching in the centre of this outer portion creates two equal
compartments. A V-shaped flap, which is an extension of the back portion, reaches
down to the top of this dividing line and a button hole close to its inverted apex fits
easily over a button there. The handle is reinforced and attached at both corners
where the flap begins. It is long enough to suit the tallest of men and by a series of
knots is adjustable for the shortest. It is worn over the shoulder and diagonally
across the chest so that the bag itself falls under the left arm of the right-hander and
the right arm of the left-hander. If the wearer is engaged in strenuous work on the
farm, the string is brought down and tied around the waist so that the bag rests on
the buttocks. Minder-box, flint, steel and file are never absent from a shot pocket and,
as the name implies, it was originally used mainly for carrying shots for the cap
guns during the many years of war.

Tinder box
The technological aspects of Maroon life may not at any time bear the stamp of
breath-taking intricacy and its utility is often inversely proportional to its simplicity.
The tinder box (Maroons say tender box) is an example. It consists of a small horn of
a cow which is cut off smoothly and properly cleaned. A piece of wood (preferably
cedar because of its quality of expansion in water and the ease with which it is fash-
ioned) is used for making a lid which fits closely inside but with an over-hanging
rim. A hole is neatly made near the extremity of the small, closed end of the horn,
through which a piece of strong cord is passed and the end knotted to prevent it from
slipping through again. The other end is connected securely to the lid and the cord's
only use here is to ensure the continual safe-keeping of the lid. Some rotten wood is
collected in the bushes and dried out in the sun or in the heat and smoke over an open
fireplace. When it is thoroughly dried it is cut into small pieces and put in the fire and
as soon as these are fully carbonized, they are retrieved and placed in the horn whose
lid is replaced quickly to prevent continued burning. A bit of flint and a piece of steel
are secured and the tinder box is complete. To make a fire, the horn is held in the left
hand in such a way that the thumb and the index finger encircle the rim but are on
a slightly higher level. The lid is taken off and allowed to hang freely by its cord and
the flint is held firmly between the tips of the thumb and index finger. The steel is
then used to strike it an outward, glancing blow, that is, away from the striker. Sparks
fly and some of these fall into the horn whereupon the burnt wood is ignited and
some of this is placed on a katta of dried banana leaf, grass, paper, or any other suit-
able material. Because of the excessive rains that fall in Maroon territory, the tinder
box used to be of paramount importance in the woods at those times when matches
would be useless. Access to fire was especially important because all the older male
adults were keen pipe-smokers who, when working in the fields, would readily
forego the luxury of lunch but never the comforting puffs on their pipes.

T^e True Traditions of my Ancestors 51

Katta
The katta is made by winding the material around the hand, removing it while al-
lowing it to retain its circular shape then fastening the loose end by simply pushing
it down in the depressed centre. Its primary purpose is to soften the pressure of a
weight carried on the head.

Bamboo vessels and containers

In those years there was no piped water in Moore Town and water was carried
from the springs in bamboo vessels of from one to three joints in length. The water-
carrying process was accomplished mostly by children, each of whom would take
along a very thin piece of cloth to cover the hole through which the water entered.
After being moistened and put in place, this cloth cover would never fall off even
though the journey was rugged and the container turned upside-down. Although
these children did not know that a precise scientific law was in operation, they all
knew that so long as the containers were absolutely filled, the cloth would remain
in place and the container would not leak.

Cowshut
Because of the extreme wetness of Maroon territory the stitches of their farm boots
which were almost always wet, could not be expected to last as long as boots worn
under less extreme conditions, and so a type of boots known as Cowshut was de-
vised. It carries no stitches except at the back and a small right-angled seam bor-
dering the uppermost hole for the lace of the inner side. The name is derived from
the fact that these boots are made of specially tanned cowskin (cow's shirt) the
smooth part of which is turned inwards. Brass sprigs are used in fastening soles to
uppers and so no rot ever sets in around the metal, as would have been the case if
steel sprigs were used.

Bangu bige (bag)

This is a container made specially for transporting produce from the field and is
made of trumpet tree bark, which is first dried and twisted into a small cord. No
one unaccustomed to a bangu bige would believe that it is capable of containing the
large amount of goods that it really can. The mystery lies in the meshes, not the ma-
terial, which expand to an almost unbelievable extent. The filled container is trans-
ported on the carrier's back while the handle passes across the forehead.

Fishing lances
There are three types of fishing lances. The first is easily made: a long, slender sap-
ling is obtained and at three inches or so from the slightly heavier end, a circumfer-
ential incision is made. The whole section is then converted from a circular to an
equilaterally rectangular shape. A stout, red-hot piece of metal is used to burn a
hole right through the base of this section. Less than an inch above, but on the other

51 Maroon Heritage
side, a similar operation is performed, then a piece of stout wire some eighteen
inches long is pushed through the first hole, so that the projections on both sides
are of equal length. A slightly shorter length of wire is likewise used in the upper
hole and the four ends are now bent upwards neatly so that they touch the pole or
are extremely close to it and all four projections beyond the wood are of equal
length. The prongs are sharpened and the entire area where wire rests on wood is
enclosed in a spiral staircase of fine binding wire or cord. The properly made
weapon is called a striker and is used at nights for catching crayfish in the rivers.
The other two lances are fashioned by heating and then beating part of a piece of
iron to the required thinness. This part is beaten around a slimly conical piece of
steel and the resulting hollow is called the housing. The other portion is heated,
hammered, and drawn out into a four-sided spear. The housing is for receiving the
slim, strong, wooden shaft. There are also throwing lances and diving lances. The
former is shorter but takes a much longer shaft. Standing on a stone in the river or
on the bank with lance raised, the hunter waits motionless for a grunt or a hognose
or any other fish of suitable size to swim by. The weapon leaves his hand with
lightning speed, and on occasions like this a miss is a rarity.
There are times when the conditions favour another line of action. His diving
lance held in readiness, the fisherman dives, investigates the large opening under
a stone, or chases his quarry there. He impales it and triumphantly rises to the sur-
face. The art reached its highest expression among the men of Ginger House, a sub-
division of the Moore Town community, and could be watched in its most thrilling
form up to the late 1940s.

Tu'n Rivva
This denotes a manner of very profitable fishing in past years and is described as
follows: Assuming a width of river of point A to point C. A wall was raised from
point C to another point, B, conveniently located somewhere between the ex-
tremes. On the upper side of this wall, that is, the part facing the source of the
stream, clay was used for sealing the holes. In a short while water would be flow-
ing heavily between A and B but none, or a mere trickle, between B and C, as far as
point D, downstream. A harvest of fish was thus easily gathered after which the
embarkment was broken down.

Maroon Economic Issues

Hunting and farming

Hunting and farming have always been prominent areas of activity. The wild hog
was always the chief animal hunted and the saga of "John Brownfield"—a unique
wild boar of superior size, cunning, strength and dog-destroying capability—
played on the imagination of everyone up to as late as the beginning of the twentieth

T^e True Traditions of my Ancestors 53

century. The hunters operated chiefly in groups but there were the few who per-
formed as loners. The principal weapons used were the spear (junga), the cap-gun
and well teamed dogs. The hunters' food in the forest was mainly the duckun
known also as kuckunu, buoyo, blue-drawers, or tie-a-leaf. Hunting of the coney, a
rodent called grazie or injin cunny by Moore Town Maroons, takes place only at
nights because the animal operates nocturnally. The dogs used are small so that
they are able without much difficulty to enter and leave the holes—the habitat
which is invariably of a stony character. At times the hunters block the entrances to
the holes while the owners are happily feasting in some farmer's field oblivious of
the fact that the return journey will end in disaster.

Traps
Animal traps are very common among Maroon hunters. The main types are as
follows:
(a) A pit dug in the middle of a hog trail; the earth is removed carefully
and the hole covered properly to avoid detection by the animal which
now comes and falls in.
(b) A strong but flexible pole is pushed firmly into the earth at a strategic
point on one side of the trail and a rope with a noose is attached to the
free end. Near the point of attachment a piece of stick of up to two
inches in length, depending on the case, is fixed so that one end is
longer than the other.
Two short rods on the case are fixed so that one end is longer than the other.
The long arms are driven properly into the ground about a foot apart and with
the short arms turned toward the trail. The pole, when bent, falls along an
imaginary line midway between them and under them is held rigid a piece of
stick whose length is slightly greater than the outer distance between the two
bifurcations. The pole is bent and a second length of stick, called the pin, set
equal and parallel to the first is so placed that one is in front and the other be-
hind the bit of wood. This allows the pole to retain its bent position while two
short, bifurcated rods with arms even and turned upwards are placed in direct
alignment on the opposite side of the trail with a length of stick laid in the
crotches. Using this mechanism and the pin (on the other side) as base, a floor of
sticks is laid and covered over very carefully with leaves. The rope, which has
been passed through the noose, forms a loop which now opens over the floor or
platform and is concealed with more leaves.
The hog steps on the platform, the pin is disengaged and this movement results
in the sudden falling of the platform and the release of the bent pole. As the latter
flies upwards the rope sucks onto the leg of the animal which is drawn up in such
a manner that it cannot escape. This same principle is used in other types of traps.
A prime example involves the cutting of a hole in a "bark" or the trunk of a tree.
Food is placed in this hole; the loop is set over the opening; no platform is used but

54 Maroon Heritage
the pin is fixed so that it must be disturbed if the food is to be reached by the
quarry. At times a stiff, shorter pole called a helper is bent under the first in order
to increase the tension on the rope.
A similar principle is employed in the trapping of birds such as partridges and
doves. In this case, however, no platform is used and the rod is very thin. A slender,
flexible twig is bent in a curve and both ends pushed into the ground as substitute
for the bifurcated stakes near the pole. One end of the little piece of wood attached
to the cord is hooked behind the wooden curve while the tip of the other end rests
on the extremity of the pin which, in this case, is at right angles to the pole with its
other end resting against a short stake directly in front. Food is then placed on both
sides of the pin which is raised (and the loop of the string placed carefully over it)
so that the bird is compelled to make the fatal mistake of stepping on it in an at-
tempt to reach the other side. The whole contraption is called a springe.
Other animal traps include the calaban and the henna or tambu. The calaban is
made by tying four straight twigs at their ends to form a square which is placed flat
on the ground. Two pieces of cord, each twice the length of the diagonal, are con-
nected diagonally at the corners of the square of twigs. Sometimes a skilled worker
starts with only two twigs. Other pieces of gradually decreasing lengths are now
placed on the same plane but on opposite sides alternately, until the pieces of cord
are taut and a rough oval is formed, leaving the small hole directly on top to the
maker's imagination. Another piece of cord is connected to the corners of one of
the two lowest bars in such a way that the apex of the triangle thus formed by bar
and cord, barely reaches the middle of the opposite bar. A four or five-inch length
of twig, say, quarter-inch in diameter, is given two equally deep horizontal cuts on
opposite sides above the middle, and quarter-inch apart. It is broken completely
then put back together (it is now called the pin) with the cord—the apex of the tri-
angle—between the jaws and set on the ground so that it keeps the front and two
sides of the calaban raised, while the back end rests firmly on the ground. The bait
is placed under the cord at the back. As soon as it is touched the pin "breaks",
causing the calaban to fall and entrap the bird.
To make the average benne or tambu, a four-foot-long rose apple rod, somewhat
less than half an inch thick is obtained and the stouter end bevelled on both sides
for two or three inches. Starting an inch from the extremity, whittling is done
equally on both narrow sides to result in a sharp median point. Just below the an-
gular section formed by the whittling, a red-hot wire is used to burn a hole through
the middle of the flattened part. A small cord with a six-inch noose is made from
the bark of the trumpet or mahoe tree and at the end of the noose a small, flat piece
of wood about half-an-inch by one-eighth of an inch is attached by passing the
cord through the noose and using the wood to prevent the complete action. The
cord is passed through the hole until the bit of wood stops further progress then
the loose end is tied to the other end of the rod, which is now bent half-way up to-
wards the imaginary horizontal passing through the hole. Next, a four-inch-long
twig, the "pin", with circumference slightly greater than that of the hole is obtained
and a piece of cord is tied to it. The other end of the cord tied to the bent rod which

T^e, True Traditions of my Ancestors 55

is now the finished article—a benna or tambu. The noose is drawn almost to its full
length from behind, resulting in further bending of the benna. The free and prop-
erly pared end of the pin is pushed in the hole in such a manner that the noose is
kept in position—one part of it on each side—and the tension is not released. The
free-hanging portion of the noose is opened carefully over the pin on which the
bird must alight to get at the bait. Its aim is never accomplished. The pin falls; the
creature is doomed.

The tar stick

The tar stick is an exceedingly tall rod, generally of bamboo. The latex from the
jackfruit (that from the fruit is preferred over that from the root) is used to cover
the bamboo pole liberally, leaving uncovered three or four inches at one end. When
the birds come to feed on the apple blossoms, apples, figs or bassocum, the pole is
pushed up at them and they are stuck. At times a cross is affixed at the top and also
covered with latex. Left untended it takes care of those unwary, feathered bipeds
which, sadly, might have been seeking just a moment's rest.

Chorkie
This may be considered the most primitive of all the traps, for it cannot function
unless the trapper is in place. It consists of a long, thin line—generally a vine called
hogmeat—one end of which is tied in a slip-knot immediately before the food so
high up on the branch that the bird is not scared by the presence of the immobile
trapper far below. But when it attempts to eat, the loop is pulled over its neck
which is held firmly to the branch. The end of the string is then tied to a branch, a
sapling, a stone or any stable object that is conveniently at hand. Once that is ac-
complished, the trapper then climbs up the tree and gets his quarry down.

Thefishpot
For general fish-trapping, a length of bamboo is obtained. Let us refer to the space
between two joints as a span. Several spans with the joints remaining at both ends
are cut and each is split into an odd number of strips to within a short distance of
the lower joint which must remain intact. The strips are forced wide apart by push-
ing a stone down towards the second joint and uncured withes are used to com-
plete a neat wicker work from the top to about four inches down. The stone is
removed and we have the finished, funnel-shaped product—the fish-pot. Stones
are now used to make a wall across the river and at certain points this wall is bro-
ken creating swift, narrow streams. Here the fish gliding down cannot turn back
and are trapped in the pots which are placed somewhat below the lower line of the
wall. Another type of trap, the sinking-pot is also made from bamboo. It is neatly
wattled and is shaped like an enormous egg with one end drawn out and the other
blunted. Inside the blunt end is a short funnel which prevents the escape of cap-
tured sea creatures. The funnel is usually made first and the strips (or bones) are
then bent over it, tied at the ends, and wattled. Sometimes, however, the funnel is
made separately and attached afterwards. The sinking-pot is thrown into the deep

56 Maroon Heritage
and the end of an attached cord is hidden somewhere on the river's bank. The bait
generally used is kakoon and coconut and the captives are mostly crayfish, mudfish,
sandfish and eels.

Cooking
There are diverse ways (some of which may even seem outlandish) of preparing
food. For example, boiling done in coco leaves, bamboo, earthen vessels; baking in
ashes. In the latter case, a big fire is made and when the coals are mostly burnt to
ashes, peeled green bananas, plantains, sweet potatoes or other suitable food are
placed on the bed of the fireplace and covered over thickly with ashes. If a large
metal vessel (a pot or a bucket)is available it is placed over the heap. A person can
turn his attention to something else and not fear that the food will be burnt. These
methods were never in general use and were adopted only at the dictates of sharp
necessity or just for fun. Yet, much of the traditional cuisine varies from the stand-
ard Jamaican fare. Let us examine the following: the dunkun, duckunu, buoyo, tie-a-
leaf or blue-drawers, is prepared by mixing grated coco or cornmeal with spices,
sugar, coconut juice and salt together. The batter is poured onto squares of wild
plantain or banana leaves (which had been held for a while over a fire in order to
replace its brittleness with greater elasticity) and then folded into neat packets. The
packets are then cut into the required sizes. The are shaped like miniature pillows
and are tied longitudinally and then across with thin strips of bark from the trum-
pet or mahoe tree, or the banana trunk, and boiled in a large pot or tin. There is the
baked variation which is prepared by placing the leaves thinly along the sides and
bottom of a round-bottomed iron pot. The mixture is poured in and covered care-
fully with leaves. A quantity of ash is placed on top of the leaves; the pot is then
placed on a fire of coals and a piece of zinc or tin is used to cover it completely so
as to form a brim. A fire is made on this piece of metal. When baked, the food is
even more delectable than its boiled counterpart, and is eaten hot or cold. It creates
a thirst and is therefore very satisfying. It can be kept unspoilt for days.

Kakoon soup
The kakoon (cocoon) soup and dish are made from a nut borne on a vine of the same
name. This nut after falling naturally from the dried pod is collected, thrown into
the fire, taken out after giving off a popping sound, and pounded to extract the ker-
nel which kernel is sliced into quarter-inch-wide strips and placed in a bundle
made from the fronds of a giant fern known asferril macca; the bundle is placed in
the river where it remains for three days. The kakoon is then removed and salted. At
this stage it can be eaten without being cooked. In combination with black junga—a
kind of shrimp found in the springs but never in the rivers—it makes both a soup
and a stew that are most highly favoured by connoisseurs in the culinary art.
Thatch head is the succulent portion of the thatch palm, which is harvested
when the fronds are removed and the outer portion chopped away. It is cut into
cubes or strips and made into a soup or crushed and boiled with codfish or janga

T^e True Traditions of my Ancestors 57

in coconut milk. A dish called fufu was once much loved but is now no longer so. It
was made by pounding roasted breadfruit (without the crust) or yellow yam to an
even consistency in a mortar, and seasoning and butter added. It would then be
served as a whole mould from the vessel in which it had been pounded.

Weaving
Moore Town once produced the finest jipijapa hats to be found anywhere in
Jamaica, and perhaps the world. This certainly is a very strong statement but it is
supported by a formation of unyielding strength. Two sets of persons excelled in
the art. One was the entire family of Crawfords and the other a branch of the Harris
family. In 1929 at a show and fair on the property of one Tata Howell, near
Manchioneal, Mr J.J. Crawford submitted two jipijapa hats. Dozens of hats were
submitted but Mr Crawford's won the first and second prizes. The strands were so
fine and neatly woven that water poured in failed to find an easy way out. In the
late 1950s, two samples were taken to the festival contest in Port Antonio, in the
parish of Portland. People were greatly impressed and the festival officer asked
leave to take them to the finals in St Ann's Bay. Based on a pledge that the items
would be returned, the request was granted. They were never seen again, and
Moore Town ceased their participation as a team in the festival. The art is almost
dead now, for the only living member of that select band of weavers is Mr Tom
Crawford and he no longer plies the trade. Other materials once used in weaving
are mawt grass, coconut leaves and curatoe (sisal). Hats, mats, belts and slippers were
woven.

Maroon music and dance

Apart from the general music and dance patterns practised throughout Jamaica
and accepted by the Maroons, there were special traditional types which are not
found outside of a Maroon community and are described by the word Kramanti.
The Kramanti drums, briefly mentioned earlier, are of two kinds—the large and
the small. Twine made from the bark of the trumpet or the mahoe tree is used to
keep the goatskin in place and wooden wedges regulate its degree of tautness.
These drums are played with the fingers and the palms of the hands. At least two
drums should be playing simultaneously if a rich, meaningful music is to be pro-
duced. The bigger drum is the long drum and the smaller one is the cutter which re-
peats the notes and message of the former.
Because of this fact, if there were bad blood between two families and a pre-
cocious child of one of the antagonists should be heard making an uncompli-
mentary remark in respect of the other, an adult standing by would shrug the
shoulder and say to another, "Mmm, what little drum seh is what big drum
seh". This means that the child was merely repeating the unsavoury remarks of
its parents.

58 JVLaroon Heritage
The Adowa
This is an equilateral triangle somewhat less than a foot high and mostly made
from a steel bar three-eighths of an inch thick, which is sometimes electroplated. At
the apex, a circle is formed of the same material (but not added on), and a straight
piece of the same material, measuring not less than the length of one side of the tri-
angle is used for tapping to the rhythm of the drums. Most of the songs are almost
always in the minor key.

Kramanti dance
Kramanti dance is unique to Maroons in Jamaica. It takes in the synchronized
movements of each part of the body as well as those of the body as a whole. The
accentuated movements of the pelvic region, which is more or less present in other
forms, are absent from Kramanti dance. It is characterized by a sense of seriousness
and mission. That is one of the reasons behind the ability of the true Kramanti
dancer to glide with such ease, from the purely physical plane on to the metaphysi-
cal. Used in certain ways and under special conditions, Maroon songs and dances
have been known to become swift and awesome agents of retribution. Such was
the case of the deeply wronged woman who, in singing a jawbone, simultaneously
used a small tumbler half-filled with clear, sparkling water to "throw", not "pour",
her libation.
A special type of dance originating in Moore Town which enjoyed phenomenal
popularity up to the first quarter of the twentieth century, is that known as brukins.
The following is an excerpt from a brukins fete: The music was supplied by two
flutes, one of wood and the other of bamboo, two drums (a very large bass and a
small rattling drum), a pair of bamboo castanets, a grater-and-spoon, a rub-stick
and a comb-and-paper. Outside, there were more people than those who were able
to find accommodation within the booth and precisely at the first stroke of eight
from the large clock at the back of the platform, the tones of the golden-voiced
woman rang out in song:

Walk een deh, walk een deh,

Walk een deh, walk een daaayh!

The whole company of singers joined in and the instruments' controlled vol-
ume played their part so skilfully that the voices were never drowned out at any
time and their messages were always understood. Have you, dear reader, ever had
to pass a muddy section of the road while in formal dress? And did some kind per-
son place some small stones on which, if you were brave enough, you could pick
your way across? Well, the resultant tentativeness, swaying sideways and back-
wards and the successful progress, were the motivating force behind the concept of
bruckins. The dancers were invariably couples because no one danced alone. The
entire course of this dance gives the impression of an orderly unfolding of a story,
stage by stage, and there is at least one song that is particularly relevant to each

lye True Traditions of vny Ancestors 59

stage. It is obvious that the one mentioned above is an invitation for someone to
come in, and in this case it is royalty in the form of a magnificently attired queen.
As expectancy grows the mood is translated into song such as:
Wi hear about di noble queen
Wi wantfi si her here tonight
She's fairer far than e'er was seen
Her smile of love is sheer delight.
But the wait is long, so something must be wrong! Yes, the road is in poor con-
dition and the song upbraiding some indeterminate person for such dereliction of
duty is melodramatically rendered:
Di queen outa door an' shi wantfi come een!
Oh where an' oh where, an' oh were has she been?
A wha' mek yu nevva did come bull' di road
Fi mek di queen come een?
There are only slight pauses in the dancing and as the royal personage makes
her way with steps meticulously rehearsed and faultlessly reproduced, another
change in song takes place:
Wi comefi greet mi queen
To see her lovely face
The fairest ever seen
Within this noble place.
And so it goes on until the sparkling climax—the unveiling of the queen. What
follows, though anticlimactic, is greatly relished by all because now Her Majesty
glories in the common touch—she dances with all who crave the privilege. Then
follows one of the crowning songs:
Mi bruck so, mi bruck so wid mi queen
Shi bruck so, shi bruck so, shi so sweet
Shi mek each step so sure an' clean
I now throw flowers at her feet.

Legal matters

Now we consider one of the infrequent cases of dispute among Maroons. A person
complains to an officer (generally the Colonel) of differences between himself and
another who, according to his story, has encroached upon his domain. He is told to
attend a meeting at a certain hour on a given date. In addition, he is instructed to give
information regarding this meeting to the respondent. The time arrives; the Council
gathers and each side in the dispute represents its case supported by evidence from
others. The matter proves to be simple in nature and is resolved easily then and there.

60 Maroon Heritage
It could have been otherwise and then a date would be fixed for a visit to the locus in
quo and in the early morning some members of the Council, in the presence of both
contestants and other interested persons, would open the boundary as dictated by
the course of justice. Against their decision there is no appeal.

Traditional medicine

As herbalists, the Maroons used to regard themselves as second to none and Ma-
roon territory abounded, and still does, in a multiplicity of herbs with amazing
curative value. The common cold could never withstand the might of a potion
whose ingredients include cow-tongue, cow-foot, fresh-cut, John-charl, rat-ears, or
the juice of the tre-alive (leaf-of-life). The juice from the latter is extracted after the
leaf has been warmed over fire. A tablespoonful is considered a dose and it is taken
warm after the addition of a small amount of salt. The anagus is a tree that grows
only on the Long Mountain Range (as far as a study carried out in Maroon territory
has shown), and its yellow-coloured bark, when chewed, produces a yellow,
slightly bitter liquid. Time was when every member of every family would keep
his/her own piece of anagus bark at home against an attack of the common cold. It
would be chewed, the juice swallowed and relief would be guaranteed within a
short while.
The penguin, a modified leaf bearing a close resemblance to that of the pineap-
ple, if boiled and drunk reputedly acts as a diuretic. Red water-grass, cow-tongue
and cigya-bush in combination can work wonders against high blood pressure. The
water blown from the stem of the cutting-grass undoubtedly relieves minor injury
to the eyes. The hog-gum or bo-gum, the resin from the tree of the same name, is
used to cure cuts and bad bruises. For more serious wounds, the nutmeg is chewed
to a smooth paste and placed thereon until healing is effected. It is not too much to
say that this cure borders on the miraculous. And here is a cure whose illogicality
towers high over Everest; yet it works on almost every occasion: for a headache the
older Maroon takes a length of vine known as hog-meat, on which he makes an
odd number of tight knots then ties it tightly around his forehead. Within a short
while thereafter, the main problem bids him farewell.
For stubborn old sores, there was an infallible cure: certain quantities of
snake root, junction root and camomile flowers were boiled together, and when
the liquid cooled it was strained and a small and critical amount of potash
added. The patient would take this over a two- or three-week period, but imme-
diately before and after his doses, he would also take an obligatory large dose of
salt physic (Epsom salts). The patient was forbidden to take table salt during the
treatment. However, because of the potential danger in the use of the potash if
the patient were careless, in the majority of cases an inert substitute was used
and the salt physic would be unnecessary.
The snake-weed, an amazing weed with a remarkable history, was used as the
base for many cures. The story goes that among snakes there was one that effected

Tpe True Traditions of my Ancestors 61

cures to the others and was consequently called the doctor snake by the Maroons.
Long ago, it is said, two "dancermen" hid themselves and watched as the doctor
made his way to a patient. They killed the doctor and took the weed it was carrying
in its mouth. This weed they named snake-weed.

Cupping
At times, as a result of a hard blow or for other reasons, the knee me other part
of the body may become greatly swollen and painful. When various embrocations
fail to relieve the situation a last resort, cupping (a procedure that never fails) is em-
ployed: A small, round calabash (called packie by the Maroons) of about two inches
in diameter is obtained, and a hole the size of a ten-cent piece is made at a point re-
garded as the highest above the imaginary circle enclosing it. It is thoroughly
cleaned and has now become a cup. Next, a tablespoon of white proof rum is
poured in it; a small portion of the affected part of the patient is held between
thumb and forefinger, a tiny incision is made on the swelling and the rum is set
alight. After a few seconds, the cup is set over the incision. It "holds on" by suction
efect, until filled with the extracted putrescent matter and relief is often instantane-
ous. This describes an actual operation some years ago, and those few persons who
were afraid of the operation would resort to vesicants, and in particular one known
as blister. A portion of the unfolding heart-leaf of a french-plantain was warmed
over a fire and blister feathered evenly over it. The affected area was then bandaged
securely with this heart-leaf which was removed after a few days and the resulting
vescicles pricked to release the contents.

Manners in the Maroon community

The standard of good manners and respect for others among the Maroons, particu-
larly elders, was once so high that it is safe to say that it could not have been better
in any part of the world. Even a simple, innocuous word such as "damn" would
not be used by adults in the presence of their elders, and whistling was similarly
frowned upon. Admittedly, it can be argued that there was a touch of severity to
the whole matter, for neither a man nor his wife was totally insulated against a
thorough spanking by any of their parents. Further, even faultless behaviour could
not be regarded as an infallible assurance of immunity, since the parents' percep-
tion of excellence or its opposite, in a particular instance, could be at fault. If suc-
cessive administrations (governments of Jamaica) since the 1970s had coupled this
fact with the highly developed sense of unity and cooperation obtaining among
the Maroons, and used the amalgam as the standard for an all-Jamaica behavioural
pattern, one could be reasonably assured that the entire country would have been
enriched culturally, economically, psychologically and spiritually. The citizens of
Jamaica would be, for the most part, men and women of goodwill.

62 Maroon Heritage
 The story of my ancestors is a long one and one cannot say everything in so
small a space. But it must be concluded that today the Maroons continue to be
made of one equal temper of heroic hearts which cherish the achievements of those
ancestors who shed blood and laid down their lives that Jamaica may one day have
true freedom.

llpe, True, Traditions of my Ancestors 63

 three

The Heritage of
Accompong Maroons
Col. Martin-Luther Wright

Introduction

The true traditions of Maroons of Accompong and other areas in western Jamaica
trace their ancestry to Arawak Indians, whom Christopher Columbus found in Ja-
maica on his voyage to the island and Africans, who escaped both Spanish and
English domination to establish independent communities. The Arawak Indians
have been described as being of brown complexion, short in stature, thick bodied,
with flat noses and loose hair. Early estimates indicate that there were approxi-
mately 1,000 free men and women living on the island. The Spaniards enslaved
them, used them to develop their sugar cane farms and ill-treated them very se-
verely. They rebelled, escaped and took to the hills of Clarendon where they organ-
ized themselves and fought fearlessly to maintain their freedom and dignity.
The Maroons of Accompong consider themselves, and very proudly too, as the first
real, living freedom fighters in the New World. Some of the famous known and re-
corded leaders included Kojo, Accompong, Johnnie, Cuffie, Quao and Nanny. On
several occasions the entire English regiment suffered serious defeats, and as hap-
pened near the Peace Cave on Maroon soil near Old Accompong Town, an entire
British regiment was destroyed. In the end, the English asked for peace, the first
treaty having been signed in March 1739. The result of these treaties was to make the
Maroons of Jamaica a free, independent self-governing group of people. This status
we maintain to the present day. Thus the name Maroon means a group or groups of

64 Maroon Heritage
people who resisted European slavery, defeated the colonial forces and gained for
themselves everlasting freedom. The true Maroon is the one who is committed to this
ancestry and spirit of freedom from any kind of slavery and the preservation of hu-
man dignity and self-respect. All Maroons of Accompong and other Maroon com-
munities of Jamaica are proud to be associated with this principle.
The most important thing about the history of the Maroons generally is the fact
of their firm stand against slavery oppression and maltreatment by money-hungry
colonialist European countries. Even as late as the nineteenth century when there
was a general international outcry against slavery and the slave trade, evidence ex-
ists that demonstrated the mentality of Europeans against blacks and particularly
my ancestors who openly fought against slavery.

Accompong territory

Accompong is surrounded by Simon Hill on the west (Mahogany Hill behind Si-
mon Hill is also part of Accompong); Manchester Hill to the north-west, Jobo and
Copeland Hills in the north. It is said that Simon Hill is the burial place of the head
of the wicked Quancoo, who murdered any male born in that area. Owing to his
wicked acts, a plot to get rid of him from the society ended in his death. His head
was cut off and buried in Simon Hill. The rest of Quancoo's body is said to have
been buried with those of other Maroons in the general burial ground on the way
to the burial site of Colonel Kojo, who is one of the greatest resistance leaders
against the military-plantation governments which followed the arrival of the Eng-
lish in Jamaica. The original Accompong Town grew out of the fortified Maroon
outpost established around the end of the seventeenth century, owing to the de-
mands of the major wars between the Maroons and the British. It was established
by Accompong at the direction of Kojo.
Today, Accompong consists of several quarters that appear to represent congre-
gations of related family units residing in different quarters of the town. It is not
clear whether these units were established at the initial stages of the founding of
the town. Information is that these quarters do not follow any predetermined fam-
ily relationships. These quarters are: Hill Top, Parade, Middle Ground, Over Yon-
der, Gipson, Guinea Grass, Pondside, Cedar Valley, River Hole, River Pond and
Out Yonder.
There are some important sites in and around Accompong Town (Fig. 3.1).2 The
first one is called "Kindah", meaning "We are a family". This site is located just
outside Accompong Town to the north-east. It is the place of the annual anniver-
sary celebrations of the peace treaty. It is said to have been the base for consult-
ations for Maroon leaders during their wars against the British forces. Kojo's burial
ground, the place where annual offering should be made to the spirits of Kojo and
other famous ancestors, is located in a fairly level spot about half a kilometre down
a rugged slope north-east from Kindah. That place was the site of Old Accompong

T^e Heritage of Accompong Maroons 65

Fig. 3.1 Accompong settlement

Town simply referred to as "Old Town" or more popularly "Amphrey Town"

(Humphrey Town). Almost on the eastern border of Accompong Maroon lands is
the cave which was used as a spying base by the Maroons as it was the closest con-
venient location to the opponent's military base situated in the then Aberdeen
plantation. This cave is also referred to as "Ambush". It has suffered over the years
from environmental damage and appears to have lost its original appearance and
features that indicate its importance to the Maroons in the days of struggle.
Another location of importance is the Pette River Bottom which featured as the last
battleground of the wars between the Maroons and the English forces before the
peace treaty. Associated with this location is what has been mentioned in the
records as "Guthrie's defile".3

66 Maroon Heritage
The peace treaty

After the peace treaty the population gradually shifted away from Old Accom-
pong Town to its modern location, perched high up in the mountains of St Eliza-
beth in western Jamaica bordering the parishes of St James and Trelawny. The
people of Accompong make up a "nation within a nation" of the island of Jamaica
and live on lands granted under the treaty. They continue to practise and enjoy the
traditional customs handed down by our Amerindian and, particularly, African
guerrilla ancestors.
The people of Accompong are law abiding and trustworthy. The special name
we use for ourselves is "Mighty friend", and indeed a Maroon is the best friend one
can have. The land of the settlement is communally owned. A deep sense of be-
longing to a family prevails in this Town. One significant item that identifies Ac-
compong as a free nation is the peace treaty of 1739. Part of it reads:

"In the name of God, Amen.

Whereas Captain Cudjoe, Accompong, Johnny, Cuffee, Quaco, and several
other negroes, their dependents and adherents, have been in war and hostility
for several years in the past, King George the second by letters and patent
dated twenty-fourth February, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-Eight
granted full powers and authority to John Guthrie, Francis Saddler, Esquires, to
negotiate and finally conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with the aforesaid
Captain Cudjoe, and the rest of his captains, adherents and others of his men; they
mutually, sincerely, and amicably have agreed to the following articles:
Firstly, That all hostilities shall cease on both sides forever.
Secondly, That the said Captain Cudjoe, the rest of his Captains, adherents
and men shall be forever hereafter in perfect state of freedom and liberty...
Thirdly, That they shall enjoy and possess, for themselves and posterity
forever, all lands situate and lying between Trelawny Town and the Cockpits,
to the amount of fifteen hundred acres, bearing northwest from the said Trelawny
Town.
Fourthly, That they shall have liberty to plant the said lands with coffee, cocoa,
ginger, tobacco and cotton and to breed cattle, hogs, goats, or any other stock, and
dispose of the produce or increase of the said commodities to the inhabitants of this
island, provided always, that when they bring the said commodities to market, they
shall apply first to the custos, or any other magistrate of the respective parishes
where they expose their goods for sale, for licence to vend the same.
Fifthly, That Captain Cudjoe, and all the Captains, adherents, and people
now in subjection to him, shall live together within the bounds of Trelawny Town,
and that they have liberty to hunt where they shall think fit, except within three
miles of any settlement, kraal or pen, provided always, that in case the hunters
of Captain Cudjoe and those of other settlements meet, then the hogs to be equally
divided between both parties . . . "

T^e Heritage of Accowpong Maroons 67

 The Colonel is the chief leader of the town and is elected every five years by a
poll of ballots. He administers through a council of thirty-two members of men
and women appointed by him. Currently, there are seven female members on the
Council. In ancient times, the Chief of Accompong Maroons was elected for life.
However, recently, in order to curb disputes that often arose during change-over of
the leadership, the term of service has now been fixed at four. The leader at all
times commands the respect of each Maroon and receives the support for all
authorized activities.

Annual festival

The greatest community event is the festival which is held every January to cele-
brate Kojo's victory over the British which led to the treaty. This festival is planned
to coincide with Kojo's birthday and celebrates Kojo's remarkable leadership and
the sacrifice he made fighting for his people in this wild, rugged Cockpit country
for so many long, dreary years. The celebrations also remind all Maroons of the
hard days of the struggle to maintain their freedom. Maroons reunite in their dedi-
cation to stand firm on their traditional values for freedom, liberty and respect for
human dignity.
Thousands of people from all walks of life, Jamaicans and foreigners alike,
converge on Accompong during the celebrations. The celebrations begin early
in the day, but at around mid-morning, with the sound of the abeng (the side-
blown horn), the Maroon war horn which has been in use in Jamaica for three
centuries, the formal start of the festivities is announced. The abeng is made
from the horns of cattle and at full blast it can be heard clearly over a distance of
approximately fifteen kilometres and is one of the traditions that our ancestors
brought from Africa where it is also still in use as a means of message communi-
cation. This horn was used to communicate messages between Maroon commu-
nities. It calls Maroons to assembly and to contribute to Maroon funerals. It
played and still plays a major role in many other Maroon celebrations. The
abeng message is incomprehensible to non-Maroons. On celebration day there is
much feasting, selling of various types of goods, the telling of folk tales and
oral history sessions are held throughout the day. The highlight of the festiv-
ity is the re-enactment of the war dances and treaty songs of the Accompong
Maroons. The Colonel of the Town leads the march or procession to the tune of
para-military and military songs such as: "Clear road ooo, all the force a como
oo, clear the road ooo ..." as the ancestral spirits are intoned to clear the road so
that all the ancient Maroon leader's spirits may be intoned to clear the path
of the procession. There are sacred and public ceremonies which build up a
colourful fiesta of dances, songs and chants and ends with the celebration day
performances at the centre of Accompong town where a monument to Kojo is
located.

68 Maroon Heritage
Ritual on "sacred grounds"
There are usually four major parts to the celebrations. Firstly there is prolonged
chanting, singing and dancing in traditional Maroon style in preparation for the
visit to the sacred grounds and the grave of Kojo, Accompong and other past Ma-
roon leaders. Secondly, there is the visit to the sacred grounds and at which only
full-blooded male Maroons are allowed on the day of the celebration. Next is the
return march to the Kindah Tree where the ritual food is prepared by specially se-
lected Maroon men assisted by elderly female Maroons. Finally, there is the march
to and along the main roads of Accompong.
It is during the preparation for the visit to the sacred grounds, that the sprin-
kling of the sacred grounds with rum and the pouring of libation takes place. Dur-
ing that time there is preparation of the food to be carried to feed the spirits of the
Maroon heroes. The food includes pork as the meat and boiled yam. At the graves
of the heroes, in addition to pouring libation (which among the Accompong Ma-
roons is basically the sprinkling of rum over the sacred grounds) food is thrown
around the area. A tense moment comes at the place when the visiting Maroons
must have a period of spiritual communication with their ancestors but must be
preceded by a long period of silence and meditation — what among them is re-
ferred to as a "reasoning session". The return to the Kindah Tree is made by follow-
ing what is known as the "Old Town path".

Ambush
One of the features of the march is that many of the Maroons are clad in leaves and
branches of trees, a reminder that in the olden days of the wars, greenery was pre-
pared and used as camouflage so that on the battlefront each Maroon warrior ap-
peared like nothing more than a clump of bush. Often non-Maroons and especially
those who are not conversant with Maroon culture, make the serious error of refer-
ring to the dances performed at the celebrations as "ambush dance". There is noth-
ing known as "ambush dance" in Maroon culture. Surprise was the main element
in the use of the camouflage and there would have been no reason for the Maroons
to have practised a dance in the course of the action they were taking. The term
"ambush" refers specifically to the camouflage which was responsible for the dra-
matic military successes of the Maroons against the British. The Peace Cave is also
referred to as "ambush" also, because it was one of the most strategic places for
laying ambush to surprise the British forces.
Most of the earlier parts of the celebration, particularly the morning activities
such as the slaughter of the sacrificial animals and libations, are centred at the
"Kindah Tree" mentioned above. There are strict regulations about the rituals re-
lated to the festival. For example, only male Maroons are allowed to enter the Kojo
burial spot and the Peace Cave on celebration day. At those places there are certain
secret ceremonies that, by tradition, are limited to a certain Maroons of the commu-
nity. However, other members of the Maroon community, non-Maroon visitors or
tourists, are allowed at those two sites on any other day of the year. In the past one

lye, Heritage, of Accompong Maroom 69

hundred years or more, Maroons would only marry to Maroons, but today there is
a lot of inter-marriage and once a Maroon marriage ceremony to a non-Maroon is
performed that non-Maroon is accepted into the Maroon family. It is during the
last part of the celebrations that Accompong people get to meet and know mem-
bers of their families, beyond those of the Maroon community itself.
Many of the songs of the Accompong Maroons were composed by the ancient
Maroons in their struggle for freedom, their victory over the English, their dances
and the special plays performed at "nine nights". One of the songs which consists of
one line is: "Dis a ya, o, a fi mi yard, oo". Another is: "Walk in de, o, walk in a yard".
The last part of the celebrations take place in the modern Accompong Town at
the monument erected in honour of Kojo. That is the part of the celebrations in
which Maroon and non-Maroon come in contact and share in the merry-making.
Traditional Maroon food, rum, Maroon traditional gumbey drumming, music and
dance as well as family re-unions—all against the backdrop of the achievements of
the past—are the order of the day. The abeng sounds from time to time, sending
messages to the Maroons and all who can understand. In recent years, the practice
has been to invite a distinguished personality to grace the occasion and thus repre-
sent the extension of goodwill to the larger Jamaican and international public.

Past Accompong Chiefs

Since Kojo, the leadership of Accompong has been held by males. The following
persons have served as Colonel in Accompong in that order, some serving for two
terms: Kojo (Cudjoe), Accompong, Austin, White, T. Crosse, H. D. Rowe, R. J.
McLeod, K. T. Wright, H. E. Wright, H. R. Rowe, W. I. Robertson, Isaac Myles, M.L.
Wright, T. J. Cawley W. I. Robertson, Charles Reid, H. Cawley, M. L.Wright,
Meredie Rowe (current Chief).
In Accompong, it has been discovered that the surnames Wright, Rowe, Cawley
and Crosse are more common to the various sections into which the community is
divided. It is also obvious that at least one member of these families, although they
were related, was made Chief at some point in time. The fact that they were also re-
lated shows that there was a strong tendency towards a kinship-based network or
that leadership rested with dominant family groups. In Accompong, women are
very active in other aspects of organizations in the settlement. The main political
body is the Council, which at the moment consists of thirty-two members, seven of
whom are women.
There are five churches in Accompong today (compared to one in 1738), namely,
Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman, Church of God International, Assembly of
God, Zion Church (of African origin, otherwise called Pocomanic) and the Seventh
Day Baptist Church. All the ministers of these churches live outside of Accompong,
but there are local preachers who do the church services in the ministers' absence.

70 Maroon Heritage
Traditional medicine

Traditional medicine in the form of herbal tonics, mixtures, herbal tea, baths and
similar types of medicines are locally available and provided by traditional herbal-
ists as well as some spiritual leaders, particularly women who are either born with
those powers or have been specially trained. Roots and barks of trees are used for
making drinks of all kinds, some of which are medicinal.

The future

Although local politics have created problems for Maroons of Accompong, there is
still that feeling of solidarity and unity. The important thing is one's Maroon iden-
tity and a common will to continue to honour the fight for freedom and self-re-
spect. Maroons of Accompong all respect their brothers and sisters of Jamaica and
are willing to share their cultural traditions and achievements in all their forms,
but in as far as it is not tantamount to being slaves, servants or subjects of any other
people. The allegiance of Maroons of Accompong is to the people of Jamaica.5

Notes
1 S.A.G. Taylor, "The Diary of Sir Henry de la Beche", Jamaica Historical Society Bulletin III,
no. 4: 54-56.
2 Map used courtesy of the University of the West Indies Mona Archaeological Research
Project [Agorsah 1992,1993].
3 Alan Eyre, "The Maroon Wars in Jamaica: A Geographical Appraisal", The Jamaican His-
torical Review XII (1980): 5-19.
4 B. Edwards, The History of the West Indies (London, 1819).
5 Several publications have been made on the Accompong Maroons: B. Kopytoff, The
Maroons of Jamaica: An Ethnohistorical Study of Incomplete Polities, 1655-1905 [1973];
C.Robinson, The Fighting Maroons of Jamaica [1969]; M.Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica
[1990], and Dallas, The History of the Maroons [1803]. The interpretations may not repre-
sent the true picture of Maroon culture, but these could be used as a guide towards more
search and research. Our traditions are rich and we are proud to tell people about them.
Unfortunately, some classified details cannot be told without the permission of the entire
Council acting and deciding together on the particular issue. Even these details we are
glad to share.

T^e Heritage of Accompany Maroons 71

 four

Maroon Culture as a Distinct

Variant of Jamakan Culture
Kenneth Bilby

Introduction

The year 1992 has multiple global significance. For the Americas as a whole, it sym-
bolizes five centuries of transformation and struggle since Columbus' first voyage.
For Jamaica, it represents three decades of independent nationhood. And, for those
Jamaicans called Maroons, it marks the 150th anniversary of a now-forgotten piece
of legislation aimed at their total obliteration, the so-called Maroon Lands Allot-
ment Act of 1842.
If the nineteenth century colonial lawmakers who drafted this Act had their
way, the treaties signed by the British and the Maroons slightly more than a cen-
tury earlier, would have been done away with and erased from memory. In turn,
the Maroons' communal lands would have been divided and parceled out. And, as
a result, the Maroons themselves would have vanished through a rapid process of
social and cultural assimilation into the Jamaican peasantry. But this was not to
happen and the Maroons are still with us today.
Most Jamaicans today know the Maroons only as larger-than-life figures in his-
tory books. Those who know that communities of Maroons still exist often assume
that these surviving descendants of the original rebels have by now become cultur-
ally indistinguishable from the rest of the population, even if some of them still claim
a separate identity. According to this point of view, the name Maroon is today little
more than a quaint label to which a few Jamaicans, though they are in fact no longer

72. Maroon Heritage

any different from others, stubbornly and proudly continue to cling. At the opposite
extreme are those who imagine the Maroon communities as isolated, "primitive" en-
claves where a mythically "pure" African culture yet flourishes. Needless to say, both
of these images are far from accurate.
Much of the more serious literature on modern Jamaican Maroons has focused
either on the continuing significance of the 1739 treaties, or the unique systems of
communal land tenure that persist to this day in Maroon communities. Both the
treaties and the treaty lands have undeniably played, and continue to play, an im-
portant part in the ethnic self-definition of Maroons. There are also a few surviving
items of material culture that are found only in Maroon communities, such as the
abeng and certain kinds of drums. These, too, are sometimes treated as markers of
identity. But there is another dimension of Maroon identity, one that has received
less attention, though it is equally important. I am referring here to that intangible
part of culture that exists in the mind.
In this intangible domain, which includes such aspects of culture as worldview,
language, music, dance and historical consciousness, substantial numbers of Ma-
roons have retained a clearly distinct intimate culture—a sacred body of cultural
knowledge handed down directly from their ancestors. It is precisely this non-ma-
terial realm that is least accessible to non-Maroons, for Maroons have long, and for
good reason, hidden its contents from outsiders. This helps to explain why so little
has been written about these intangible aspects of Maroon culture and why some,
who otherwise know a good deal about Maroons, still believe that the inhabitants
of Moore Town, Charles Town, Scott's Hall and Accompong have been severed
from their past and retain nothing more than a few insignificant vestiges of Ma-
roon culture.
In this chapter, a few of the ways in which Maroons have remained culturally
distinct are examined, in order to illustrate the validity of the above statements. In
doing so, one cannot avoid treading on sensitive ground, for several of the aspects
of culture discussed below are not normally discussed in the presence of outsiders.
Indeed, there are strong sanctions against speaking about some of these matters to
non-Maroons. They are discussed here, only after having acquired permission to
do so from the individual Maroon teachers who slowly and guardedly imparted
this knowledge to me. Only by probing certain intimate aspects of the Maroons'
culture can it be shown that they have a present-day cultural heritage of their own,
one which extends beyond colonial treaties, land rights and questions of political
autonomy into less visible areas.
The examples which follow are drawn from the three eastern Maroon com-
munities—particularly Moore Town—where I spent more than a year carrying
out research in the late 1970s.3 It should be borne in mind that the western Ma-
roon community of Accompong differs in substantial ways from the eastern
ones; therefore some of the statements made below may not apply there.
In the final section of the paper, I will place the material presented below in
historical context and briefly discuss the processes of cultural divergence, de-
creolization and reconvergence, which have produced the layered complexity of

A Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture 73

present-day Maroon culture. Drawing comparisons with Suriname, where pre-
sent-day Maroons also remain a minority group within a larger Afro-Caribbean
society, I will argue that the distinctive Jamaican Maroon culture that has sur-
vived to the present must be seen as a special variant of Jamaican culture.

Historical consciousness and descent

Contemporary Jamaican Maroons remain linked to their past through a large body
of oral historical traditions that over the centuries have been kept within their own
communities. Even today these traditions are not usually shared with outsiders. In-
deed, some of them are not known to the majority of Maroons since they have been
passed on by specialists to a select few. Other such traditions, however, are part of
general knowledge within the Maroon communities—at least among older people.
The eastern Maroons, in particular, possess an abundance of oral traditions con-
cerning the great Maroon leader, Nanny. Although Maroons are proud that Nanny
has been made a Jamaican National Hero, their appreciation of her historical im-
portance does not derive from the government's "canonization" of her in 1977. On
the contrary, Nanny has been a powerful, living presence for Maroons for more
than two centuries. Grandy Nanny, as she is known to Maroons themselves, is not
only their queen, but their "mother", and present-day eastern Maroons are her
"children". In a way reminiscent of the founding mothers of clans and lineages
among the matrilineal Akan-speaking societies of West Africa, Grandy Nanny is an
apical ancestress. It is only because of their ostensible common descent from her
that all eastern Maroons, even those who cannot trace any actual blood relation-
ships between one another, are said to belong to a single "family".
Members of this large, clan-like family refer to themselves as yoyo, a Maroon
word denoting "children", "progeny", or "generation". In the eastern commu-
nities, to be a Maroon is to be one of Grandy Nanny's "yoyo". In fact, the word
yoyo itself has become an in-group term of ethnic identification equivalent in
meaning to the word Maroon. One Maroon elder recently described the meaning
of the word yoyo to me as follows: "We is Grandy Nanny 'yoyo', him children;
him race of family dem; Grandy Nanny family dem; him seh him 'yoyo' dem,
call we him 'yoyo'... mean to seh him family dem" [Kent, 4 February 1991].
Another put it this way: "... dat 'yoyo' deh now, Grandy Nanny statement now
seh, 'a pikibo'... A him yoyo him a talk now, you know.. .Grandy Nanny yoyo a
we today. You see? . . . Dere is another word fi de 'yoyo'. We now a 'pikibo'. When
we seh 'pikibo' dat mean to seh we come like him grandchildren dem . . . we weh
left... we call weself 'yoyo'" [Comfort Castle, 2 February 1991].
Consciousness of the Maroon past, which forms an important part of the col-
lective identity of present-day Maroons, is intimately bound up with this notion
of descent from Nanny.4 While the exploits of other legendary early Maroons are
also commemorated in historical narratives, it is Grandy Nanny who receives
the most attention in discussions of the Maroon past. Indeed, the centrality of

74 Mflroon Heritage
Nanny is powerfully illustrated by oral traditions that relate how, during the
early days of war with the British, all the Maroon military leaders came to-
gether, pooled their spiritual resources and decided to invest their powers in the
person of Nanny. While she was still a girl or young woman, the story goes, the
most powerful men "groomed" or trained her for the role of queen. Each then
transferred a portion of his own powers to her and submitted himself to her
authority, making her the central spiritual beacon through whom their collec-
tive powers would from then on radiate.
Here are a few examples of this oral tradition, which I have extracted from
longer narratives that I recorded on tape. I have left them in the words of the four
different Maroons who related them to me:
"Grandy Nanny never got no man deh... A seven brother him got. And de
seven ofdem deh wid him. De seven a dem a seven obeah man. Learn dat. De seven
a dem a seven obeah man. When de white people dem deh fool round dem, dem tek
everything off a dem, put pon dem sister" [Comfort Castle, 3 February 1991].
Also:
"Nanny was a little girl. Dem raise him up as a miss (i.e. as a virgin). A him a
de fighter... dat mean to seh him no have no dealing wid no man or nothing. Is a
girl And dem train her up. Him put before, as a warrior. You understand. So dat
all dem fighting now, whatever dem doing, dem have him before. Dem groom him,
and put him before. And dem deh behind" [Moore Town, 30 January 1991].
Another statement was:
"Grandy Nanny was the queen of the Maroons. All the tribes of the Maroons,
they made Grandy Nanny a queen. They crown her queen, and scientifically, they
wawatu her... In other words, they crowned her. Wawatu is to honour. We hon-
oured her. Wawatu. We honoured her you see? and make her a queen, a queen
fi Maroon. So I will impart some of my science to her, you will part some, all
these science people part their influence and their knowledge to her. So she's full
of wisdom. So she becomes the queen" [Comfort Castle, 3 February, 1991].
Finally:
"... dem put Grandy, trim Grandy, as queen, and put up deh. Dat four man
weh min a fight de war, dem trim Grandy and put out dem toefi dem queen. Truly,
truly. Dem put him out deh and show... De bakra got a woman sitting fi dem.
Dem have a woman who stand fi dem too, as de Maroon" [Moore Town, 25 June
1978].
It is in the context of the ceremony known as Kromanti Play that much of what re-
mains distinctively Maroon, in world view, language and music has been fostered
and maintained. Only the yoyo, descendants, and spiritual heirs of Grandy Nanny
can practise the true Kromanti rites and tap the powers of the early Maroons—those
who made Nanny their queen. Except on certain rare occasions, outsiders are ex-
cluded from serious Kromanti ceremonies—which is to say those dances during
which ancestors manifest themselves and communicate through the living.

A Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture 75

 Although the majority of Maroons no longer participate regularly in Kromanti
Play, a few specialists can still be relied upon to summon the ancestral powers in
times of need. These ritual specialists, known as fete-man or fete-woman, keep open
the line to Nanny and the other ancestors. As recently as the first few decades of
this century, Grandy Nanny was still "visiting" and counselling her yoyo on a regu-
lar basis through a fete-woman in Moore Town who was but the most recent in a
long line of communicators for the spirit of this founding ancestress.

Maroon language

Well into this century, some older Maroons still spoke, as their native tongue, a dis-
tinctive Creole language that differed from the language of other rural Jamaicans,
yet was closely related to it. Today, a few Maroon elders retain partial competence
in this language and although it is seldom heard in everyday speech, it sometimes
surfaces in story-telling contexts or in oral historical narratives. While grammati-
cally very close to the Jamaican Creole, or "patois", spoken throughout the island,
it differs dramatically in its phonology, and to a lesser extent, its vocabulary.
Recent studies [Bilby 1983] point to a direct historical link between this distinct
Jamaican Maroon Creole and the creole languages of Suriname, including those
spoken by contemporary Maroon peoples such as the Saramaka and Ndjuka. The
evidence suggests that the influx of slaves from the former British colony of Suri-
name to Jamaica in the later seventeenth century had a major influence on the de-
velopment of this unique variant of Jamaican creole. Some linguists have even
classified this Jamaican Maroon language as an offshoot of a Suriname proto-cre-
ole, rather than assign it to the western Caribbean branch of the English-lexicon
Caribbean Creoles, to which Jamaican creole belongs.7 I offer here a few examples
of sentences and phrases in this language. For comparison, I follow each example
with its equivalent in Ndjuka Tongo, a creole language spoken by Maroons living
today in the interior of Suriname and French Guiana:

1. Jamaican Maroon: Al di sonti wi piik ina wi prandes, yu kya in go de bak a hogi

pre. Bot gofring bak a u pre.
Ndjuka Maroon: Ala san wi taki a ini wi paandasi, yu tja en go de baka na ogi
pe. Ma gofiingi baka na yu peesi.
Meaning: "Even/thing we said in our home, you brought it back to a dangerous
place. But go and throw it back in your own place".
2. Jamaican Maroon: Yu muma se yu sa wokofi bigi moni.
Ndjuka Maroon: Yu mama taki yu sa wookofu bigi moni.
Meaning: "Your mother said you could work for a lot of money".
3. Jamaican Maroon: Ebiba na wan suma. So kaal dem. Akisi dem onti mi e se.
Ndjuka Maroon: Ala na wan sama. So kali den. Akisi den san mi e taki.
Meaning: "All are one. So call them ... Ask them what I'm saying".

76 Maroon Heritage
 Hundreds more such examples could be offered. It is also worth noting that
aside from the large number of isolated African-derived Kromanti terms that
have been integrated into this Maroon Creole, there are a number of English-de-
rived vocabulary items that are found nowhere else in Jamaica, but which are
very close to equivalent Surinamese forms. The following are but a few of the
examples that could be provided:
Jamaican Maroon arik or ariki versus Ndjuka Maroon aliki, both meaning "to
listen"; Jamaican Maroon onti versus Ndjuka ondi, one meaning "what" and the
other "which"; Jamaican Maroon yezi versus Ndjuka yesi, both meaning "ear";
Jamaican Maroon prandes, meaning "home" or "yard", which in Sranan, the cre-
ole language of coastal Suriname, is prandasi; and suma, which in both the Jamai-
can Maroon Creole and Sranan means "person".
Jamaican Maroons rarely use this old form in ordinary contexts nowadays and in
fact, even among the elders, few can claim even partial command of it. Over the
years it has gradually been displaced by the language spoken in neighbouring areas,
through a process of decreolization. Today the language of everyday communication
among Maroons is a version of Jamaican Creole virtually indistinguishable from that
spoken in other parts of the country, varying along the same kind of post-creole
speech continuum found elsewhere. Yet the old Maroon Creole is not dead. The one
context in which it comes into its own is the ceremony of Kromanti Play. For when
the spirits of ancestors manifest themselves on living mediums and communicate
through their mouths, this is invariably the language they use. Quite naturally, they
express themselves in their native tongue, the language they knew when they were
alive.
The other distinct form of language retained by eastern Maroons, one which
has received more attention from researchers, is the esoteric language known as
Kromanti. Kromanti is different from the old Maroon Creole described above.
Most of its vocabulary is derived, not from English, but from African languages.
The Akan language-group of West Africa appears to be the main source, but
several other African languages have contributed as well.8
Knowledge of Kromanti varies greatly from one individual to the next. Some
Maroons can provide English glosses for a large number of words and expres-
sions and can communicate a wide variety of messages with Kromanti, while
others—the majority—know only a few words. To my knowledge, no Maroon
alive retains Kromanti as a fully functioning language capable of expressing an
unlimited number of ideas. Ritual specialists tend to know more than others.
But if the semantic load of certain words and phrases has been lost entirely, their
invocational power has not diminished as a result.
In ceremonial contexts, Kromanti functions much like a liturgical language.
Many Maroons are still capable of "cutting country", as they call it—that is, recit-
ing lengthy streams of more-or-less standardized, formulaic Kromanti, as a means
of drawing on ancestral powers. Here is an example, excerpted from a tape record-
ing of a man from Moore Town "cutting country". Such recitations can go on for
several minutes without interruption: "O fantan du, o werewu nanti, o pikibo

A Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture 77

dinkamadi... o kikye ka kikye kandi kofi kofi antemesunga . . . oko bi noko noko
bisani hoko bi noko noko bisani . . . hoko bi noko noko bisani, o prati mati mati
baimba dinto ... o seru mandi o bosu mandi o fantan du koro o do bidi... o, kikye
nangka nangka nangka kome bisho o fantan do mati mati baimba dinto!" [Rivers-
view, 4 September 1978].
This esoteric language is unique to Maroon communities. If investigators hop-
ing to find traces of an African language in the eastern Maroon communities have
had a hard time collecting more than a few fragments of Kromanti, it is not because
it has already died out, as some have assumed, but because there are spiritual sanc-
tions against improperly revealing it to outsiders.

Maroon music and dance

Jamaica is world famous for its rich musical culture, but the distinctive musical tra-
ditions of the Maroons remain virtually unknown outside of Maroon communities.
Outsiders may continue to refer to well-known neo-African styles such as kumina
as "Maroon music", but any Maroon brought up in the tradition knows otherwise.
The second a Maroon drummer hears the rhythms of kumina, he identifies this
music with an outside tradition.
The true music of the Maroons is that associated with Kromanti Play. Like
the abeng language, Kromanti music is not known or played outside of Maroon
areas. Each Maroon community possesses its own repertoire of Kromanti songs
belonging to discrete stylistic categories, with names that can be traced to spe-
cific ethnic groups or regions in Africa, such as Papa (or Prapa), Mandinga, Ibo
and Mongala.9 The drumming, songs, language and dance movements that go
with these categories are not found in non-Maroon areas. A knowledgeable
Maroon who hears a Kromanti song being sung off in the distance can tell not
only to which stylistic category the song belongs, but which specific Maroon
community the unseen singer is from; to a non-Maroon listener the same song
remains indecipherable.
Maroon songs that are not found outside of the Windward Maroon communi-
ties probably number in the hundreds. Here are the words of one such song, as
sung by Charles Town Maroons:
o jofara liba, o jo a de
o jofara liba, o jo a de
o wiri angkoma, o jo a de
o jofara liba, o jo a de
[Charles Town, 21 September 1978]

Slightly different versions of this same song are known in Moore Town (Port-
land) and Scott's Hall (St Mary) as well. Like many such songs, this one contains an
emotionally potent reminder of the Maroon past. It refers to the days when British

78 Maroon Heritage
troops employed hounds to track down Maroons in the forest. The Maroons, the
song recalls, adopted the survival strategy of moving along rivers, jumping from
stone to stone in mid-stream causing the hounds to lose the scent.
The foregoing illustrations of Maroon distinctiveness of course represent but a
tiny portion of the unique cultural heritage that has survived in Maroon communi-
ties. Although many, if not most, younger Maroons have lost touch with this heri-
tage, it remains a living force among those elders who have patiently absorbed the
lessons of the past.

Maroon culture as Jamaican culture

How does the distinct culture of Maroons fit into the larger picture of Jamaican cul-
tural history? This complex question can be given only the briefest consideration
here. A few observations might help to suggest directions for further historical
research.
One basic fact can be stated at the outset: if one goes back far enough in time,
the histories of Maroons and other Jamaicans of African descent converge. Not
only were their ancestors brought from the same regions of Africa, but they under-
went the same or similar processes of enslavement, forced adaptation to a new
land and cultural creolization. Except for the few individuals who escaped into the
interior immediately upon arrival and those remaining from the Spanish period,
they shared the common experience of plantation slavery in a British colony and at
least some exposure to the new, mixed forms of Afro-Jamaican culture emerging on
the plantations. Indeed, there is evidence that before the 1739 treaties, which cre-
ated a clear political and legal division between Maroons and slaves, the two com-
munities could not really be considered separate. The boundary between Maroons
and slaves remained fluid, for new escapees flowed steadily from the plantations
into the rebel communities. During this period, Maroons and slaves maintained
close social and economic ties and some were linked by blood ties as well.
It was after the treaties of 1739 that the process of cultural divergence advanced
most significantly, although it had probably begun earlier. In some cases, Maroons
were able to maintain ties with slaves even after 1739, but the flow of new recruits
into the interior was stemmed by the treaties and the boundaries between the Ma-
roon communities and the plantations became much more rigid than before. Only
on rare occasions could new escapees be smuggled past the watchful eyes of the
colonial superintendents and successfully incorporated into the Maroon popula-
tions. The Maroon settlements became closed communities and the inhabitants ac-
quired a separate identity based on the principle of exclusion. The boundaries of
this identity were protected by a defensive rule of secrecy.
During this period the process of differentiation and dual ethnogenesis that had
begun earlier accelerated. Maroons in their mountain settlements and slaves on the
coastal plantations—now cut off from one another—developed parallel but dis-

A Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture, 79

tinct Creole cultures which continued over the years to diverge from a common
base. In both areas, African cultural forms and concepts exerted a powerful influ-
ence in the creolization process, but there was variation in the ways in which spe-
cific elements were combined, recombined and emphasized.
Geographic and demographic differences further complicated the picture and
produced differing outcomes. For instance, after the treaties, Maroons remained
more isolated from European cultural influences than did the slaves on the planta-
tions. On the other hand, whereas very few if any African-born individuals were
still alive among the Maroons by 1800, the slave community continued to be aug-
mented by fresh shipments of Africans well into the nineteenth century. Thus the
creolization processes in the interior and on the coast were shaped by different bal-
ances of African and European cultural elements—balances which continued to
shift over time.
In any event, by the latter part of the eighteenth century Maroons had devel-
oped a distinct cultural identity that clearly set them apart from slaves on the
coastal plantations. This separate identity was based not only on the treaty privi-
leges won by the Maroons and their special status as free British subjects in a slave
colony, but on objective and easily discernible differences in speech, music, dance
and other cultural domains.
With the finalization of emancipation in 1838, the main legal distinction be-
tween Maroons and slaves suddenly vanished. All were now free and the external
barriers that had once separated the two fell away. Maroons still held on tena-
ciously to their treaty lands and certain private cultural institutions and traditions.
But as they moved out into the wider society and mingled with the former slaves
and their descendants, they were exposed, with increasing frequency, to the Creole
culture of the plantation, from which their own had begun to diverge more than a
century before.
Over the next century the Jamaican peasantry rapidly expanded into the areas
bordering the Maroon settlements. Surrounded and greatly outnumbered by their
non-Maroon countrymen, the Maroons gradually became acculturated to the Afro-
Jamaican mainstream. As a consequence, Maroon culture underwent a process of re-
convergence; the branches of the tree that had long before separated at the trunk
grew back together and merged to form a new trunk. Along with the mainstream
culture, Maroon culture also underwent a process of decreolization. Under the sur-
face, however, Maroons retained much of their distinctive culture in private contexts,
even after the last fully competent native speakers of Kromanti and the Maroon cre-
ole language had died out. Indeed, as we have seen, much of this distinctive cultural
heritage survives to this day, as part of the Maroons' intimate culture.
Today it is difficult to tease out and trace the individual historical strands that
have become intertwined in modern Maroon culture. It is clear that some cultural
items shared by Maroons and other Jamaicans, such as jerk pork, were borrowed
from the former by the latter. Many other instances, however, are not so clear. For
example, as far back as can be remembered, Maroons, like other Jamaicans, have
had a tradition of dancing Jonkonu during the Christmas season. Has this always

80 Maroon Heritage
been the case, or was this tradition borrowed from outside after emancipation?
Both Maroons and Jamaicans of African descent know how to prepare the dishes
known as dokunu and konkonte, which owe their names to the Twi language. Have
these African-derived culinary traditions always been shared by Maroons and
non-Maroons?
Both Maroons and their neighbours in the parishes of Portland and St Thomas
have wake traditions known as bangga, as well as anansi stories displaying the
same themes and characters. How long have they had these in common? A great
many other cultural parallels could be cited to give an idea of the extent to which
Maroon culture and the larger Jamaican culture overlap.
The point I wish to stress here, however, is that even many of those aspects of
culture peculiar to Maroons belong to the same tree earlier mentioned. They stem
from the same trunk, but represent branches that remained concealed and never re-
converged. Maroon culture and the larger Jamaican culture must therefore be
viewed as cognate, springing as they do from common roots that extend back to
the early plantation experience and, ultimately, to Africa.
Today's Kromanti tradition provides a good example of this. Though uniquely
Maroon, this tradition is clearly related to the myal cults that flourished on Jamaican
plantations during the eighteenth century. Not only was the myal religion closely as-
sociated with slave rebellions, but it contributed to nearly every indigenous form of
Jamaican religious expression existing today, including Revivalism, Convince, Ku-
1^
mina and others. In this sense, these religious traditions and Maroon Kromanti are
cousins. Likewise, Maroon music is full of references and stylistic features that with
some work, I believe, can be shown to be historically related to musical traditions
that were once practised by slaves on plantations islandwide. Versions of these old
pan-Jamaican music and dance traditions have survived, relatively unchanged, in a
few isolated pockets of the islands, and a trained ear can single out unmistakable
similarities between these varieties and certain Maroon styles.
The same point can be made with regard to language. The distinctive Creole
once spoken by Maroons as their native language, and which is still spoken by the
spirit medium in the eastern communities, is a close relative of Jamaican Creole. Al-
though the two are not entirely mutually intelligible, they are descended from a
common Jamaican ancestor. In fact, the Maroon Creole might actually be seen as a
variety or dialect of Jamaican creole, though an especially conservative one. It is
close enough so that over the years it has been assimilated to the basilectal end of
the post-creole speech continuum in Maroon communities. Some older speakers
are capable of subtly sliding between it and the ordinary Jamaican basilect, when
wishing to emphasize their cultural distinctiveness. Indeed, nowadays the Maroon
creole is heard in its older form only in the speech of a possessed medium. Even in
this form it is partially intelligible to non-Maroons.
Similarly, the Maroon Kromanti language of today, though not known by other
Jamaicans, is not entirely foreign to them, for its history overlaps with that of their
own language. In fact, a large number of isolated Maroon Kromanti words also oc-
cur in Jamaican creole, with the same or similar meanings. More than half of the

A Distinct Variant of }amnkan Culture 81

words in the vocabulary of Jamaican Creole that are derived from African lan-
guages have been traced to Twi (or closely related neighbouring languages—also
the main source of Maroon Kromanti.
Even when emphasizing their distinctiveness as Grandy Nanny's yoyo—her
descendants—Maroons point out that they are part of a larger family tree that
also includes other Jamaicans of African descent. For according to a well-known
Maroon oral tradition, Nanny had a sister who remained on a plantation and
raised her children there. From these children issued the generations that re-
mained in slavery until emancipation in the nineteenth century. Because of this,
today Maroons and other Jamaicans are sometimes characterized as "two sister
pikni", two first cousins. This tradition helps to explain how the culture of Ma-
roons and that of their neighbours can be so similar in some ways, yet so differ-
ent in others.
The case described here is not unique to Jamaica. In the Dutch colony of Suri-
name, a similar process of dual ethnogenesis occurred during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, leaving that country with a variety of social and cul-
tural divisions comparable to, though much more conspicuous than, that which
still exists in Jamaica. Suriname was one of the few plantation colonies in the
Americas where maronage and resistance to slavery were even more common
and dramatic than in Jamaica. The vast inland rain forests of the Guianas, which
lay beyond the reach of the coastal society, afforded the hundreds of escaped
slaves who banded together in the interior and formed new societies, a degree
of isolation and independence that the Jamaican Maroons never enjoyed. Even
after the Dutch made peace treaties with the Ndjuka in 1760 and the Saramaka
in 1762, new communities of rebels continued to spring up in remote, uninhab-
ited areas. As a result, Suriname today is home to more than 50,000 Maroons,
who belong to six separate "tribes" or ethnic groups: the Saramaka, Ndjuka,
Matawai, Paramaka, Aluku and Kwinti.
Today no one in Suriname questions whether these Maroon peoples possess
distinct cultural traditions. For one thing, they speak their own Creole lan-
guages, Saramaccan and Ndjuka; while the former language is not intelligible to
speakers of Sranan, the coastal Afro-Surinamese Creole, the latter is only barely
so. Not only in language, but in a great many other respects, including dress
and other external aspects of their culture, the Maroons remain immediately
and easily distinguishable from coast-dwelling Surinamers of African descent.
In fact, the Maroon populations constitute distinct societies with separate social
and political structures. In the 1970s one could still speak of the "cultural
autonomy" of Maroons in Suriname. The same largely holds true today. 16
At the same time, there is no doubt that Maroon cultural history is an integral
part of Suriname cultural history. The process of culture-building that occurred
among Surinamese Maroons owed a great deal to an earlier layer of Creole culture
developed on the plantations, which had itself already incorporated cultural influ-
ences from many different parts of Africa. As a result, present-day Maroon tribes
all speak closely related creole languages with lexicons derived in large part from

81 Maroon Heritage
English, and possess cultures that are very similar in their broad outlines. All
tribes, for instance, are divided into structurally similar matrilineages and/or ma-
triclans known, respectively, as bee and lo. Most of them display their own versions
of the same basic variety of African-derived religious cults (which, moreover, are
also found among Afro-Surinamers in certain parts of coastal Suriname). One can
cite, for example, the kumanti or komanti traditions of Maroons versus the non-Ma-
roon coastal kromanti cult; or the papa and ampuku (or apuku) cults found both
among Maroons and certain communities of Afro-Surinamers whose ancestors re-
mained on coastal plantations until emancipation.
The basic affinity which can be seen to underlie the many surface differences be-
tween the cultures of Maroons and coastal Afro-Surinamers stems from their com-
mon historical origins. They are cognate cultures, branches of a single tree. In
Suriname, however, unlike the case in Jamaica, these branches have not reconver-
ged, although there is some evidence that they are beginning to grow closer to-
gether as Maroons are increasingly exposed to the Creole society and culture of the
coast. In a sense, the current cultural landscape of Suriname, with its culturally
discrete yet related Maroon and non-Maroon populations, helps us to imagine in a
general way what Jamaica itself must have looked like in past centuries.

Some general observations

That Jamaican Maroons—at least some of the—differ culturally from other Ja-
maicans in certain significant ways is beyond doubt. Maroon culture is multi-lev-
elled, consisting of a number of different historical layers. As we have seen,
Maroons today still possess, in addition to the larger Creole culture they hold in
common with other Jamaicans, their own distinct and private variant of Jamaican
culture, the remnant of an older layer which diverged from the creole plantation
culture long ago. The historical relationship between this old Maroon layer and the
larger Afro-Jamaican culture resembles that between the cultures of Maroons and
coastal Creoles in Suriname today.
It would be easy for Jamaicans, from whom this older layer of Maroon culture
has remained hidden, to come to the conclusion that it no longer exists. But such a
conclusion would be wrong. Maroons today do remain culturally distinct, though
in a way that is thoroughly Jamaican. Like their beloved ancestress, Nanny, and the
traditions surrounding her, this distinct variant of Jamaican culture belongs first
and foremost to the Maroons themselves, but it also forms part of the national cul-
tural heritage—the memory of which deserves to be preserved for posterity.

A Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture, 83

Notes

1 The Maroons Lands Allotment Act is discussed in detail in Barbara Kopytoff, "The
Maroons of Jamaica: An Ethnohistorical Study of Incomplete Polities, 1655-1905"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1973), 270-83.
2 See, for instance, Barbara Kopytoff, "Colonial Treaty as Sacred Charter of the
Jamaican Maroons", Ethnohistory 26 (1979): 45-64; Leann Thomas Martin, "Maroon
Identity: Processes of Persistence in Moore Town" (Ph.D. diss., University of California,
1973); David Barker and Balfour Spence, "Afro-Caribbean Agriculture: A Jamaican
Maroon Community in Transition", The Geographical Journal 154 (1988): 198-208.
3 The results of this research may be found in Kenneth M. Bilby's "Partisan Spirits: Ritual
Interaction and Maroon Identity in Eastern Jamaica" (M.A. thesis, Wesleyan University,
1979) and a number of subsequent publications.
4 Further discussion of the tradition of descent from Nanny can be found in Kenneth Bilby
and Filomina Chioma Steady, "Black Women and Survival: A Maroon Case", in The Black
Woman Cross-Culturally, edited by Filomina Chioma Steady (Cambridge, MA: Schenk-
man, 1981), 451-67; Kenneth Bilby, "Two Sister Pikni': A Historical Tradition of Dual
Ethnogenesis in Eastern Jamaica", Caribbean Quarterly 30, nos. 3 & 4 (1984): 10-25. A
sensitive treatment of Nanny's importance to present-day Maroons, making some use
of oral traditions, is to be found in Kamau Brathwaite's Wars of Respect (Kingston:
Agency for Public Information, 1977).
5 For further background on Kromanti Play, see Kenneth Bilby, "The Kromanti Dance of
the Windward Maroons of Jamaica", Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 55 (1981): 52-100.
6 Kenneth Bilby, "How the 'Older Heads' Talk: A Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession
Language and Its Relationship to the Creoles of Suriname and Sierra Leone", New West
Indian Guide 57 (1983): 49-101.
7 Norval Smith, "The Epithetic Vowel in the Jamaican Maroon Spirit Possession Language
Compared with that in the Suriname Creoles", Amsterdam Creole Studies 44 (1984): 13-19;
Norval Smith, "The Genesis of the Creole Languages of Suriname" (Ph.D diss., Univer-
sity of Amsterdam, 1987); Ian Hancock, "A Preliminary Classification of the Anglophone
Atlantic Creoles with Syntactic Data from Thirty-Three Representative Dialects", in
Pidgin and Creole Languages: Essays in Memory of John E. Reinecke, ed. Glenn G. Gilbert
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987), 324-25.
8 David Dalby, "Ashanti Survivals in the Language and Traditions of the Windward
Maroons of Jamaica", African Language Studies 12 (1971): 31-51; Mervyn Alleyne, Roofs
of Jamaican Culture (London: Pluto Press, 1988), 123-30.
9 Kenneth Bilby, "Music of the Maroons of Jamaica", Pamphlet accompanying LP disc
FE 4027 (New York: Folkways Records and Service Corporation, 1981); Bilby, "The
Kromanti Dance", op. cit, 74-76.
10 Mavis Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796: A History of Resistance, Collaboration
and Betrayal (Granby, MA: Bergin and Garvey, 1988), 57,80-81.
11 Barbara Kopytoff, "The Development of Jamaican Maroon Ethnicity", Caribbean
Quarterly 22 (1976): 33-50.
12 Kopytoff, "The Maroons of Jamaica", 260-67.
13 Monica Schuler, "Ethnic Slave Rebellions in the Caribbean and the Guianas", Journal
of Social History 3 (1970): 374-85; Monica Schuler, "Myalism and the African Religious
Tradition in Jamaica", in Africa and the Caribbean: The Legacies of a Link, edited by
Margaret E. Crahan and Franklin W. Knight (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1979), 65-79.

84 Maroon Heritage
14 Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica
(London: Macmillan, 2d ed., 1971), 397.
15 Bilby, "Two Sister Pikni"', 11-18.
16 J.D. Lenoir, "Suriname National Development and Maroon Cultural Autonomy", Social
and Economic Studies 24 (1975): 308-19.
17 Richard Price, The Guiana Maroons: A Historical and Bibliographical Introduction (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976).
18 Kenneth Bilby, "The Remaking of the Aluku: Culture, Politics, and Maroon Ethnicity in
French South America" (Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1990).

A Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture 85

 five

Maroons anb Rebels (a Dilemma)

Carey Robinson

Introduction

Not long ago, the concept of freedom as a human right was little understood or ac-
cepted. In the Middle Ages "ordinary" people, the majority of whom were slaves
or serfs, were ruthlessly ruled by monarchs, princes and aristocrats and kept in line
by severe laws. Up to the end of the eighteenth century and on into the nineteenth,
discipline and punishments were harshly applied to vagabonds, labourers, ap-
prentices, soldiers, seamen, miners (all the common people). Only the fortunate
few, at the top of the social pyramid, could move with self-assurance. Poor men
strove desperately to escape from the social trap by seeking fortunes in overseas
ventures, so that, if successful, they in turn could "lord" it over others.
Slavery became the spirit of the colonial system. In the early days of British Ja-
maica, the first settlers converted their less fortunate fellow countrymen into tem-
porary slaves (indentured servants) until the massive influx of Africans made this
procedure unnecessary. Africans, brought in to work as slaves, shared the distress
of indentured servants; but there were additional dimensions to the plight of the
Africans. Their status was meant to be permanent and the colour of their skins
made it impossible to hide their identity. A dark skin attracted discrimination and
oppression. Consequently, even if black people achieved freedom within the sys-
tem, they were denied equality of opportunity and treatment.
Their confidence and self-respect were violently assaulted, and they were "edu-
cated" to evaluate themselves by criteria which were always to their disadvantage.

86 Maroon Heritage
Even the texture of their hair and their features, were judged to be undesirable. The
laws reinforced these strictures by normally withholding benefits and civil rights
from anyone who was less than three degrees removed, in a lineal descent, from
the African ancestor (exclusive). An African heritage became a severe disability.
In addition, the world was run by "authority figures" such as monarchs,
princes, aristocrats, chiefs, the wealthy large landowners, whose word was law.
Order in human affairs was achieved through authority figures, preferably in posi-
tions of permanence and armed with the power of life and death. No less a person
than the revered apostle, St Paul, asserted that authorities must be obeyed. Slaves
must love and obey their masters and serve in fear and trembling. The poor, the
weak, the conquered and the oppressed must be content with their condition and
obey those placed in authority over them. For authority came from God, and God
would be displeased with anyone who resisted those he had placed in positions of
authority. Africans were expected to humbly accept the inferior category into
which they had been thrust.
In the midst of this kind of social set-up, based on the denial of freedom, and
upon servile obedience to authority (a system which was beginning to devalue the
humanity of people of African descent), the Maroon movement emerged. It was a
phenomenon that exceeded all reasonable bounds at the time; an outrageous threat
to God-given authority, and to the practical requirements of society.

Early years

The Jamaican Maroon movement began in earnest in 1655, following the invasion
of the island by a British force under Admiral Perm and General Venables. At the
time, Jamaica was a neglected Spanish colony with a small population of Span-
iards and Africans, and mixtures of both groups. Some also had the blood of
Arawaks, the original inhabitants who, as a group, had died out under Spanish
rule. Indeed, it was mainly because of the rapid disappearance of the Arawaks that
the Spaniards began to build up an African workforce.
The first Africans appeared to be body servants and were brought in between
1513 and 1517. They probably came originally from the Upper Guinea region in
West Africa. Because the Spaniards found no gold in Jamaica, the island soon
ceased to attract settlers. Many of those who had come as settlers left for places in
the region where gold was available and after a while the importation of Africans
stopped. But livestock brought by the Spaniards (cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.) multi-
plied tremendously, and a good export trade in hides and fat developed with
neighbouring Spanish territories. Settlers who remained in the island became
chiefly occupied with ranching and hunting. One result was that many of the
African servitors were released into the freedom of the bush to tend livestock,
round-up cattle and hunt, using bow and arrow, lances and firearms. They became
in the process very familiar with much of the terrain.

Mdrams and Refcefs (a Dilemma] 87

Background of the freedom fighters
Soon the Africans were an indispensable and irreplaceable part of the workforce.
Their position was further strengthened by the fact that the island was frequently
attacked by pirates (French, English, Dutch). Every able-bodied man was needed
for military service and the Africans were soon a mainstay of the defence force.
Recognizing their importance, the Spaniards began to treat them "like their own
children"; with affection and even respect.
Because of the small size of the colony and its vulnerability, class and racial bar-
riers were weakened. By the time of the English invasion, the society was in a fairly
advanced stage of integration. According to one "shocked" British observer, slav-
ery hardly existed.
The real but unofficial status of the Africans at the time of the invasion was ex-
emplified by two of their number, who were specially mentioned in the records.
One was a priest from Angola, who acted as a peace envoy between the English
and the Spaniards, and was hanged by militant Spaniards who were opposed to
peace. The other was Diego Pimienta, a heroic hunter and champion marksman,
born in Jamaica. Pimienta fought with great courage and distinction at the battle of
Caobana in 1655.

Maroon country

The Caobana (Mahogany) river, known today as the Black River, had strong currents,
was lined on either side by wide swamps and abounded in crocodiles. The Caobana
had two fords. The British tried to cross one to get at Spanish ranches on the other
side. It was at this ford that Diego Pimienta fought, as part of the Spanish guard.
There was also another reported case which shed light on the state of Africans
in the Spanish colony. In February 1656, after the British crossed the Caobana and
occupied ranches on the western side, an English ship, The Hunter, landed one
hundred men at Great Pedro Bay (near today's Treasure Beach in St Elizabeth).
They camped near a ruined village. The next day a mounted black man rode boldly
up to them and said he was living on his own, and would remain there as long as
he could find cattle to hunt. This "free spirit" informed the British that he would
not fight them unless they interfered with him.
When the British force arrived in 1655, the Spanish governor surrendered al-
most at once. But a hard core of hunters, ranchers and others, who regarded Ja-
maica as their home, decided to fight. One of the terms of surrender, drawn up by
the British, required "all slaves and negroes" to appear on open ground near the
town of Villa de la Vega (Spanish Town) to be informed of "the favours and acts of
grace concerning their freedom to be granted to them". The majority of the Afri-
cans ignored this command and marched off with the Spanish resistance force.
The Africans fought as if the country belonged to them, and their morale grew,
even while the chances of success diminished. Almost from the outset of the five-

88 Maroon Heritage
year struggle, the majority, with a strong show of independence, set up their own
camps in the bush. A large number collected in the mountains of Clarendon under
Juan Lubolo, who later became known as Juan de Bolas.
It was a time of crisis. A new life was about to begin. The Africans had won a
unique position in the Spanish colony and were not prepared to take a backward
step by placing themselves in the hands of new masters. Perhaps the time had ar-
rived for them to become masters of their own destiny. Africans were present in
every aspect of the struggle. They were outstanding as scouts, hunters and fora-
gers. Without them the Spanish force would have been defeated by hunger alone.
Realizing their importance, the British made strong efforts to get them to desert
the Spanish cause and come over to their side. After the major Spanish defeat at Rio
Nuevo in 1658, Juan de Bolas and his followers deserted to the British on the prom-
ise of freedom, land and status. The rest of the Africans refused to give up their
newly found independence. Their foremost leader was Juan de Serras. In 1660,
when the Spaniards were finally driven out, de Serras and his community re-
mained in Jamaica, and continued to oppose the British. About three years later,
the exasperated British, having failed repeatedly to break the resolve of the Afri-
cans, sent Juan de Bolas to destroy them. But de Bolas fell into an ambush. His force
was cut to pieces and he was slain.
In a sense this brought the initial Maroon movement, developed by the Spanish
Africans, to a point of fulfilment. They had successfully set up their own "state"
under their own chosen leader, with their own rules and way of life. The British de-
clared them outlaws, with a price on their heads. But they could not really be re-
garded as outlaws, for they had never been a part of the British colony.
The word Maroon is thought by some to have come from the Spanish word
marrana, meaning a sow or young hog. The name was first given to hunters of
wild hogs. Others believe that Maroon is a corruption of the Spanish word
cimarron, meaning wild or unruly. The French word for a runaway slave is mar-
ron. In Jamaica the word Maroon was first applied to the Spanish Africans. Later
it was given to other Africans who embarked on a struggle for freedom and in-
dependence, which resulted in the peace treaties with the British in 1739.
Shortly after the Spaniards were driven from Jamaica, the British discovered
that there was a lot of money to be made from sugar. But large-scale sugar produc-
tion required many workers. Enough Europeans could not be found for such a task
and so the British began to import large numbers of Africans to work as slaves.
Most came from the West Coast of Africa which, at the time, was divided into petty
states or principalities constantly at war with each other. This made it easier for in-
dividual chiefs and kings to be persuaded to raid the territories of their rivals and
capture people for sale.
Many of the captives came from war-like tribes which were called Coromantins
by Europeans. They were described as fierce, bold, proud and courageous; pos-
sessing "an elevation of soul which prompts them to enterprises of difficulty and
danger, and enables them to meet death, in its most horrid shape, without flinch-
ing". Despite their dangerous reputation, British planters preferred Coromantins

Maroons awd Rebels (a Dilemma) 89

because of their strength and ability to work hard. However, in an attempt to neu-
tralize the danger, planters began importing very young people, believing that the
young could be more easily conditioned into habits of docility and obedience,
which were required of "good slaves".
But this device often failed, for it was found that by the age of twelve the Coro-
mantin character was usually well formed. Observers who could attest to this
wrote: "the firmness and intrepidity which are distinguished [in Coromantin
adults] are visible in their boys at an age, which might be thought too tender to re-
ceive any lasting impression, either from precept or example". This observation
helps to explain the three African boys who escaped from Button's estate during an
insurrection in 1690. Their names were Cudjoe, Johnny and Accompong, and they
were brothers. They grew up in the hills and forests, along with other rebels, and
became leaders in the new rebel movement which developed in the British colony.
Cudjoe became the supreme leader in Central and Western Jamaica. A high-rank-
ing British officer later referred to him as a military genius. The British felt that if
they could get him to make peace, the rebels in the East (Nanny's people) would
follow his example. This was exactly what happened, much to Nanny's displeas-
ure. It appears that Nanny deliberately kept herself away from direct contact with
the British. Dr Russell could describe Cudjoe in some detail, and he boasted that he
had taken Cudjoe "by the hand". Phillip Thicknesse had long talks with Quao, and
slept in Quao's hut. But no account has yet been discovered of any Britisher who
got close to Nanny. And there is evidence that she was against any move to come
to terms with the British. Intuitively she may have sensed what the end would be.
At first, the British referred to the rebel Africans simply as "slaves in rebellion".
But in the 1730s when the war was at its height, the British began to call them Ma-
roons, the name originally applied to the Spanish Africans who by now had been
(in all likelihood) absorbed into the ranks of the rebels. Today we tend to think of
the Maroons as a separate people; almost as a different ethnic type. But in fact they
came from the same root stock, as many, if not most of the Africans in Jamaica. The
difference was in the quality of spirit.
The people who came on the slave ships were in various degrees of shock when
they arrived. Some never completely recovered. Those who retained sufficient con-
trol of their minds and were determined to rid themselves of the condition that had
been imposed on them, took the first opportunity to break out. They never ac-
cepted the status of slavery.
In fact, the people who came in the ships did not think of themselves as "Negro
slaves," but as members of the clans or nations from which they came. Just as
Scotsmen thought of themselves as Scots, and Irishmen as Irish, the Africans
thought of themselves as Ashantes, Mandingoes, Fantyns, Eboes, etc.
Throughout the years of the war which resulted in the 1739 peace treaties,
the Maroon ranks were constantly replenished by new rebels and runaways,
sometimes fresh off the slave ships. It appears that the longer new Africans re-
mained in the system, and the longer they were herded, conditioned, fed,
clothed and given shelter, the more difficult it became to abandon the "security"

90 Maroon Heritage
of the slave village, for the perils of a free life in the bush. The break-aways had
to have a special quality of heart, mind and will. They would be entering a re-
gion where the only human help available to them would be what they could
give to each other, or what they could receive in secret from relatives and
friends who remained in the system.
A return to the African homeland could not be seriously attempted, so they had
to create a society of their own, with all the necessary infrastructure: houses, vil-
lages, food, water, medicines, strategies for defence, training for the young, divi-
sion of functions, law and order, government, religious observances, family life,
communications, preparations for contingencies, etc. The relationships which
emerged in these "free" communities resembled some African social systems.
However, there was no hereditary leadership.
Resilience was crucial. When Maroon villages were captured and their crops de-
stroyed, the inhabitants had to move into the bush, and either build new villages
or try to recapture the old ones. The whole community was at risk. Sometimes they
would burn their houses themselves, as they fled before successful storming par-
ties. The people would suffer from exposure, and often come near to starving.
The British assault forces usually contained contingents of armed African
slaves. Often the guides who led these forces to the Maroon villages were black
men. These men would themselves be seeking a kind of freedom, within the sys-
tem, even though it would only allow them to be third-class subjects. So there was
no guarantee of solidarity because of common roots or common experiences. Peo-
ple sought to achieve their goals even if it meant aiding the common oppressor
against a brother or sister.
Consequently, when the peace treaties of 1739 required the Maroons to suppress
rebels and return runaways, the stage had already been set. Nevertheless, there
was this great contradiction: the Maroons who had been the chief opponents of the
slave society had now become one of its main props. However, the Maroons some-
times hid runaways, and sometimes went on go-slows, or only pretended to attack
rebels. But as succeeding generations got further and further away from the origi-
nal spirit which had motivated the movement, the Maroons became increasingly
out of touch with the emerging spirit of freedom in Jamaica.
On the other hand, the Maroons usually enjoyed a vibrant relationship with the
British, even though they had many causes for complaint. The British sometimes
indulged and flattered them, and the Maroons went so far as to abandon their own
names and adopt the names of leading British families. Hence we find Maroons
named Montague James, John Palmer, Tharpe, Jarrett, Dunbar, Parkinson, Shirley,
White, etc. It was felt by some, however, that this "adoption" process was merely a
strategy by the Maroons to pressure influential familes into supporting them.
Governor Balcarres, at the time of the second Maroon war, accused some of the
leading planters of paying "protection money" to the Maroons in order to safe-
guard their properties.
In the years that followed the 1739 peace treaties, the runaways and rebellions
continued, as the enslaved (particularly the new arrivals) struggled for freedom.

Maroons and Re(?e(s (a Dilemma} 91

These struggles were made significantly more difficult because of the hostile pres-
ence of the expert Maroons, and their detailed knowledge of the hinterland, which
the new arrivals, in particular, lacked.
The new rebels could no longer be called Maroons. The word Maroon had
become institutionalized. It no longer meant "a slave in rebellion". It had now
become the title for a proud, conservative people, who had "won their spurs" in
battle and must henceforth be respected. The rebels were just rebels, to be
hunted for disturbing the peace, breaking the law and endangering the
prosperity of the country. But nothing could stop the drive for freedom.
It is safe to assume that, from the start of the struggle for freedom, even before
the appearance of Cudjoe and Nanny, there was no way to account for all the rebels
and runaways in the hinterland. The numbers may have been many times greater
than the estimates and statistics that were given from time to time. It was reported
in 1827 that there were no less than twenty thousand runaways "leading a life of
lawless barbarity in the woods and towns of Jamaica". A Captain of the Accom-
pong Maroons admitted that Maroon patrols often accepted bribes to allow run-
aways to escape, and that only a comparative few were caught and returned to
their masters.
We can say therefore, that from the time of the British conquest, there were al-
ways free communities of people of African descent, living a life of their own, in
the hinterland of Jamaica; creating and maintaining an alternative lifestyle to that
which was practised in the plantation slave society. There had always been two
Jamaicas, touching at certain points, but with distinct lifestyles. The post-treaties
Maroons had a foot in each life-stream, but there was no sensible way in which
they could make common cause with the post-treaties rebels.

The future

The Maroons recognized that in the world in which they lived there was no im-
perative on the part of anyone to preserve the freedom and dignity of a self-liber-
ated, self-rescued group of black people like themselves. More than thirty-five
years after the treaties were signed, the Americans in declaring their independence
from Britain and their commitment to freedom and equality, were unable to in-
clude Indians and Blacks in their declaration of man's inalienable rights.
If the Maroons broke their commitments to the British, what did they stand to
gain? A doubtful linkage with some rebel group, perhaps fresh off a ship, in a
movement that would probably not be able to sustain itself? And a movement un-
der whose leadership? How could the veteran Maroons surrender leadership in a
break-away venture to anyone—whether the name was Tacky, Sam Sharpe or Paul
Bogle? Tacky, Bogle and many others had asked for Maroon assistance, and in-
stead, found Maroons arrayed against them. The basis for mere sentimental soli-
darity had been destroyed. The best the Maroons could offer was to go easy now
and then in their conflicts with rebels, and to hide the odd runaway.

91 Maroon Heritage
 The broad mass of the population, prior to universal adult suffrage, had little to
offer the Maroons. The Maroons were better off than the broad mass; better off
than Tacky, Blackwall and Three-Finger Jack; better off than Sam Sharpe and his
people, and Bogle and his people; better off than than all those struggling for rec-
ognition, identity, justice, land, respectability, equality, unity, civil rights and re-
sponsible government within the system.
The Maroons governed themselves up to a point; their territory could not be
touched as long as they maintained their commitments. They chose their own lead-
ers. They were courted by the powerful in the interest of the security of the colony.
They could appeal directly to the highest authority. They had a strong sense of who
they were and what they belonged to; they had nothing to gain and much to lose
by making common cause with the confused, disorganized and disinherited, who
had even become tainted with the poisonous philosophy of racial inferiority.
Even now, should the Maroons be expected to give up their special heritage,
and be absorbed into a society which the broad mass seems unable to control?
Should they abandon their clear identity for a general one which is little under-
stood or appreciated? Should they surrender their sense of community for full
membership in a larger state, where unity is confined to a motto and the social
framework seems in danger of disintegrating?
Yet, how can the Maroons continue in a separate existence within an environ-
ment that is in the grip of rapid and severe changes, and in which the terms of their
treaties are no longer practical or valid?

Maroons ant) Retefs (a Dilemma] 93

 SIX

Maroon Heritage in Mexico*

Joe Pereira

Introduction

The African presence in Mexico has, until fairly recently, been ignored or swept un-
der the carpet of the Indian-Spanish weave. And yet, for almost the entire colonial
period, there were more Africans in Mexico than Europeans.1 When to this is
added, under the entire colonial period, the increasing number of Mestizos—
whether Afro-European or Afro-Indian—the African presence in Mexico has had a
significant impact demographically.
Ironically, even more recent studies2 open up a massive panorama of an African
presence and influence centuries before Cortes arrived in Mexico. It was mainly
centred on the Olmec culture in the Gulf coast region until its subsequent expan-
sion and influence through areas of present-day Veracruz, Puebla and Guerrero
states—coincidentally, some of the very states in which post-conquest Africans
were to be located (Fig. 6.1). Virtually all the Africans arriving in Mexico in the co-
lonial period were brought as slaves to work, not only on the sugar estates being
established in Veracruz, but also in other branches of agriculture, in domestic
work, in the gold and silver mines and in various aspects of urban industry. As a
result, in addition to the regions mentioned above, Africans became located in
most of the central highlands around Mexico City, stretching as far north as the
mines of Guanajuato and Zacatecas, west to Taxco and Acapulco and south to
Chiapas.
In the sixteenth century, the majority of Africans came from the Cape Verde
area and West Africa in general, but by the seventeenth century, the main areas
This study was made possible by a research grant under the Government of Mexico-UWI protocol.

94 Mflroow Heritage
Fig. 6.1 Maroon settlements in Mexico

Maroon Heritage in Mexico 95

of provenance had shifted to the Congo and Angola.3 Because of the shortage
of African women, relationships soon developed with Indians. Similarly, Span-
iards developed relationships with African slaves and the whole process of
this racial mixing expanded inexorably. Five hundred years have produced a
decidedly, if not always admittedly, mixed population in much of the areas
mentioned above.

Maronage in Mexico

As happened throughout the Americas, the slaves did not take passively to their
enslavement. A variety of forms of resistance rapidly developed, including rebel-
lion and maronage. In an exceptional reference to the Maroons' own historical
sources, archival documents of 1767 quoted one Maroon leader thus, concerning
the existence of palenques: "According to what the old folks tell us, they have
always been there since the conquest of this country".
Within three years of the fall of the Aztec empire, reference was being made to
African slaves who had fled to live among the Zapotec Indians. For generations,
there were complaints of Maroons attacking and robbing travellers on the Ver-
acruz-Mexico highway. In 1576, blacks and mulattoes who had established them-
selves in a place called Canada de Negros, carried out numerous attacks against
the Spaniards of the newly-established town of Leon. Some even seized land there,
among other "insolences". When the Spaniards tried to capture or control them,
they simply fled beyond the jurisdictional limits of Leon.6 It was established that
by 1570, fully one-tenth of the black population (which then totalled about 20,000)
had fled.7
It was calculated, also, that in 1609 there were some 500 runaways in the
Orizaba area between Puebla and Veracruz. Data for the sugar estate near Cuer-
navaca belonging to the Marquis del Valle, indicate that the incidence of maronage
in the area increased in the eighteenth century, one cause being that there were now
more mulatto slaves who could more easily disappear amidst the now sizeable free
Q

mulatto/Mestizo population.

Lifestyle of Maroons in Mexico

If the circumstances and location of runaways were varied, so too were the life-
styles resulting from maronage. There were isolated runaways, many of whom
sought to lose themselves in towns or areas of free coloureds or Indians. There
were many others, who joined together (or with other racial groups) in gangs of
vagabonds and bandits, living off the proceeds of robbery and general pillage,
while operating mainly along main roadways.

96 Maroon Heritage
 There were others who set up their palenques or communities, especially,
though not always, in the mountains, such as the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, or
the Sierras de Guerrero. While many of these communities developed an agricul-
tural lifestyle, others supplemented their farming activities with proceeds from
robbing the colonists.
Equally varied was the relationship between Maroons and other social
groups. From very early, partly because of the paucity of women in their groups
and partly because the child of an Indian was born free, Africans took Indian
women as their mates. There were repeated instances of Maroons seizing Indian
women, as for example, in 1609 when the Maroons of Yanga raided a ranch and
took off with six Indian women. Speaking of the townships of Colatlan set up
with Tlaxcalan Indians, colonial documents explain how mulattoes arrived in
search of freedom, and the Indians themselves sheltered them. After a few years
12
they either married Indian women or claimed frontier militia rights. Indeed, in
general terms, complaints were made to Phillip II in 1574 that it was impossible
to enforce the prohibition of black/Indian unions since "the Indian women are
slack and very taken by blacks, so they prefer to marry them rather than Indian
men, and just so the black men marry them rather than black women, so as to
have free children".
The frequency of male African Maroons having Indian women is an important
determinant of the subsequent racial, ethnic and cultural assimilation of the Ma-
roons and their post-abolition descendants.
Such relationships with Indian communities as a whole were not always so con-
genial. In fact, the above feature would indicate a certain amount of hostility to-
wards blacks on the part of Indian males. Some Maroon communities did get on
fairly well with neighbouring Indians, usually for economic reasons, but the ma-
jority had contradictory and sometimes hostile relationships. In the remote areas of
the Costa Chica de Guerrero, hostility towards Indians was general among the
mixed Maroon/free Afro-mestizos, who usurped their lands and livelihood, and
abused them constantly.15 While the majority of Spanish colonists were antagonis-
tic to and fearful of the Maroons, some found them a useful source of paid man-
power or traded profitably with them. Indeed, one of the leading petitioners for
the establishment of the free Maroon village of Amapa in the 1760, was the chief
magistrate of Teutila. He used the Maroons as agents in the vanilla trade and pro-
vided them with supplies—even weapons.
Among fellow blacks and mulattoes, Maroons were usually well received. It
would seem, also, that some even made regular visits to their women still in slav-
ery, since one of the conditions sought by the planters in the establishment of
Amapa was that such women should be sold to their now free men, rather than
have the latter visit them on the plantations.18 However, there were also cases of
betrayal of Maroons to the Spaniards by fellow Maroons or slaves—usually with
the bribe of freedom—with disastrous results for the palenques in some cases. A
law of 1574 granted freedom to runaways who handed in other runaways.19 Addi-
tionally, mulattoes and Afro-Indians were used in campaigns against Maroons.

Maroon Heritage \n Mexico 97

Reaction of Spanish colonists

In trying to curb the phenomenon of maronage, the Spaniards used a variety of

measures, chief among which were punitive ones. Severe punishments were legis-
lated against runaways, including castration and, particularly for leaders, death.
At times, the authorities were reluctant to return runaways to their "owners", and
preferred to keep them imprisoned. In most cases, a runaway was valued at much
lower than normal fees because of the economic risk of their repeating the act. In
some areas, runaways were sent to work in the mines.
And yet, throughout the entire period of slavery, the most virulently puni-
tive measures proved incapable of stopping the process of maronage. Other
measures were equally ineffective. For example, the establishing of the Spanish
town of Cordoba in 1617 as a sort of garrison town along the Puebla-Veracruz
highway, to control maronage and slaves in the area, did not prevent them from
9fl
running away and damaging colonial property.
Armed expeditions against the palenques met with some success in the Ver-
acruz area, but failed in the more remote and difficult terrain of Guerrero. But
these military campaigns proved to be very expensive and also diverted the mi-
litia members from productive work on their farms. The Catholic Church was
trying to convince the Maroons that Christianity and pacifism were the correct
paths to follow, teachings which seemed to have had some subversive effect on
members of some palenques.
Where the path of violence was inconclusive in controlling the Maroons, and
partly because it was a costly and debilitating strategy, the colonial authorities in
two exceptional cases almost one hundred and fifty years apart but within the
same general region, agreed to a negotiated settlement with Maroons although
with some reluctance. This in the face of opposition from the planters, who feared
the effect these examples of freedom from slavery would have on their slaves.
The two cases, Yanga/San Lorenzo and Amapa, have been the focus of much
study and comment, partly because since their creation impinged on the state
structure, documentation exists. Unfortunately, precisely because they represent
communities of some assimilation into the dominant state, they reflect fewer
African retentions than would have been the case in the more remote and "rebel"
palenques which have had scant documentation.

The Maroon town of Yanga

Some confusion exists as to whether the establishment of San Lorenzo in 1630 was
a distinct development separate from the recognition of the palenqueros, headed
by the most famous African in post-Cortes Mexico: Yanga (or Nanga). A Jesuit
priest of the day writes: "Yanga was a fine-bodied black, from the Bran nation and
of whom it was said that were he not captured, he would have been king in his

98 Manxm Heritage
country; with those lofty ideas he had been leader of the rebellion from some thirty
years, in which his authority and fine style towards those of his colour had consid-
21
erably increased his followings".
By 1608, Yanga's palenques located in the Zongolica range near Orizaba were
the most threatening to the colonists. The data indicate that by then, because of his
age, Yanga kept the civil and political authority for himself, but entrusted the mili-
tary leadership to an Angolan, Francisco de la Matosa. Most of the historians base
their views of this period on the testimony of the above-mentioned Jesuit priest,
Laurencio, to the effect that in 1609 a force of some 600 men comprising Spaniards,
Indians, mulattoes and Mestizos was sent against Yanga.
Yanga is said to have captured a Spaniard and sent him to the leader of this ex-
pedition, Gonzalez de Herrera, with a letter to the effect that the Maroons

had withdrawn to that area to free themselves from the cruelty and the perfidy
of the Spaniards, who without any right sought to be masters of their liberty; that
in attacking the Spaniards' places and plantations, they were doing nought but
compensating themselves by force of arms for what was unjustly denied them and
that they [the Spaniards] should not think of peace but should come and test forces
with them. And, so that he [Gonzalez] could not in cowardice claim ignorance of
the path, he was sending him a bearer whom he had chosen not to kill so that he
could serve as a guide and save the job of seeking them out.
^O

This message was clear and indicated the determination of the Maroons to
maintain their freedom by any means available to them.

Occupations
In the face of such defiance, the Spaniards attacked and managed to defeat the Ma-
roons, who withdrew from that palenque into others situated in more difficult ter-
rain to continue in freedom. Laurencio's description of what the Spaniards found
in the palenque gives a glimpse of the sedentary agricultural life that the Maroons
sought to establish even as they were on a constant war-footing. "Provision
grounds of corn, tobacco, pumpkin, banana and other fruit trees,. . . beans, sweet
potato, vegetables . . . an abundance of chickens and a large number of cattle . . . as
well as about sixty huts that sheltered approximately eighty adult males, twenty-
four black and Indian women and an indeterminate number of children".24

Consequences
The historians all agree that Maroon activity and resistance persisted in the area
until the Viceroy agreed in 1630, to the establishment of a free town of Maroons.
Some historians, perhaps with insufficient archival data, ascribe to Yanga after
the defeat described above, a proposal for a peace treaty. However, Aguirre Beltran
has quoted documents of 1608 (corroborated by Garcia Bustamante) that set out

Maroon Heritage in Mexico 99

Yanga's peace proposals, the most fundamental being that Yanga be governor and
after him his children and their descendants. Another condition was that Francis-
can friars and no others were to administer the area.26
Naveda lists other demands: that all slaves who had fled before 1608 remain
free, that no Spaniard live in their community and that they have their own ca-
bildo. They also offered to pay tribute and to hand over any slave who ran away.27
Aguirre Beltran regards 1608 as the year in which the Crown effectively negotiated
a settlement with Yanga, which was legalized and recognized finally in 1630.28 Is-
rael also interprets the data as a separate settlement with Yanga at the end of the
first decade of the century. Aguirre, in support of his claim, refers to a document
of 1608 in which a Franciscan friar, Benayides, testifies to his activities over the pre-
ceding four to five months amidst Yanga's community, and this is seen as fulfilling
Yanga's demand that only Franciscan clergymen deal with his people.
The Franciscan's report gives us another first-hand glimpse of social life within
the palenque. Benavides reports that he wanted to solemnize the marriage of a mu-
latta, but Francisco Angola (the same de la Matosa that Yanga had made military
commander) objected, since the girl's mother and the man who had carried her off
to the hills both opposed the marriage. For Francisco Angola felt the validity of the
marriage required the consent of those parties.
Benavides quotes another Maroon as explaining that "marriage in the hills is
not like that in the town". One can extrapolate from this Maroon norms of con-
sent concerning marriage. Benavides also indicates the problems he had with
Catholic religious observations among the Maroons: on days of abstinence, i.e.
when they should not eat meat, the Maroons, nonetheless, persisted in eating
meat, even though the friar points out that they had ample recourse to fish and
vegetarian foods that would have allowed them to adhere to the Catholic rules
for abstinence.
On another occasion, while the priest was encouraging the Maroons to at-
tend mass, he met with angry, scornful opposition from one of them who an-
swered that he didn't want his mass and that he, the friar, was a deceiver.
Aguirre implies that Laurencio was either totally wrong or at least had his dates
and one or two other details mixed up. However, Aguirre does not elaborate on
the subsequent fate of Yanga. Herrera cites tradition as holding that he died "in
a strange and violent way at the church door of San Lorenzo". However, Gar-
cia Bustamante infers from documents of January 1619—which refer to the cap-
ture of 36 Maroon rebels including their leader who "for fifty years had been
active in those hills"—that this must have been Yanga, and that he was executed
at that time.32 Israel refers to a new Maroon rebellion between 1617 and 1618,
and the arrest of its leader and thirty-five of his men, but he makes no link
33
whatsover between this leader and Yanga.
Viceregal recognition in 1630 of the town of San Lorenzo as a community of free
blacks is seen as a significant breakthrough, since it is the first documented legal
recognition of the freedom of the Maroons and their right to land ownership—a
right denied even free blacks. Pardoned of all crimes, they were also granted the

100 Maroon Heritage

right to form their own local government, and indeed, documents of 1641 refer to
Caspar Yanga "son of the same" Yanga as their Captain, vindicating Yanga's
original demand that he and his descendants be recognized as governors of the
., 35
community.
However, in such situations of bilateral compromise, the Maroons also had
to make concessions: they were to be vassals of the Crown, pay tribute and be
available for special militia needs, as well as have a priest assigned to them and
a church built.36 This last aspect is a significant feature of Spanish treaties with
the Maroons that distinguishes them from the British, and would contribute sig-
nificantly to the process of assimilation of the African communities into a
Catholic culture.
But the most important clause in this settlement, as far as the Spaniards were
concerned, was that the Maroons should seek out all slaves who had run away
07
and hand them over to the Spaniards. The same type of clause is to be found in
the British treaties with the Jamaican Maroons, and for the same obvious rea-
sons that both colonial powers hoped would compensate them for the humili-
ation of a pact with the erstwhile slaves: that instead of being a model which the
other slaves could imitate in the hope of achieving their freedom, the Maroons
would contain the freedom of others in order to assure their own.
Taken at face value, this was a blow to, if not a betrayal of, general freedom for
the slaves. Indeed, Israel laments that it is very sad that between 1630 and 1650 the
blacks of San Lorenzo "earned their bread chiefly from the rewards given to them
00

by the Spaniards for the fugitive slaves that they returned".

While it is true that in the ensuing years after the establishment of San Lorenzo
Cerralva (better known as San Lorenzo de los Negros) there were many cases of
runaway slaves being returned, the Maroons, as happened in Jamaica, also shel-
tered others. This sometimes led to legal complaints against the community for
on
harbouring runaways in breach of the treaty. All sorts of contradictory motives
would have gone into the acceptance of this clause. Similarly, adherence to it
would have varied according to varying circumstances, depending on the indi-
viduals involved.
Another feature of this Maroon free town was that its inhabitants soon became
dissatisfied with their geographic surroundings for being "very hilly with poison-
ous animals and insects, lacking in land and pasturage for their livestock". They
therefore sought to move not only to better agricultural lands but to land that was
closer to the main road and indeed, to the colonial settlements. Despite the objec-
tions of some of the colonists of the area, this was eventually permitted in 1655,
when the community was relocated to its present site about twenty kilometers
from Cordoba. This is an important aspect in the absorption of this Maroon com-
munity into mainstream Mexican society, turning away from the essentially isola-
tionist palenque culture.
An Italian traveller in 1697 testifies to the mainstream tendency of San Lorenzo
by the fact that he had stopped there to eat on the way to Veracruz. His version of
the village is concisely revealing: "Since it is inhabited only by blacks, it appears as

Maroon Heritage in Mexico 101

if one is in Guinea. They are of attractive features and dedicated to agriculture.
They have their origin in some fugitive slaves who were permitted to live freely
there as long as they didn't receive other runaway blacks but instead returned
them to their masters, which they observe faithfully".41
However, the apparent docility of the inhabitants of San Lorenzo was not suffi-
cient to gain peaceful coexistence with the surrounding colonists, who both pres-
sured them from the point of view of trying to get labour for their tobacco and cane
enterprise, and carried out a range of petty assaults on the rights of the community of
San Lorenzo, including seizure of land and even of citizens, under the protection of
the authorities in Cordoba, even though the Viceroy instructed otherwise. Thus by
1768, the colonists were affirming that the majority of blacks had abandoned San
Lorenzo and gone off to other wretched districts.42 It is certainly true that today there
are very few blacks in the town.

The Maroon town ofAmapa

But the establishment of San Lorenzo did not end the phenomenon of runaways
and maronage. During the century which followed, there are incessant reports of
runaways, rebellions and Maroon attacks on colonists in the region around Cor-
doba. An interesting development took place in 1748, when the mayor of Teutila,
Andres Fernandez, himself the beneficiary of Maroon labour in his enterprises,
proposed the formation of a free village in the style of San Lorenzo.
While Fernandez put forward as motive the facilitating "of the salvation of their
souls with the teaching of Christian doctrine, which sustenance they pitifully
lack", it would seem that economic motives underpinned his proposals, since the
anti-Maroon campaigns were costly not only in relation to the expenses of the
armed force, but also in the disruption of agricultural commerce. However, the
Viceroy did not respond to these initial proposals and it was not until several years
later, when Fernandez once again became mayor, that the proposal was adopted by
the authorities.
If the Crown was hesitant for some time, the Maroons were not. Reflective of
the contradictory forces within the Maroon communities, a young mulatto un-
derling, Fernando Manuel, supported the proposal of a pact with the Spaniards,
while the old Maroon Captain, Macute, opposed the idea. This division led to
an armed internal power struggle in which Fernando Manuel won, his defeated
opponents were returned to their master and Macute was handed over to the
Spaniards for execution.
Such was the depth of ideological division among the Maroons. Macute repre-
sents those forces that saw independence as requiring an isolation from the alien,
dominating culture. It is a reflection of the cultural penetration of Catholicism that
Fernando Manuel prayed to the Virgin of Guadalupe that should he win against
Macute, he would dedicate the new town to her. A further reflection of the subor-
dination of Fernando to Spanish colonialism is to be seen in his sending his forces

iOi Maroon Heritage

to Veracruz in 1762, to offer their services to the Spanish Crown to fight the English
who were threatening to attack—and this occurred while they were still criminal
renegades in the eyes of the colonial law.
Such behaviour convinced the Viceroy of the "loyalty" of this particular Ma-
roon group whose leader, Fernando, in 1767, petitioned the Viceroy for recognition
of their freedom in exchange for handing over any future runaways and by 1768,
the foundation of the town of Amapa was authorized and dedicated to Our Lady
of Guadalupe. However, as in the case of San Lorenzo, the colonists of Cordoba op-
posed the location, which they wished to have sited in more difficult terrain. But
their case was dismissed and Amapa established with its church and thirty-three
houses, and a Catholic service held to mark its foundation.
That the land was in fact taken away from the native Indian population much
to their resentment, did not bother either the Viceroy or the Maroons, even if it was
another instance of Indo-African friction. The terms of the authorizing document
followed somewhat those of San Lorenzo, particularly in the clauses which stipu-
lated that they should harbour no runaways but should return them forthwith and
assist in hunting down runaways in the region.
Little documentation exists as to whether there were breaches of these clauses,
but it seems unlikely that Fernando Manuel would have posed problems in this re-
gard. Indeed, within the first two years, they had captured forty-four runaways
and were tracking eight more. This eighteenth century case of a "treaty" has a far
less conflictive context in cultural terms than the seventeenth century treaty with
Yanga, since the Catholic Church and the formal colonial agricultural economy
had very much penetrated the lifestyle of these Maroons of Amapa.
But there were other Maroons besides those of Amapa who continued to be
involved in subsequent revolts in the Zongolica-Orizaba mountains. This con-
tinued right up to the Independence Movement, when many slaves ran off or
openly revolted in support of the independentistas, who in 1810 had pro-
claimed abolition, and whose eventual victory led to the decree of the inde-
pendent Mexican government in 1829 which abolished slavery and, as a
consequence, ended the phenomenon of maronage.

Pacific-Coast Maroons

If the history of the Gulf coast (i.e., Veracruz) Maroons is relatively documented,
the experiences of the Maroons elsewhere, especially on the Pacific coast, are not so
easily gleaned from documentation. This is partly because the area was relatively
out of the mainstream of communication and colonial authority. The area stretch-
ing from Acapulco south along Costa Chica through the province of Guerrero and
into Oaxaca was largely left by the Spaniards to a few large cattle ranchers with
huge ranches. The ranchers in turn used overseers, many times black slaves, to
look after things on spot.

Maroon Heritage in Mexico 103

 Such remoteness from the mainstream colonial society was ideal for maronage
and so it transpired that from the hill regions closer to Mexico City and Oaxaca,
or from the port area of Guatulco, slaves fled further and further into Costa
Chica, where they joined the relatively unrestricted cowboy slaves or grew
corn and cotton, and kept livestock on small ranches.
At the end of the sixteenth century, the Viceroy was complaining that for
some thirty years, Maroons had had their houses and provision grounds "living
as if they were actually in Guinea and a rifle-shot away from the provision
grounds of the natives of the area". So, as in the Veracruz area, the Viceroy
ordered an armed campaign against them, but as in the Gulf coast, so was
there little success with this anti-Maroon effort on the Pacific side. The Maroons
retreated further into the inaccessible coastal lands, where, over the next two
centuries, they and their slave counterparts would live and let live. It was not
easy to separate the two groups.
For the cattle-ranchers, this state of affairs was not a problem, since the Maroons
sometimes provided manpower especially at round-up time, just as in Veracruz
where some Spaniards had found it profitable to use the paid labour of Maroons.
For the authorities of the Viceroyalty it was, however, a source of distress that there
were these "daring, bellicose and disobedient" blacks. But there was little that they
could do about them. Indeed, the general black population, free, slave or Maroon,
enjoyed a relatively anarchic existence, and a document of 1801 complains of their
anti-social nature including their disrespect for payment of tribute due for the
Church and for the merchants they owed.
Maroons here merged with other blacks to develop a reputation of being a
law unto themselves and a culture of aggressiveness, seen as continuing into the
contemporary period. This aggressiveness was, if anything, encouraged by the
big cattle-ranchers who had used their black workforce to drive the corn and
cotton-based Indian communities out of the territory for their cattle. The black
community, including the Maroons, used the Indians as a sort of beating stick
and generally terrorized them, although there were cases in which they inter-
married with their women out of necessity.
Today, there exist some one hundred "pueblos de morenos" along the Costa
Chica, who have remained less racially mixed with the rest of the national
population than anywhere else in Mexico. However, with the development of
Acapulco, modern communications including radio, television (and satellite
dishes) and the building of a paved coastal road from Acapulco south, these
communities have been brought much closer to "mainstream Mexico" and there
have been population drifts to the new income-generating tourist centres.
Nonetheless, they still exhibit the greatest retentions of an African cultural
heritage, although in much diluted form, where the influence of Catholicism
and Indian cultural patterns of the region have whittled away much of the
African substrata or forced an acculturation and accommodation.

104 Maroon Heritage,

The Maroon heritage

While it is generally true that Afro-Mexicans have been marginalized and socially
discriminated up to the present, the history of Maroon resistance to the dominant
power has created an attractive political symbolism. In the last decade of the nine-
teenth century the historian Enrique Herrera Morena, became Mayor of Cordoba
and named the newly built city hospital in honour of Yanga, against whose descen-
dants the Cordoban colonists had battled for over a century. In 1933, in the anti-re-
ligious wave of the then Mexican government, the Catholic name of San Lorenzo
township was changed to Yanga. More recently, various literary works have taken
Yanga as their central character and symbol of liberty.
Even though the Maroon/African population of the town has dwindled
severely over the years, it was at Yanga in the mid-1970s that a group of Afro-
Mexicans formed the Yang Bara Club, and with the assistance of the Embassy
of the Ivory Coast, initiated in 1976, an annual carnival held on San Lorenzo
Day, in celebration of "the First Free Town of the Americas". In 1986, the
Municipal Council took over the organization of the carnival and although the
Yang Bara Club is now defunct, it triggered off a consciousness of a heritage
and the expression of a form of negritude however mestisized.51
On 6 July 1991, in Pinotepa Nacional on the Pacific side, the Catholic Church
sponsored the first "Encounter of Black People" in an effort to "look at our
S2
history, talk about our life today, plan to move forward". The tensions symbol-
ized by Captain Macute and Fernando Manuel are still being played out in the
descendants of the Maroons, as well as the wider Afro-Mexican society: abso-
lute absorption? Or a conscious and distinct "Third Strand" in the Mexican
national fabric, recognized and respected?

Peculiarities ofmaronage in Mexico

It may be proper to close the discussion of this chapter by examining some factors
that have influenced the different development of Mexican Maroon culture, com-
pared with that of Jamaican Maroons. The resistance to slavery in both countries led
Maroons to the hill country because the difficulty of access and unsuitability for mili-
tary campaigns favoured them against the colonists. Maroon communities in both
countries created such threats to colonial security and wore down the colonists so
much that the two colonial powers eventually found it best to come to peaceful set-
tlements through treaties. In both countries, however, these treaties led to further un-
dermining of the Maroon communities as in Yanga in Mexico or the "exiling" of
Maroons to Nova Scotia, Canada, and then to Sierra Leone, in the case of Jamaica.
Beyond these overall similarities, the Mexican Maroon societies have not
maintained the strong African influences that one finds in Jamaican Maroon
communities. Much of the explanation for this is to be found in the different
conditions under which both groups of Maroons existed as follows:

Maroon Heritage in Mexico 105

 In the first instance, the presence in Mexico of a major, developed civilization
and firmly established native Indian communities and cultures meant that the
Mexican Maroons had to relate not only to the European enslavers, but to the
Amerindian peoples who shared a good deal of the same problems of subordi-
nation and exploitation by the Spaniards that were experienced by the Africans.
Inter-marriage and some cultural similarities between these two ethnic groups
created a Creole culture that showed much of the numerically dominant Indian
influences. In Jamaica, the indigenous population of Indians was not very
developed and was almost wiped out by the colonizers, so the Africans related
only to one other race, the European, where the relationships between the two
races were not as fluid.53
Secondly, within this numerically overwhelming Mexican-Indian population,
the African presence was a very small minority and so tended to get submerged
and absorbed over several generations. In Jamaica, it was the opposite situation.
The African population was the overwhelming majority.
Thirdly, the Roman Catholic religion of the Spanish enslavers was far more per-
vasive and hegemonic than the Protestant denominations of their British counter-
parts. There was a militant catholicizing of the Indians and Africans in Mexico,
with vigorous scrutiny of their dictated religious practices. The Inquisition (painful
religious "cleansing") was very active in enforcing ideological and theological or-
thodoxy and there was a strong relationship between planters and priests. All this
created an intense presence undermining, by religious conversion, African cultural
retentions in a numerically small ethnic population.
In addition to these, the extended period in Mexico of a single colonial power
dominating the society from the start of the sixteenth century, meant a longer
period of exposure to the two other cultural pressures coming from Hispanics
and Amerindians, compared with the situation in Jamaica.
Also, the closeness of some Maroon communities to the main routes of commu-
nication and commerce of the dominating culture, helped to determine the extent
to which, over time, the African/Maroon population became absorbed into this
mainstream. In Jamaica, the Maroon communities were distanced from these
routes and so suffered less exposure and pressure.
Finally, the relatively lengthy period of 170 years since Mexico's independence
in 1821, compared with Jamaica's short period of 29 years, meant that many gen-
erations of Afro-Mexican Maroons have been involved in the formation and devel-
opment of a national Mexican identity, even if this might be expressed at the level
of a regional identity, and where the minority group of Afro-Mexicans have been
largely ignored or marginalized by the dominating elements of Mexican society.
In Jamaica, independence has increased at the national level, the self-esteem
of an African oriented identity, elevating Maroon heroes, heroines and African
cultural traditions. How far this identity in either country is to be maintained
accepted or appreciated will, however, depend on the extent to which the gen-
eral national consciousness of the importance of the history of our Maroon
heritage is effectively developed.

106 Maroon Heritage.

Notes

1 Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, La poblacion negra de Mexico (Mexico: Fondo de Cultural

Economica, 1984), 234.
2 Notably van Sertima (1976) and Jose Luis Melgarejo Vivanco, Breve historia de Veracruz
(Xalapa: Edta del Gobierno de Veracruz, 1975).
3 Aguirre Beltran, op. cit., 240-41.
4 Adriana Naveda, Esclavos negros en las haciendas azucareras de Cordoba, Veracruz, 1690-1830
(Xalapa: Universidad Vercruzana, 1987), 129.
5 Norman Martin, Los vagabundos en la Nueva Espana: Sigh XVI (Mexico: Edit Jus, 1957),
120.
6 Ibid., 123
7 Ibid., 130.
8 Melgarejo Vivanco, op. cit., 124.
9 Ward Barrett, La hacienda azucarera de los Marqueses del Valle (1535-1910) (Mexico: Siglo
XXI, 1977), 195.
10 Martin, Los vagabundos, 95.
11 Adriana Naveda, "La lucha de los negros esclavos en las haciendas azucareras de
Cordoba en el siglo XVIII", Anuario II, Centre de Estudios Historicos, Universidad
Veracruzana (1980): 80.
12 Maria del Carmen Velazquez, Colotlan: Doblefrontera contra los bdrbaros (Mexico: UNAM,
1961), 17-18.
13 Martin, op. cit., 99.
14 Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, Los pobladores del Papaloapan (Mexico: Institute Nacional Indi-
genista, pre-edicion mimeo #19,1956), 65.
15 Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, Cuijla: esbozo etnogrdfico de un pueblo negro (Mexico: Fondo de
Cultura Economica, 1958), 87.
16 Adriana Naveda, Esclavos negros, 143.
17 Fernando Winfield Capitaine, "La vida de los cimarrones en Veracruz", in Jornadas de
homenaje a Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran (Veracruz: Institute Veracruzano de Cultura, 1988), 87.
18 Adriana Naveda, Esclavos negros, 147.
19 Jose Rogelio Alvares (Dir.) Enciclopedia de Mexico. Vol. IX (Mexico: Enciclopedia de
Mexico, 1975), 370.
20 See Enrique Herrera Moreno, El canton de Cordoba. Vol. 1 (Mexico: Ed Citlaltepetl, 1959).
21 Miguel Garcia Bustamante, "Dos aspectos de la esclavitud negra en Veracruz", in
Jornadas de homenaje, 221.
22 Herrera, El canton, 90.
23 Ibid., 92-93.
24 Garcia Bustamante, op. cit., 222.
25 Naveda, Esclavos negros, 126; Herrera, El canton, 96-97.
26 Aguirre Beltran, "Nyanga y la controversia en torno a su reduccion a pueblo", in Jornada
de homenaje, 133-34.
27 Naveda, Esclavos negros, 126.
28 Aguirre Beltran, "Nyanga", 132-33.

Maroon Heritage in Mexico 107

29 Jonathan Israel, Razas, clases societies y vida polftica en el Mexico colonial, 1610-1670
(Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1980), 77.
30 Aguirre Beltran, "Nyanga", 132-33.
31 Herrera, El canton de Cordoba, Vol. 2,246.
32 Garcia Bustamante, op. cit., 220-21.
33 Israel, Razas, 79.
34 Bustamante, 230.
35 Beltran, "Nyanga", 133.
36 Bustamante, 230.
37 Ibid., 227.
38 Israel, op. cit., 79.
39 Naveda, Esclavos negros, 128; Bustamante, "Dos aspectos", 226-27.
40 Bustamante (translated), 231.
41 Giovanni F. Gemelli Careri, Viaje a la Nueva Espana (Mexico: UNAM, 1983), 151.
42 Naveda, Esclavos negros, 131.
43 Octaviano Corro, Los cimarrones en Veracruz y lafundacion de Amapa (Xalapa: Veracruz
Comercial, 1951), 22.
44 Ibid., 23.
45 Ibid.
46 Naveda, Esclavos negros, 145.
47 Ibid., 33-34.
48 Naveda, Esclavos negros, 147. Of the twenty-nine clauses of the legalizing document one-
third relate to prison and punishments, three relate to maintaining the relative isolation
of Amapa including specifically from San Lorenzo, and six relate to the constitution and
operation of the local authorities, plus clauses on obedience to the Church, to the State
and to providing militia as required. Corro, Los cimarrones, 36-40.
49 Beltran, Cuijla, 60.
50 Ibid., 62.
51 The First Meeting of the Analysis and Study of Negritude and Freedom in America
which was scheduled for the 1991 Carnival celebrations had to be cancelled along
with the Carnival after six persons were shot dead in Yanga the night before the start
of festivities, apparently victims of a vendetta.
52 Promotional leaflet for Encounter.
53 Archaeological evidence becoming available from recent studies appears to indicate
that at a point in time, perhaps in the early years of maronage, slaves of African and
indigenous Amerindian origin shared settlements from which they fought against
colonial forces. See Agorsah [1993(a), 1993(b)].

108 Maroon Heritage

 seven

"Resistance Science": AJrocentric

Ibeoio0y in Vic Reid's Nanny Town
Carolyn Cooper

Introduction

The African presence in the Americas predates the European. This fact defines a
pan-Africanist context within which Maroon ideology throughout the Americas
may be reconceptualized. Resistance science, as elaborated by Vic Reid in his
Maroon novels Nanny Town and The Jamaicans, denotes a tradition of sustained
subversion of European hegemony in this hemisphere.
This ideology and praxis of resistance manifests itself as a geopolitical conti-
nuity in societies such as the Palmares of Brazil, the Palenqueros of Colombia,
the Djukas of Suriname, the Cimarrones of Mexico and Cuba and the Maroons
of Jamaica.
The starting point of our history of Africans in the diaspora is not slavery
and conquest, but the common human heritage of freedom and exploration: dis-
covery that was a trial of skills and a mastery of self, not the automatic proprie-
torship of the "other" that is at the heart of imperial European enterprise. A
naturalized consequence of the European appropriation of land was the asser-
tion of the right to rewrite history. Those peripatetic Italians, Amerigo Vespucci
and Christopher Columbus, in the authoritarian act of naming the lands they
"discovered", became revisors of our history.
Naming is a constant reminder of that narcissistic imperial acquisitiveness
that imprints the colonizer's image on captured land—squatters' rights. The

Resistance Science 109

very designation, "the Americas", is thus problematic, signifying as it does
genocide—the effacing of the indigenous landscape and the erosion of the
cultural autonomy of its original inhabitants.
Given the self-aggrandizing, revisionist instinct of European imperialism, it
is not surprising that many Africans in the Americas do not know that their
ancestors came to this region before Columbus. Some Jamaicans know that at
least one crew member of Columbus' entourage was African, but we have
not been taught a history of the region that makes sense of that fact, or, by
extension, of the Maroons.
If you have been taught that Africans are savages—certainly no explorers—who
were redeemed from primordial darkness by Europeans, then the evidence of
sustained African resistance of slavery and enforced europeanization, becomes an
aberration—a unique adaptive strategy of a specialized group. Maronage is not
seen as the natural response of free people to dehumanizing attempts to restrict
and restructure them—if slavery can be defined in such mild terms.

Caribbean historiography

Caribbean historiography needs to place the resistance science of the Maroons

along a broad ideological continuum of cultural autonomy that manifested itself,
however guardedly, even within the very belly of the plantation. Indeed, the well
documented conflicts of interest between the Jamaican Maroons and the slaves
"marooned" on the plantations clearly resulted from a too-narrow definition of
who constituted the community of essential political affiliation.
For example, in Vic Reid's 1983 novel, Nanny Town, Gato (the Sun Cat), the
hot-headed warrior who has taken two young Maroon boys into town for the
first time on an exploratory "walk-bout", is angered when they appear attracted
to the clothes and manners of the coast people: "Old cast-off clothes from a Red-
Ants slave owner! That is what they wear! Our pigskin and lace-bark shirts we
got by our own hands! Not ashamed of mud on our feet either, boy. Mud on the
feet is a sign that we broke away! Mud on the feet and burr in the hair—signs of
freedom, boy!
It is Kishee with "the Griot's gift of standing at the cross-roads and seeing all
ways at once" [p.39] who provides a more complex reading of the coast people's
clothes, carefully cautioning the young boys about the dangers of too readily dis-
missing the town people as being essentially alien:

'AH of us on the mountains came from out of the coastie people. The Bell-People
down there have never ceased to fight and to make their own lives, no matter that
they wear the same clothing like the Red-Ants. When, after your Learning, you
grow up to be a Griot, you must look hard into the matter of the flatland people
and sing a song for them. That clothing Gato speaks of was bought by the money
they make from their marketing. And many of them save their money and buy

no Maroon Heritage
 themselves free. Not everyone was born to be a Break-away. Some do a buy-away
and live a good life, tiki. Those on the sugar plantation, they are our own blood,
boy. Our brothers and sisters. It is true they are walking on anothefr] road. But
all roads lead to St Jago if you travel for the king!['] His one eye brightened.
'When you travel for the King, all roads lead to Spanish Town'. A saying of
Queen-Mother Nanny. He liked to speak the proverbs of Nanny and sometimes
added to her meanings [pp.38-39].

Mecha nisms of res is tance

This use of clothing as a metonym for the surfaces of things, raises the complex is-
sue of cunning, masking and role-play as mechanisms of resistance science—as
powerful as overt confrontation. A wolf in sheep's clothing is a much more danger-
ous enemy than a bare-faced wolf. The boys Kwame Oduduwa and Kobi, on their
first "walk-bout", are cautioned by Gato about not answering to their Maroon
names; to preserve their identity they must assume an alien cover: "The English
had a law which removed the thunderous Old Country names from the Bell-Peo-
ple, and punished them with such names as Prudence and Patience, and Toby and
Jody, and left them no family names. So for safety on the coast, we left our real
names in the stronghold. We were slave piknis. Jump and turn if a planter bel-
lowed: 'Hey!' That was your name. 'Hey'"! [p.22].
The African-American slave narrative tradition, like our own, provides numer-
ous examples of slaves assuming disguise, both literal and metaphoric, as a protec-
tive device. Feigning stupidity—"playing fool fi catch wise"—often proved to be a
particularly effective strategy for survival. One of my favourite gems from an Afri-
can-American slave narrative is reproduced in Gilbert Osofsky's edition of three
slave narratives, entitled, Puttin' On Ole Massa.
The very use of the imagery of "puttin' on" to signify deception and cover-up,
illustrates the linguistic cunning of the African-American tradition of covert resis-
tance. In his "Introduction" to the slave narratives, Osofsky recounts a wicked in-
stance of naming in which the slave, Pompey, ascribes to the master his true, true
name, in a mock catechism:
"Pompey, how do I look?"
"O, massa, mighty"
"What do you mean 'mighty ,Pompey?"
"Why, massa, you look noble."
"What do you mean by 'noble'?"
"Why, sar, you just look like one lion."
"Why, Pompey, where have you ever seen a lion?"
"I see one down yonder field the other day, massa."
"Pompey, you foolish fellow, that was a jackass."
"Was it, massa? Well you look just like him."

Resistance Science in
 A Jamaican slave narrative, the Narrative of the Cruel Treatment of James Williams,
a Negro Apprentice in Jamaica from 1st August 1834 Till the Purchase of his Freedom in
1837 by Joseph Sturge, Esq., of Birmingham, by Whom he was Brought to England, in-
cludes a little detail about the possible uses to which a stone is to be put and which
cunningly allows for at least two conflicting interpretations:
7 am about eighteen years old. I was a slave belonging to Mr. Senior and his
sister, and was brought up at the place where they live, called Penshurst, in Saint
Ann's parish in Jamaica. I have been very ill treated by Mr. Senior and the magis-
trates since the new law came in. Apprentices get a great deal more punishment
now than they did when they was slaves; the master take spite, and do all he can
to hurt them before the free come;—I have heard my master say, "Those English
devils say we to be free, but if we is to free, he will be pretty well weaken we, before
the six and the four years done; we shall be no use to ourselves afterwards ...
When I was a slave, I never flogged,—I sometimes was switched, but not badly;
but since the new law begin, I have been flogged seven times, and put in the house
of correction four times. Soon after 1st August, massa tried to get me and many
others punished; he brought us up before Dr. Palmer, but none of us been doing
nothing wrong, and the magistrate give we right... [here comes the stone].
When them try me, massa said, that one Friday, I was going all round the house
with big stone in my hand, looking for him and his sister, to knock them down. I
o

was mending stone wall round the house by massa's order.

These instances of insiduous slave revolt on the plantation clearly reinforce Vic
Reid's representation of the common heritage of resistance science that is shared by
both the break- aways and the bell-People. The Maroon griot describes the rela-
tionship between both groups thus:
'The Bell-People are those brothers and sisters whom the English stole from
Africa, from the Old Country and enslaved on their plantations. There [sic]
were forced to live out their lives answering the bell which told them when to
wake, eat, sleep and when to appear for punishment. But many broke away and
became famous Maroon men and women. They were known on theflatlands as
the Break-aways' [p.8].
The break-away was often psychological, the enforced physical presence on the
plantation concealing acts of sabotage and covert rebellion, such as poisoning. The
science of resistance required the cultivation of the conspiratorial arts of secrecy.
Whatever the facts of Maroon treachery to runaway slaves after the peace treaty
with the British, Maroon complicity with the European power elite and the poten-
tially alienating Maroon assertion of cultural and political autonomy within Jamaica,
the myth of the Maroon as the embodiment of essentially Jamaican aspirations to in-
dividual freedom is firmly embedded in contemporary popular culture.

in Maroon Heritage
Grandy Nanny

Thus the Right Honourable Nanny of the Maroons has been installed as a national
heroine. Louise Bennett, Lorna Goodison and Adugo Onuora have written and
performed poems in which Nanny is celebrated as the quintessential Jamaican
female.
In "Jamaica Oman", Bennett establishes in the opening two verses of the poem
the cunning of the Jamaican woman and then proceeds, in the third verse, to sum-
mon Nanny, wittily suggesting the unexpected complementarity of the militant,
magico-religious powers of the ancestor figure and the verbal skill of the modern
schoolgirl. Both verbal expansiveness and physical prowess seem to come natu-
rally to women, though one is often used to cunningly mask the other:
Jamaica oman cunny, sah!
Is how dem jinnal so?
Look how long dem liberated
An de man dem never know!
Look how long Jamaica oman
—Madder, sister, wife, sweetheart—
Outa road an eena yard deh pon
A dominate her part!
From Maroon Nanny teck her body
Bounce bullet back pon man,
To when nowadays gal-pickney tun
Spellin-Bee champion.
In Lorna Goodison's "Nanny" the poet assumes the mask of roots woman, pre-
senting Nanny as the forerunner of all the nurturing mother figures of Jamaican
balm-yard folklore. This Nanny, schooled in the art of herbal warfare, is specially
sent to nurture the Jamaican people in secret ways that preclude biological moth-
ering. Nanny is thus the prototype of a host of Jamaican women such as Aunt Alice
of Erna Brodber's Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home, and Miss Gatha of Brod-
ber's Myal, to name two fictional examples, who, though presented as childless, in
fact mother the whole community through their knowledge of herbal medicine
and the related arts of the arcane, obeah and myal.
Such women fulfil the promise of the final couplet of Goodison's poem, which I
quote in its entirety:
My womb was sealed
with molten wax
of killer bees
for nothing should enter
nothing should leave
the state of perpetual siege
the condition of the warrior.

Resistance Science 113

 From then my whole body would quicken
at the birth of even/one of my people's children.
I was schooled in the green-giving ways
of the roots and vines
made accomplice to the healing acts
ofchainey root, fever grass and vervain.

My breasts flattened
settled unmoving against my chest
my movements ran equal
to the rhythms of the forest.
I could sense and sift
The footfall of men
from the animals
and smell danger
death's odour
in the wind's shift

When my eyes rendered

light from the dark
my battle song opened
into a solitaire's moan
I became most knowing
and forever alone.

And when my training was over

they circled my waist with pumpkin seeds
and dried okra, a traveller's jigida
and sold me to the traders
all my weapons within me.
I was sent, tell that to history.
When your sorrow obscures the skies
other women like me will rise.

The wryly defiant line, "tell that to history", reminds us of the complicity of per-
sonified (eurocentric) history in the distorted representation of African diasporic
culture. The sending of Nanny implies that conscious strategies of warfare were
employed by Africans on the continent to succour Africans in the diaspora. This
sending reconstructs one of the common distortions of history: that all Africans
willingly sold inferiors into slavery.
In this guilt-ridden rewriting of European expansionism, the slave trade now
becomes an absolutely joint enterprise! It therefore becomes difficult to ascribe
blame and/or disentangle loyalties from treachery. Indeed, the divide-and-rule
concept of class as a significant variable in indigenous slavery in Africa, pre-figures
the Maroon/slave ethnic divisions in Jamaica.

114 Maroon Heritage

Nanny - Jamaica's great warrior woman.

Resistance Science 115

 In Goodison's re-reading of political alignments, Nanny's waistbeads, her
"traveller's jigida" is a band of history, a shared heritage of resistance science,
reconnecting Africans at home with Africans abroad—to summon the spirit of
Marcus Garvey.
In Vic Reid's novel, Nanny Town, it is this town named for Nanny, and its
ethos of resistance, that are the novelist's central preoccupations. The opening
lines of the novel establish several points of reference for the ensuing narrative:

Kishee the Griot of Nanny Town stood by the Learning Rock and told us of the
Grande. 'She is the mother of many rivers. She was born in the Cuna Cuna hills
and comes flowing down the Sierras de Bastidas, holding the hands of her many
children.'He used the old name, Sierras de Bastidas; the name by which our ances-
tors called it, before the coming of the English who named it the Blue Mountains.
'The Mountain and the River, the father and mother of the Forest People. Our
provider and protector' [Reid: 1].

In this ecologically correct celebration of the land as nurturer that must itself be
protected, is an image of organically conceived socio-political relationships that
should not be violated. As ancestor figures, the personified male mountain and fe-
male river are not objects for exploitation but subjects of veneration. Like the land,
the griot-"remembrancer" must himself be honoured, because he holds the key to
not only the past but the future.
But the line of ancestry can be complicated. The renaming of the Sierras de
Bastidas by the English is a rewriting of the name itself imposed by the Spanish
on the indigenous landscape. Over time, the Spanish name has been natural-
ized, becoming for Kishee, the griot, the preferred name of his ancestors. This
process of constant revising has resonances of an archaeology of cultural sedi-
mentation. Maroon/Spanish antagonism becomes Maroon/Spanish collabora-
tion in the face of a new joint enemy—the late imperialism of the English.
The novel documents the battles fought between the Maroons and the English.
Resistance science becomes, in these physical battles, quite specific techniques of
military precision. But cunning and disguise remain essential constituents of this
literal resistance science. The venerated landscape actively participates in warfare,
providing a natural cover for covert military manoeuvres: "The Mountain People
have no great-guns. No grand-cannons or other ordnance. The ambush is the
great-gun of the mountain people. It is the ambush that makes us come out even
with the cannon-people. 'They were too many for us, so we turned the forest trees
into soldiers'. We armed and drilled the rocks and gullies and waterfalls and made
them fight for us" [p. 147].
The combolo/machete, the preferred implement of Maroon warfare, is cele-
brated by Vic Reid for its two-sidedness, its duplicitous nature. In an extended
praise-poem to the combolo, Reid elaborates on both the domestic and military
functions of this dangerous weapon:

116 Maroon Heritage

 It is the great tool of the Jamaican people, men and women. To plant their food,
reap their fruits and fight their battles. It is greater than spear or sword, greater
than the musket. Some fine machete-men can make it sing as it works its trade. It
is not ugly as a gun, nor nasty as a knife. It is serene, friendly and hardworking in
peace time; and, even in anger, it is resolute but not vengeful. You must study the
care and use of it. You have seen your mothers and fathers, as the first matter of
the morning, reach for it before they open the house door. And the last thing at
night, after they have cleaned and polished the blade, put it away carefully as a
baby in its cradle [pp.155-56].
Reid, a good griot, proceeds to give the history of the word:
The English have one close to ours which they call a cutlass, but cannot act
as our combolo. The word is from our Spanish ancestry. It means companion
and knife. Friend and protector. Combolo. It is also known as wamperer. In the
Old Country, it bears the fine names o/afana and afini. But by whatever name,
our machete feeds us and fights for us. And is always a peacemaker; for who will
pick a quarrel with a man who has his combolo to hand [p.156].
The ambiguous image of domesticity and militancy that the combolo embodies
is replicated in Reid's presentation of the function of women in Maroon culture.
Nanny is the prototype of all less celebrated, unnamed Maroon women who ex-
celled at both the domestic arts of nurturance and the military arts of survival. Ma-
roon women, as much as men, were warriors actively defending their
communities.
If slavery was the first equal opportunity employers of black men and
women—to cite Johnnetta Cole—the free societies of Jamaican Maroons also pro-
vided equal opportunities for men and women to engage fully in the double-sided
life of the community. The need to establish settled communities also had to be
balanced against the need to be able to move quickly at the threat of invasion.
There is a powerful incident in the novel that illustrates this duality of function
of Maroon women—both nurturers and fighters. A boa constrictor attacks one of
the young women who is part of a group of men and women on an exploratory
mission from Nanny Town to the land of war-chief Kojo. Let the griot speak:
I have been in many battles in my long life, but I tell you, pikni-Learners, never
have I seen such violence as that morning when the daughters fell on the outsider
who had broken in upon their duties of wives and mothers. Duties they had taken
so as to accompany us on this hard journey. The foolish boa had made them appear
weak and easy to assail; and this was a matter about them which was not true at
all Not true of our Maroon warrior-daughters. The boa had put himself in jeop-
ardy. 'Howsoever, what can a poor bungo-man say of daughters? You know, no
sooner had they cleaned up after they were finished with Bro' Boa those daughters
were back at their tasks, soft as kittens, sweet as cane molasses, melting as coconut
custard on the tongue, just as if they had never mashed an ant. Only when you
looked closely in their eyes did you see the anger still lurking there.' When we laid
out the boa and paced its length, none of us had ever seen longer [p.215].

Resistance Science 117

 That final sentence, proclaiming the extraordinary length of the boa, also af-
firms in good oral narrative style the authority of this essentially archetypal tale of
female power. Vic Reid, the novelist, puts on the mask of griot to tell the tale within
a tale of the making of a griot. Reid's first-person narrator is a "prentice griot"
learning his trade which he defines thus: "Griot is the name we give to our Remem-
brancers, the men [and women]7 whose gift and duty it is to tell us of our past and
point us to our future. Kishee ran his eyes over all our faces, the dozen of us sons
and daughters at the Learning. Once every week for this year, we will attend at the
Learning-Rock to be taught of our past by him" [p.l]. The biblical resonances of
Reid's prose suggest yet other layers of sedimentation. The choice of to be taught
"of" and not simply "about" is a small instance of Reid's attempt to find an oracu-
lar style to convey the gravity of the griot's calling. Like the Old Testament proph-
ets whose "prophesight and prophesay" demanded communal respect, the griot
needs words that are weighty with authority. The sonorous English of the King
James version of the Bible comes closest, in Jamaica, to bearing the weight of griot
gravity.
Reid, who in his 1949 novel, New Day, experimented with an artificial, stylized
version of the Jamaican language as a way of voicing an indigenous sensibility,
is himself a griot struggling to find the right idiom for his literary version of
resistance science. Nanny Town is a celebration of our distinctive Maroon heri-
tage. But it is, as well, an affirmation of our common heritage as Jamaicans,
struggling to claim as our own this island which we were forced to embrace as
home. In the words of Kojo: "We, all of us who call ourselves Maroons, form a
chain. A chain of freedom all along this great backbone of mountains. If any link in
that chain is weakened, all of us will become weakened. Somewhere, we will
break" [p.239]. Men and women, Break-away and Bell-people, together must
transform the chains of slavery into an empowering link. That, ultimately, is the
embodiment of resistance science.

Notes
1 Vic Reid, Nanny Town (Kingston: Jamaica Publishing House, 1983), 38. Subsequent
references cited in text.
2 Gilbert Osofsky (ed.), Puttin' On Ok Massa (N.Y.: Harper, 1962), 22.
3 Extract reprinted in Jean D'Costa and Barbara Lalla (eds.), Voices In Exile: ]amaican Tests
of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989), 75-76.
4 Louise Bennett, Selected Poems, edited by Mervyn Morris (Kingston: Sangster's, 1982.
Reprinted 1983), 21-22.
5 Lorna Goodison, / am Becoming My Mother (London: New Beacon Books, 1986), 44-45.
6 Johnnetta Cole, unpublished lecture (The UWI Lecture Series: "Facing 2000").
7 I must admit to a revisionist instinct to include the women here.

118 Maroon Heritage

 eight

NaHM$ ; Vaimares & t^e

Caribbean Maroon Connexion
Kamau Brathwaite

Introductyon
I have six sounds to say here this morning, not knowing that it would be in this for-
mat [I had assumed that each of us would be a lecture or full presentation of about
60/90 minutes or so & prepared accordingly. I did not know that we would be in-
volved not only in a panel arrangement with some six xciting others, but that be-
cause of constraints of time, we had no more than 10 minutes each!] So I am happy
to let you know what the six sounds would have been. And I shall speak on as
many of them as I can & in as much detail as I can as time permits

[What follows is a revised, built-up and edited version of the transcript ofProfBrath-
waite's talk. The six 'sounds' (or soundings) have become nine]

i marona0e: definition and overview

First of all I wanted to speak about Nanny & give an account of the research which
went into the declaring of her as a National Hero. That was in 1975-76.11 say this
because even though that research has been done & has been published in this
book, Wars of Respect, we still go on seeing in the newspapers and elsewhere, even
in fact in other academic works, the notion that no one knows anything about Nanny
& the myths about her seem to be as abstruse and unclear (or clear!) as ever

Nanny/ Palwiares & t^e Caribbean Maroon Connexion 119

 Second thing I wanted to speak about was Nanny as a(n) historical person and
as a symbol - which I will come back to
Then I was going to look at Nanny within the context of Jamaican maronage in
general because one tends to isolate her these days & see her as a (very precious)
icon without realizing that she was first & foremust a Maroon/person & that there-
fore the culture & cultural skills that went into maronage were very much part of
her personality & achievement
Fourthly we should have looked at Jamaican maronage within the context of
African culture & its adaptations in the Americas - & this is another big debate
& problem within our historiography - that people look at the achievements of
Maroons & of slaves & slave rebels but they do not see this achievement as an
aspect of the culture from which the people come. In other words we are invited
to see maronage & slave revolt & African people survival as a kind of miracle &
therefore quite inexplicable, when in fact the culture informs the achievement
Fifthly, therefore, I wanted to look - & will look a little - at maronage within the
context of the plantation system of the Caribbean Americas. And there is some
on-going research which I want to share with you just briefly
And finally as a result of all this, there should have been a redefinition of ma-
ronage - the term itself - & a widening of the notion of it to include things like psy-
chological maronage which we in the present day & kind of world [Third,
Developing, under Developing, neoColonial/ suppressed/downpressed Cannibal
& Calibanistic etc] are very much part of & certainly very much involved with/in
one way or the other
But I am going to confine what I say this morning mainly to Nanny as a(n) his-
torical person & symbol & to Jamaican maronage within the context of the Planta-
tion though other aspects of my overview will be touched on if & as necessary

2. granbeenanny & tl?e african-jamakan culture of maronage,

With Nanny the big thing really is her buttocks. I think that is really where the
whole thing rests. Wherever you turn you get this image of the woman with the
buttocks who turns towards the enemy, catches their bullets into these buttocks
and farts them back out - successfully - at the enemy. I mean this is something
scholars are asked to accept And the mere fact that we seem to accept it suggests
that we have been trapped into this ideology of buttocks. In other words, we are
in danger - no - we are losing sight of the person for the sake of a part - a very
distinguished part unquestionably - but still only a part. And this has been the
problem of the research & everything else. Why is it that Nanny is only a part of
the whole?
As a matter of fact, the tale & image of Nanny's buttocks does not arise from the
contemporary (early 18th century) record, but appears for the first time, much
later, in the late 19th century, as far as I know, in H T Thomas' Untrodden Jamaica
(1890)3

no Maroon Heritage
 'The notorious Nanny was a woman

[Thomas had to say that because at that time the rumour was that she was really
a pot, a bird, a witch, or at best a cat & one of the reasons why it was felt necessary
to research her 'suitability' for the nation's highest award in 1976 was to ascertain
if in fact she existed at all, since (again) the almost universally accepted rumour was
that she was a 'myth' or 'legend' - old wives' 'Nancytory']

'and the wife of the leader Cudjoe - or I presume, one of his wives

[There has always been a suggestion that Nanny, leader of the Windward &
Cudjoe, leader of the Central or North Coast or Accompong Maroons, were related
- Maroon tradition suggesting that they were siblings. But contemporary reports
indicate that she had a Windward husband, Adou who for some reason or other
'never went into their battles'
Thomas is however correct on the subject of Maroon polygamy - one more as-
pect of their African tradition, & necessary under the crisis of Maroon conditions
for the certain generational continuation of the group (marginal food producing
land, a minimum survival quotient in this ecology with an xcess of warrior males)]

'and like all unsexed women who have had a freebooter's life
[I don't know how Thomas got to know the 'unsexed' aspect of Nanny or if he
means what I think he means - he probably meant something else, using the ru-
mour that she was a witch - described by the only English writer who probably
saw her (the English officer, Philip Thicknesse), as an 'old Hagg']

'ten times more ferocious and blood-thirsty than any man among the Maroons

She was possessed of super-natural powers, and spirited away the best and fin-
est of the slaves from the outlying estates. She never went into battle armed like the
rest, but received the bullets of the enemy that were aimed at her, and returned
them with fatal effect, in a manner which decency forbids a nearer description [of]'
(Thomas 1890 p.36/my emphasis)
This story, as I say, has been repeated - uncritically repeated - by nearly
every if not every writer since Thomas - INC MAROON LEADERS AND WRITERS
THEMSELVES INVOKING ORAL TRADITION - and has continued, as I say, as if I
had not written Wars of Respect6
It is Craton who perhaps puts it most confidently & positively, even provid-
ing (uncited) 'xplanations' and 'parallels' in Africa: 'the story that during
attacks she was able to catch cannon balls [WOW! cannonballs/not even bul-
lets now] between her buttocks and to fart them back with deadly effect HAS
MANY AFRICAN PARALLELS during the long period of resistance to the
Europeans (my emphasis)'
Beverley Carey, a Maroon & holding a position in the hierarchy & one of the
finest indigenous reconstructors of Ja Maroon history known to me, in her still un-
published A history of the Maroon peoples of Jamaica (1975ts/p29), shifts the myth

Nanny, Valwares & t^e Carlcbzan Maroon Connexion in

from bare buttocks to bare hands: 'Nanny was not above using some of her great
powers of auto-suggestion on the [Br] troops. She created metaphysical manifesta-
tions to frighten them and according to Maroon oral tradition, she actively partici-
pated in battle'[could she not 'participate' in any other way?]

I would say that these distortions have come about because in the first place it
must be clear that Nanny could not be 'real' to the historians (both 'then' & now)
who were (are) dealing with this kind of serious icon. She could not be 'real' be-
cause she was a visible woman living at the end of the 17th century - a period
when Visible' women - apart from a few White Queens - were almost impossible
to conceive of & therefore to perceive in PUBLIC FUNCTION AND PERSONA. She
was also buttockicized (& that the word is awkWEIRD & ungainly is no accident) be-
cause she was black & therefore a slave no matter what & therefore how could she
possibly be a leader, far less a black leader - far less a black woman leader - & physi-
cally & metaphysically so successful that by 1720 the Br (certainly some key plant-
ers in the Port Antonio area - on the GrandeeNanny firing line, as it were) were
contemplating abandoning their Plantation Xperiment in Jamaica since as long as
the Maroons occupied the space at the height & centre of the island - as long by
militantly & successfully occupying the mountains & by cutting off easy & de-
pendable communication between the North & South coasts where the major plan-
tations were located & by their 'Zionism' were creating a kind of New African
heaven & haven & kingdom at the visible heart of the island (in those always vis-
ible & (to them) viable Blue & John Crow Mountains) which would increasingly be
an attraction to hundreds perhaps thousands of the enslaved & therefore a threat
or cut-throat to the whole xpensive & would-be xpansive Plantation System from
Port Antonio through MoBay right around to Morant Bay - there could be no guar-
antee that the Plantation would continue to be a profitable investment under such
conditions (& indeed the Maroons held up the manifest destiny of Br Plantation in
Ja for 85 years)8

In fact Nanny was far far more than 'simply' a political & military leader of
her people (though that, Nyame knows, was already a great deal). She was also
a prophet & healer and religious leader - an ngunza, to use the term that the
Congolese anthropologist, Fu-Kiau K Kia Bunseki-Lumaniza used of Miss
Queenie of Jamaican kumina. But she was far far more even than that; being
abov(e) all, Queen Mother & 'Keeper of the Tribe'; what the Asante of Ghana
would have called (would call) ohemmaa - like Nzinga Nzinga of Angola & the
long line of Ashanti Queen Mothers recorded as having accompanied armies
into war: among them Juaben Sewa of Juaben, Ata Birago of Kokofu, Akyia
of Asansu & Yaa Asantewa of Ejeisu, who was xiled with Prempeh after the
1895/96 war with the British. All these women 'were old and had passed the
menopause'10 hence I suppose, Mr Thomas' 'unsexed' (above) - though I have
never seen any of this recognized &/or taken up in any of the work on ma-
ronage since 1976/7712

12.2. Maroon Heritage

 In other words, we do not seem to assert/affirm this particular but essential as-
pect of the woman Which again can only make & leave her 'smaller' than she is; for
I think -1 mean I know - that without recognizing her full stature -

& there is not yet - as far as I know - even a statue of her - a public official cere-
monial representation or icon of her12 - in National Heroes Park (or anywhere else
for that matter - not even I suspect on our postage stamps) - even though she 'be-
came' National Hero in 1977
So that until we can recognize Nanny's stature (& statue) - the true-true meaning
of her nature/culture - not the mere stone or 'story' or Bump Grave - we will never
comprehend the fullness of what this Woman - this Ohemmaa - awe & all - repre-
sents & therefore we will never properly & respectfully be able to 'account' for her
success - & through her, account for the success (if you can call it that) of maronage
in Plantation America
. She comes as I say from a long line of ohemmaa like Yaa Asantewa & Nzinga
Nzinga & many many others like them throughout Africa as well as within the
Caribbean/Americas. But because she was this kind of special person, capable of
transporting or receiving the transmission of ancient ancestral cultural resources in
ways that we can't yet overstand/xplain & was able to aid in the successful adap-
tation of these resources to the crisis of the Caribbean/Jamaican/Blue Mt Maroon
situation, so that as quickly & as efficiently as possible - that's the point - without
too much time spent on apparent practice & apprenticeship & training (certainly
no apparent going to formal school etc) - though of course there was a great deal
of necessary & intensive apprenticeship & training - the Maroons were able to suc-
cessfully establish themselves in the inhospitable but defensible ecology of the
Americas, adapting themselves to the available food and other supplies, adapting
themselves to martial techniques that flowed so naturally out of their environment
that they appeared to be like ghosts of the landscape, building & planting in that
landscape in ways too that made sense as long as they could keep the situation sta-
ble - & developing social & political & religious & military defensive forms that
did just that - she had to be invisibilized in the same way & for the same reason(s)
that the achievement of Haiti under Toussaint Legba Louverture & his successors
had to be invisibilized - because it represents a successful alternative cultural
model to the Superior Monopolistic Missile* that Western Europe had developed
in their own Middle Passage across the Atlantic & into the Americas

The point I am making - even if I repeat myself - being that the success of
Nanny & of maronage in the Caribbean/Americas was in no way accidental or
inexplicable - or if 'accidental' the result of 'cultural accident' - of which there is
no such thing. Which means that each Maroon leader follower community
dreamer had to work as hard as any other leader follower community dreamer
to achieve the miracle OUT OF xtremis - & that like all 'successes' (even failures)
they followed a successful ancestral model - or at anyrate made their model a
success. And a vital element of the success of their model was its difference to the

Nanny, Palwares & the, Caribbean Maroon Connexion 12.3

then-being-promoted European alterRenaissance* model adapted in the Carib-
bean/Americas as the Plantation with its attendant 'Mentality', 'Economy' & so
on

Therefore Nanny had to be shut up & shut down And the buttocks is part of the
shutting down/ & the shutting up comes in the archives. Because when I went to
London to undertake the research, there were only four references to Nanny that
were available And that is perhaps why we have the impression that she did not
xist; or if she xists she xists very marginally - although of course 'she lives in the
heart of her people ...'

3 nanny and tl?e problem of archival certification

1733
The first reference is in the Journal of the Assembly of Jamaica,14 & it says very
clearly that Cuffie, a very good party Negro, claims reward for having killed
Nanny
So she xists - but is dead before she even begins - killed by a pawn soldier in
1733. So we can safely say, if we go by the documents, that she no longer xists -
ignominiously cut off/cut down before she really achieved anything - since for
the Br historian, Prof Posterity, the only significant Maroon 'achievement' will
be the Peace Treaties of 1739 & 1740.15

1735
The Colonial Office Papers (CO/137) record that Cupid, an Ibo (Igbo) slave es-
caped from the rebells, reported that he saw three white men 'who were taken in
some of these parties', carried to the Negro Town 'and there put to death by
Nanny'
She had to be an ohemmaa. No 'ordinary' person - man far less 18th century
woman - could take a knife like that in the disciplined environment of a Maroon
settlement
The realization of discipline is KEY/ it betokens civilization, something of
course denied to Blacks & Maroons; but a Maroon 'camp', like any other civilized
community, whether under duress or not, but perhaps especially under duress &
under strict military protocol (these people were not brigands or pirates) would
have been at very great pains to observe all the necessary legal decorums ('Geneva
Convention' etc) especially when faced with (to them) the legal xecution of a British
army person - an officer & a (white) gentleman - far less THREE of them! - to death
- unless she had that kind of overarching and constitutional authority
That, at least, is what we see in the CO Papers, that is in the manuscript. But what
do we see in the Calendar of State Papers (CSP) where it comes to be printed? Some
genius, perhaps the same man who took the nose of Sphinx & cut if off so that it

114 Maroon Heritage

would not appear to be Nubian, revises this manuscript making one only brilliant
slip of the pen or rather 'eye' to radically alter the appearance of an important docu-
ment for over 250 years now
three white men who were 'taken in some of those parties', carried to the Negro
town & 'there put to death by hanging'
That is the printed version, which of course comes down to all historians - 'put
to death by hanging1
I compare the two versions: CO & then CSP. The wording is identical until you
come to where, in the manuscript, there was Nanny 's name - now, instead, you
have hanging
& when you look again at the ms, you can see, in a way, that a mistake could
have been made since the way Nanny is written it could become hanging:
N into h, an = an& the ny of her last syllable with the long tail of the y (we must
really acquire a photograph of this) could be/come ging especially since there is an
n in there anyway etc etc
& because the person who was doing the transcription from the manuscript to the
printed version [CK on what year that was if you can] assumed that the execution
could not have been done by a word he did not recognize (Nanny?/ I mean
who/what/Nanny! - just don't make no sense!) but by a word he did (16

To summarize
Nanny is written in the earliest official document in a way that one could in fact
xcusably say that it is hanging if you wanted to see it that way - and it is, in fact
written as hanging. I regard that as deliberate error which was never corrected & of
course it conclusively changes 'the course of History' since (first) it allows us to
think that the people concerned were put to death by anybody (= no/body) when
in fact they were put to death by an ohemmaa. And we are 'changing the course of
History' certainly Herstory also because the name Nanny begins at this point to
disappear from the records, permitting by the 19th century a rumour so strong that
she did not xist, that even today (October 91) despite academic research & official
'justification' (not that I hold any special brief for either of these as you should
have gathered), it is still widely held that she was never here although in this same
document of 1735 we hear that there are certain people living in a certain area
where there is also Nanny & her husband 'who is a greater man than Adou but
never went into their battles'. So she is still there in 1735 although the evidence is
not as strong as it would have been if both references were present
1740/41
The Land Patent to Nanny of 1740 -
'George 11 by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland and King of
Jamaica Lord Defender of the Faith... have given and granted . . . and do give and
grant unto... Nanny and the people residing with her and [their] heirs ... a certain
parcel of land containing five hundred acres in the parish of Portland .. .'l

Nanny, falnmres & the, CaAktan Maroon Connexion 12.5

 This is the one thing [the LAND PATENT TO NANNY] that we hang on to & say
that this was really Nanny (of the Meroons/from time to time I use the Ja Maroon
pronunciation of their 'name' though they call themselves ***********) Xcept that
some might come back with/this was a different Nanny18

4 buttock
Finally - we have to confront the business of the buttocks & hope that eventually
scholars & artists will begin to treat Nanny (& Maroon/maronage) with more
respect; and our women & Submerged Mothers with more respect -19

I mean, is so easy to invoke the promise & dark sonority of our women's but-
tocks. What we've got to come to understand is that women use their buttocks &
that the part is part of the whole & that the whole is part of the culture in a very real
way. There is no way that Nanny could have turned her back & done what they say
she did. But she could have turned her back, lifted her skirt, & displayed the derriere
as a symbol of derision & abuse which is a very common feature of 'the culture',
as you know ...
But we must remember that the buttocks is also a source and symbol of power
- what the Kikongo call mgara - fulfillment - And in the case of Nanny we see th
buttocks, then, not only as a (?negative) symbol of derision & abuse but also (more
positively) as an xpression of military power (she displayed her buttocks during
battle) as an xpression of para-military power - since she was guerrilla too (& you
must have noticed what the female chimpanzee/ gorillas do!); a symbolization of
her ritual power
(the elaborate costumes developed by our people to conceal/reveal the but-
tocks in kumina, in carnival, and the androgynous effect of the (female) ritual
clothing worn by men in cassocks, bubas, konnus, akabua & the continuation of
this into the symbol & xpression of fertility most commonly articulate in walk in
flirt in dance
And unless we xplore those meanings - which all-yu know far better than me - we
(the very people of her culture & inheritance) will continue to place her in a dark
fatty ghetto of the flesh which only disenables - disempowers - you & us & all of
her
For when Nanny used/displayed her buttocks to the enemy - or anyone else
for that matter - she did it totally - & for good (cultural) reasons

5 maroons in t^e context of tl?e, Caribbean/americas acculturation

& tt?e 'iaw' o\ cultural monopoly
Now in the context of the wider Caribbean what I want to say here is this: that in
the research that I have been doing I am beginning to recognize that there were (&
in some cases still are) six main areas of Maroon activity of tremendous importance
6 effect And these areas are interconnected In other words what I am inviting you

126 Maroon Heritage

to recognize is that Maroons are not 'people isolated' - marooned on a hilltop &
trapped (hopefully not moroned) into their own communities. Because of their in-
dependence they were able to achieve, they were able to xploit, whenever possible,
that independence to create connections with other Maroon - & other - communi-
ties. And that is one of the ways in which they so successfully, more than 'sur-
vived'.
The features of these Maroon power-bases were densely forested x-plantation
karsted-type mountain-islands (in the case of the islands/in the case of the main-
land: mountains &/or riverain forest) with (in the case of Dominica, the Guyanas,
Honduras & Mexico) significant African/Amerindian alliance, consensual inter-
mixture &/or co-operation -

T^e six main nexuses were...

(1) Dominica in the Windward Islands where the Carib population, which was not
xterminated until 1814, mixed with the slaves of the entire Windward area becom-
ing the Black Caribs/see also BELOW (who were not attemptedly xterminated until
1795)
[This may not be quite accurate, but it is my impression that the Plantation, fol-
lowing the 'Law' of Cultural Monopoly & Purity (all five Continental Cultures
possess this 'natural' tendency, but it was not of especial consequence until the
Cultural Continents began to 'collide' from about 1450 with European Xploration
(200 yrs earlier the Chinese had undertaken Xploration but had stopped - in 1350
- no one knows why, at the Straits of Gibraltar - on the edge of the ?fatal Atlantic
20
But even before that some African & other navigators were probably also edg-
ing back the frontiers of the world But none of these cases seems to have resulted
in significant - certainly not in catastrophic - cultural collision (which might well
involve a major revision in the Law of Cultural Gravity cited above) But after 1450
European xploration, followed quickly by European xploitation (& this, we sus-
pect, is the Significant Variant) began a process of attempted ACCULTURATION in
which the xpansionist/aggressive culture developed MISSILIC capability whose
objective was to EAT (the 'ac' of 'acculturate') the target culture in order to convert
it (the target) to a colonial/dependent/submissive & bastard approximation (but
approximation ONLY) of the Man/Boss/Metropole
This period was = a period of considerable VIOLENCE as the would-be Master
Culture sought to convert the OTHER to its/his (the Master's) culture (& icons) and
of course the targets struggled to RESIST]
(2) Hispaniola - the whole geological island - both Santo Domingo & the Haitian
side; where on the crest between the two territories, the Black Mountains became the
headquarters for a very large Black Carib/Maroon group founded by CACIQUE
HENRI & reinforced by slaves from Diego Colon's estate after their 1522 revolt at a
place called Bahoruco (though the Haitian Maroons occupied crucial heights in the
NW of the island also & it is this Maroon complex which in the end becomes largely
responsible for the success of the Haitian Revolution - a sound that since we do not

Nanny, Palmares & tl?e Carilhean Maroon Connexion 127

even look at the Haitian Revolution, we hardly ever hear or recognize But the combi-
nation of slave revolt & maronage is v much there - as late as May 1785 for xample
the Bahoruco Maroons under Santiago were able to negotiate Peace Treaties with the
now v Developing Plantation . . . (This Black Mt group (& it is a complex not a
'group' as I've been saying & as we tend to say & think) xisted obviously from 'the
beginning' - from the Columbian Period right thru to 1804 - the time of Haitian
Independence. After that of course the Haitian Maroons (as happens w/ Maroon
communities worldwide) begin to 'dissolve' into the general population/tho Hai-
tian psychological maronage & its offshoots (vodoun, paysan, macoute and 'Haitian
art' etc) continue their enjambments into today - especially when/whenever there is
significant/?xcessive re-emergence/encroachment of Plantation . . . )
(3) Palmares (1599-1694) - the 98 year-old Black kilombo Republic in Bahia, Brazil -
the most dynamic, the most dramatic [perhaps - rather - the one most drama-
tized/romanticized by Portuguese modernismo & negrismo writers (see also the
utterly lovely film on Palmares, Adeusa negra by the Nigerian Ola Balogoun/but then
there has been nothing even near to comparable written or filmed about Haiti or
Dca or the Garifuna or Nanny/Accompong] w/ a lot of connexions w/ trade into
Venezuela and, some claim, across the Atlantic into Benin & Yoruba . . .
(4) The Jamaica Maroons: from the onset of the Spanish encomienda through Brit-
ish slavery right on/to native Independence (1962) to today (October 1991) - a pe-
riod of almost 500 years. During this time the Ja Maroons, anchored mainly on
their four main towns: Maroon, Trelawny, Accompong & Nanny (the last two
founded c!700?), like Maroon communities everywhere, maintained close & neces-
sary trade and social relations with the coasts (salt, arm, gunpowder, contraband,
selected manufactured goods (axe, machete, pots, buckets, pans, cloth, needles)
coins, news, women) & with the island's street corners, markets, estates, farms,
Army camps, ware & whorehouses from the very beginning of the colony & we
don't begin even to understand its xtent and nature - political military social eco-
nomic ideological solidarity with Cuba & Hispaniola. Gov Gregory to the Colonial
Office22 admits how the Spaniards in Cuba were 'acquainted with the Action [in Ja
Maroon country] before the News of it [reaches] the Govt at Sp Tn'; & there was
evidence on several occasions between 1730 & 1737 of alliances between the Wind-
23
ward Maroons & the Spaniards in Cuba & there was, as I say, most probably con-
tact between the Ja & Cuban Maroons who of all the Northern Caribbean groups
were perhaps most xtra/territorially active since of all Caribbean territories Cuba
(until the emergence of Plantation in the 1820s) was by far the wealthiest & most
'open' societies* with all non-white groups there having more 'leeway' than in
most other places*

*The Cuban palenques were mainly located in what becomes, in Cuba, a traditional Blk
stronghold, the Sierra Maestra Mts of the SE above Santiago de Cuba. The first record of a Maroon community in
there comes in the 1730s (Bumba's band). By 71740, for instance, Gallo's palenque had established links thru White
Cuban merchants for trade w/Hispaniola and Ja. The Cuban Maroons are not 'eradicated' until 1819/reflecting of
course the relatively slow chronological development of the monopolizing Plantation in Cuba

12.8 Maroon Heritage

(5) The Suriname/Guiana Maroons: by far the largest (c50,000 in 1980) & second
longest-surviving and still largely 'natural'* Maroon (Amerindian/Akan/Kik-
ongo) complex,24 situated over a huge riverain area xtending up to ?750 miles up-
river from the coast (Paramaribo) along the Coppename, Suriname, Saramacca,
Commewyne, Cottica, Marowyne, Lawa & Tapanahoni rivers of the NE Amazon,
consisting of a 'federation' (in 1980) of some 60,000 people: Njukka, Paramaka,
Aluku (aka Boni), Saramacca, Matawai, Kwinti w/ offshoot & 'descendants'
throughout the rain forest of the vast interior 'hinterland' (former Br Fr & Dutch
Guiana) w/ connexions (hence survival) w/Amerindian communities & cultures
throughout the Amazon & the south continent's Atlantic + Pacific coasts & into the
Maroon highlands of Venezuela-Honduras-Mexico

(6) The Garifuna (formerly Blk Carib) of Belize/Honduras. The 'youngest' of the
Caribbean/American Maroon groups, but only if you 'date' them from the time of
their xpulsion (1795) from St Vincent. This group, already AfricanAmerindian (Blk
Carib) in St Vincent, again interculturated w/ Amerindians along the Honduras
coast, developing a basically Amerindian 'cassava' + fishing culture based how-
ever on the drum & all that that implies of an African religious choreography &
orientation
The adoption of the name Garifuna - for generalized 'Blk Carib' - in the
early 70s - was/is a sign of a new consciousness & cultural militance among
certain, at least, Maroon groups, especially these 'younger' Garifuna. Note
again the sense of connexion: with St Vincent as Ancestral Home & ceremonies
of The Arrival (in C America) and with their physical & cultural survival very
much a matter of having successfully broken out of the Rattan Is/Mosquito
Shore 'prison' intended for them

6 tl?e, black carib

I would like finally & very briefly to take a look at the very remarkable but perhaps
most neglected of all Windward Is Maroon groups centred on the island of Domin-
ica - its Morne Negre redoubt ('founded' as early as clSOO) being regarded in some
quarters as the 'Palmares of the Caribbean' & certainly severely limiting in that
part of the world, French settlement (1690-1761) & British plantation development
after that date
*The Suriname Maroons were able to remain 'natural'for far longer than any other in the
Americas because of the size & inaccessibility of the terrain in which they lived. The story in Suriname was that
xpeditions them had to Climb 40 mountains Cross 60 rivers to 'reach' them. (Need we say therefore that they would
be insulted with a cognomen like 'Bush Negroes'?) In the 1960s Modernization decreed a Great Dam on the upper
reaches of the Suriname River, resulting (as in so many other places in the Developing World) in a Great Artificial
Lake that eventually dispossessed some 6,000 Saramacca & 1/3 of their ancestral land. Since then, in consequence, the
interior - as all over Disastrous Amazonia - is being 'opened up' with more & more Maroons being absorbed in to the
Labour Force

Nanny, Pafnwres & t^e Caribbean Maroon Connexion 119

 Mome Negre
I have not yet seen any significant account of the origin or 'genesis' of the Black
Mountain Dominicans (indeed research/commentary on this important Maroon
group is pretty well 'submerged' as you would xpect); but we know that as in all
the other (some later) Maroon cases, the 'movement' took advantage of a BREAK-
DOWN OF EURO POLITICAL/MILITARY AUTHORITY in this case with the British
conquest of the island from France in 1759 & the resulting & continuing 20 years of
instability with further conquests & reconquests (1762-1782). It is during this time
that the great Dean leaders appear: Congo Roy, Bulla, Zombie (Zambi), Jupiter,
Juba, Cicero, Hall, Mabouya, Jacko, Coree (?Goree), Sandy & Pharcell. And it was
only after 1782, when it was clear that it was British mercantilism that was in
charge in the area, that the Plantation undertook its war of xtermination > the
Morne Negre Maroons (1795) the Morne Fortune Maroons of St Lucia (1796/using
Black troops - the WI Regiment) when + 2000 were killed. The St Lucian Blk Caribs
were defeated that same year though the remnant 'Brigands' kept up the struggle
until **** & the Deans held out until I8l4w/their leader Quashie placing a reward -
DEAD OR ALIVE - on the British Governor's head; & up to 1793/95 the Morne Negre
& the Windward Maroon(s) were still regarded as a 'crossroads of the Caribbean'
with plenty 'traffic' through the area in arms ideas & freedom fighters: Victor
Hughes, Fedon, Daaga, the Brigands War of St Lucia, the French Revolution, the
effect of Haiti, Civil Rights (for the Free Col) etc etc

T^e fifflcfe Carib of St Vincent & t(?e Grenadines

It is said that the St Vincent Black Carib came about after a slaveship shipwreck
off/on ?Bequia; this core being reinforced over time by Bajan runaways, who must
have found the many scattered islets & cays of the Grenadines a ?perfect salvation
from their Full Plantation Bajan Hell especially after the abortive slave revolts of
1675 (King Kofi) & 1692 & the resulting Plantation reprisals
Because of the proximity of so many islands & the still xtant Amerindian tradi-
tion of movement & trading within these islands, there had developed within their
Maroon people (African, Amerindian, AfricanAmerindian/Blk Carib) therefore,
not only considerable resistance to the Plantation (as we have already noted/so
that in Dominica & to a lesser but significant degree in Grenada St Vincent St Lucia
& perhaps Guadeloupe) Plantation development was considerably inhibited -
Dominica becoming an Undeveloped Plantation, the rest either Partial or Declin-
ing - & because of maritime maronage & the continuing co-operation between the
islands - a 'cooperation' xtending as far south as Barbados (90 miles away) & north
into the Leewards the Virgins Puerto Rico there was enough build-up of people
and alterPlantation resources especially in the Headquarters islands of Dominica
& St Vincent, for White Settlement & its Programme to feel so threatened/so
uncomfortable that they were forced into a final confrontation with Maronage
The final war > Dominica although 'underway' since 1795/96, again with the
help of the Black WI Regiment, did not really escalate until 1802 after, in fact, a

130 Maroon Heritage

 mutiny in the Black Regiment (This mutiny - & there were others throughout
the Caribbean wherever detachments of the WIR were stationed - was another
aspect of the new 'Race Problem' initiated by changes in European needs & psy-
chology triggered by the Industrial Revolution (see below)
And one gets the impression that the final destruction of Maroon opposition
not only to Plantation but, it was being perceived, to Br Imperialism & the new
Industrial Mercantilism linked as it now was to a new sense of Race & Culture
'purity' (certainly Superiority) had become (to the Whites) urgently necessary
RIGHT THEN -
(and don't forget that it was at this same time that Toussaint Legba Louverture & his
family had been kidnapped to France where he was about to die of cold loneliness defeat
apoplexy & a sense of betrayal in White Justice & Culture he had himself 'joined' in an
act of betrayal to his own native Maroon & vodoun connexions & Napoleon-Leclerc-Ro-
chambeau were undertaking their own 35,000 troop-strong War of Xtermination > the
Haitian Revolution and Maroons)
But these 1795/96 + Windward wars against the Maroons were not 'simply' or
'only' Plantation efforts to removeeradicate or xpell Maroons. 1795/96 was also the
Maroon Wars of the French Revolution & the European Wars of the Haitian Revo-
lution. But this period marks also a far more significant & far-reaching water-
shed (if you can have a 'far-reaching watershed'/but you know what I mean) in
'world' psychology since we are now face to face with the Industrial Crisis of/in
the Plantation System

7 marona0e & tt?e industrial revolution

The English (1640), American (1776) & the French (1789) Revolution had all in
their different ways signalled the presence of a new economic procedure &
world-view within European or, if you like, Euro-American mercantilism, in
which mass production, resulting from fuel-consuming locomotive machinery,
was replacing the medieval cottage industries of the past 400 years. In this new
dispensation, labour would have to be used in a different way from the feudal;
& money, markets, trade & investment would now have to be conceived & con-
structed on a global rather than on a protected national scale with colonies,
which is where Europe had reached when the American(s) xploded in 1776.
The challenge of all the new political revolutions was that they would success-
fully permit the emergence of a new entrepreneurial class that would be able to
make this new Industrial vision a reality
It so happened that the Plantation System & its accompanying system of
slavery had been all along a precursor of Industrialism but its drawbacks were
that it was welded into the old protected nation-state mercantilism & therefore
could not reach out to world markets & investment; its (slave) labour system
was slow xpensive conservative & sluggish & therefore could in no way meet
the demands of the new science & technology that the use of fuel-dependent
locomotive machinery required. Above all it was being recognized that a

Nanny, Valmares & t^e Carkhtan Maroon Connexion 131

slave/nonindustrial world could not be/come a consumer world since there-
was no or little money among the 'teeming populations' of the oppressed - and
it was their very teemingness that attracted both those thirsty for new cheap
labour but moreso those attracted to the prospect of gullible & captive consum-
ers by the millions with new fuels & new convertible raw materials under their
soils if not under their control

EtwmcijMioH (i)
Slavery therefore had to go but even more so maronage, since maronage (& the Hai-
tian Revolution was making this more than clear) was an intransigent alternative
which might be as resistant to the new & still untried Industrial dispensation as it
had been to the Plantation. For one thing, maronage was ideologically based on the
notions of self-sufficiency & cultural autonomy. The new Industrial Revolution
had its mind set on advertising-induced artificial wants, credit dependence, debt
slavery & it had to have time & space (but not too much) to convince the "teeming
populations" (later "the striving masses" etc) of this. All the more reason why
physical & with it ideological maronage had now to be removed - wherever in the
target world it was to be found.
To achieve this, a great new subtle (& sometimes not so subtle) cybernetic cam-
paign was set in train under the guise or vehicle or opportunity of SP colonialism
the first stage of which, as it had been under the Conquistadores (how things change
& yet as they say remain the same!) was the brutal frontal destruction of any physical
or psycho-physical (i.e. cultural) opposition encountered - as was being encoun-
tered in the Caribbean most awesomely in Haiti. Hence the attack on 'Accom-
pong', the assault on Dominica, St Vincent, St Lucia & the conversion of what used
to be medievally 'courteous' warfare (with parleys Peace Treaties protocols
etc/Nanny not just Nobody xecuting the poor Laird of ?Lanceret; the grant of land
to Nanny for being a Noble Opponent(?) into race wars - confrontations of physi-
cal & cultural xtermination (the North Americans in North America, the British in
Australasia & the Pacific & in the Maroon Caribbean, Napoleon in Santo Dom-
ingo/his plan to eradicate all the leaders of the Revolution & their families, sup-
porters & friends/before Jean-Jacques Dessalines got the measure of him)

8 (?) ^termination (?)

In other words EuroAmerican culture was saying that to realize its new Industrial
world-dream, it could no longer tolerate a successful alternative and that this
group of people - Carib, Black Carib, Maroon, etc - would have to go. The Britis
sent 17,000 troops into the Windward Is. to do that in 1795. And Le Clerc, Napo-
leon's brother-in-law, brought an armada of some 30 ships & at least 30,000 troops
into Haiti to do just that. So was no joke. They definitely had a plan; and when it did
not work - could not work because of successfullly sustained resistance based, as I main-
tain, essentially on community-based cultural resources + mutinies within the European

131 Maroon Heritage

forces - a policy of xile & xpulsion was then resorted to & you have the movement
of St Vincent Maroons into Belize, Honduras & the Mosquito coast; & the move-
ment of the militant 7250 Trinidad & Tobago Maroons into Nova Scotia/hoping to
kill them off by cold but their successful counterattack in getting themselves
28
repatriated to Sierra Leone in 1800.

Emancipation (2.)
Emancipation, in this context then, would have to be seen as an emancipation of
the buttocks in that submerged people were at last given the opportunity to be-
come not their private ?special parts, but themselves; an emancipation which had
itself come about, in significant part, through an alliance between successful
maronage & the principles that the slave populations had absorbed from the Ma-
roons. But after 1814 & the end of the 'wars of xtermination' > the Maroons, the
onus, the burden of physical & cultural resistance to the mercantilist Plantation
was now placed upon the slaves, rather than on what was now the Maroon rem-
nant. So that after 1814 you have these wars of liberation coming out of the Plan-
tation And coming successfully out of the plantation because the slaves were now
having - were willing - to learn more & more from the Maroon Xperience. They
were therefore fighting their wars, not on classical European confrontational pat-
terns, but on a guerrilla choreography suitable to their resources. And they were
more & more calling upon their nativeAfrican (creole) resources which were
being funnelled to them via the persisting presence of maronage & the memory &
xample of successful resistance symbolized in the achievement & reality of
QueenMother GrandeeNanny Ohemmaa of the Jamaica Maroons.

9 veritiian
for GrandeeNanny

high up in this littered world of rock, stone

yucca bush bamboo trash narrow

defiles where there are no sweet painted trees

wind we know always sharp slant sleet howl but warm

as your lips & gentle as a mother with her baby cheek
to cheek misty mornings high noons spectacular sunsets

at the bottom of this high world high above it all we draw

the lion picket our stand and make our testament
boy girl woman warrior elder statesman gunsmith technician food
engineer shamir shama shaman we are all gathered here
guerrilla camouflage flack, jacket

Nanny, Valmares & t^e Caribbean Maroon Connexion 133

 ambuscade thorny stockade, we smell
our cooking & our evening
smoke, the little ones collect
the firewood, i feel

the fire flickering my back, even from five hundred paces

in this hammock
everything looks inwards to this centre
we are not taken lightly in our cups
or in our sleeping bags shocked by surprise
the sentinels along our lifeline ledge of echoes

come down the hill at sunrise w/ eyes that read the dark
ml 6s that are not
crutches
though we might hold them o so casual against our sides

we have been visited by goddesses & loan sharks from across the
water, from lome and from abidjan
we make the same blue cloth they make we mix our mortar

similar, our tongues are always rough and bark like theirs
from the same bissi
when children suck their fingers after we have weaned them
from their mother's best breast suppligen
we paint the same green aloes on their slimy biscuit finger
tips & wonder if they ever going to learn there's mullet shrimp
& janga in the rivers & ganja in the harvest valley villages
& gungo peas behind the pissitoires

& yet today the hawks on their warm rising roundabouts

look like dark sorrows, for the portuguese
have beaten us at last at their own game
surrounded us . camped hard all year against us . caius
revved rockets up into the very kidneys of our cooking pots
beguiled the younger female fauns w/ foolish fans & beauty
contestants . have taught them how to shave midden hair & brave
ly bear a bene buonorott' bikini sheer & mare & tender
lion & how i gonna bring you in an early morning breakfast plate a
fruit

tourists let inwards by the sweeper at the marketgate

rush in & shoot us with their latest nikkon liekas & many of our men
are lured away to work at chipping ice in sin

134 Maroon Heritage

 cinnati cutting the canal at Christopher
columbus place in panama to scraping braille off battleships'
blind grey green water under
bellies: vieques portobello bahia choc O
black cat nanny nanahemmaa do not desert us now don't let the
harmattan come riding high in here sieve sand through

runagate
runagate
runagate

look how our villages are grown up tall

into this hooting strangled city
tales of another leader
lost
solares . bolivare . palanquin
washed away w/time & frogs & river & the mud & accompong

runagate
runagate
runagate

Notes
1 Carey Robinson (1969) The Fighting Maroons of Jamaica (Kingston); Mavis Campbell
(1988) The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796 ( Trenton: Africa World Press); K. Brathwaite
(1977) Wars of Respect (Kingston: Jamaica Information Services)
2 Kamau Brathwaite (1977) Wars of Respect, a publication by the Jamaica Information
Services (JIS) at that time called API/Agency for Public Information, is a record of
my research on Nanny and Sam Sharpe, Jamaica Rebell Heroes. It contains all the
research on Nanny, xplodes all the myths on her & is out of print & perhaps I can use a
few of my minutes to plug the History Department or some other interested agency or
organization - perhaps the Maroons themselves? - to see about a reprinting of i t . . .
3 H T Thomas (1890) Untrodden Jamaica (Kingston). H T Thomas may have been a British
policeman. More research needs to be done in this area
4 Ibid
5 Philip Thicknesse (1788) Memiors & Anecdotes. 3 vols. (London) Vol 1,121
6 Brathwaite, op cit. Some random examples of uncritical accounts: J J Williams (1938 /
p.389, citing Col Rowe of Accompong); Barbara Kopytoff (1973/p.97 citing, believe it
or not, Rattray (1923) and Busia (1951); Col Harris of Moore Town in a BBC broadcast
Oct 1975; Michael Craton (1982), Mavis Campbell (1988/p.51) - a Maroon or of Maroon
descent and of course herself a woman

Nanny/ Palmms & tl?e Caribbean Maroon Connexion 135

7 M Craton, Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1982), 81
8 "The inhabitants of Titchfield near Port Antonio being by these proceedings deprived of
all hope of making the people a farther property and of growing rich by the ruin of their
country are now become desperate, and having broke out into flames of sedition, and
have without any reason renounced the aid and support of the Government, and by a let-
ter dated the 27th day of September last from that town applied to Sir Chaloner Ogle [the
Br Admiral] for his assistance and have offered to put themselves under his protection;
and to support their pretended complaints have therein falsely given it to him as a rea-
son, that they had no xpectation of having any assistance from me, and that I had openly
declared my intentions of giving up that place, which can have no other con-struction
than that I had intended to give up Titchfield to the rebells ...' [CSP 1734,345, p250:
[Gov] Ayscough to Newcastle, Sp Tn 21 Oct 1734/ref the electors of Titchfield]
9 See E K Brathwaite, "Kumina: the Spirit of African Survival in Jamaica", Jamaica Journal
42 (1978): 50
10 See R S Rattray, Ashanti (1923,1955 edition) 81n
11 Thomas, op cit
12 Today (July 1994) though there is no statue - as far as I know - there is now an icon of
her no matter that few will see or "hold" it on a Jamaica five hundred dollar note - (ed)
13 As the person responsible for the Research, I was invited early on the morning of ********
when the citation, which I was also asked to write, was to be read at Bump Grave, Moore
Tn (we went there, I remember, by JDF smallaircraft. Mrs ************, the then Minister of
************** (who actually read the citation) & myself & perhaps a few others) where we
were met by a few Moore Tn Maroon leaders. It was a short, quiet, beautiful & moving
ceremony, in a quiet & beautiful & 'historic' setting normally visited by a v few people,
but I recall that there seemed to be no persons of the Press or other Recorders present & I
don't remember seeing any photos being taken or seeing any afterwards or reading or
hearing of any Report on the occasion though of course there must/might (should) have
been. All I know, to my everlasting regret & archivalist shame, is that in the hurry to
have the Citation ready for the Minister on time, I was not able to make or secure a copy
of it, but not to worry, I assumed that a few days - if not before! - the words I had writ-
ten & she had read would have been on every esp schoolgirls' lip(s) & engraved on every
Jamaican (woman)'s heart. But guess what! That moving Bump Grave Ceremony has
been as suppressed & submerged as the Research itself, as GrandeeNanny herself - and -
by xtension - as the achievement of Africans of the Diaspora in the Caribbean/Americas
14 JAJ 3 (1733): 121
15 Maroon peace treaties (list in progress)
1546 SD/First Bahoruco Treaty
1599 Palmares Treaty acknowledging the Republic & its Independence
1684 Suriname
1739 Jamaican Maroons (Cudjoe)
1740 Jamaican Maroons (Nanny)
1750 Suriname (following the ZamZam slave revolt)
1760s Suriname
1790s Suriname
1785 SD/Santiago's Treaty
1810 Mexico. Treaty with Maroons as part of Emancipation deal

136 Maroon Heritage

16 Hence the importance of cultural icons [my Hunter College Talk/NY 11 March 92].
I went to the Curator or Supervisor or whoever at the PRO/ then still in the heart of
London (don't think it had yet been transferred to Kew Gardens - at least not yet our
CO/137 section) & he saw with me what/how this would have come about though, as I
say, it could also have been (more) deliberate, especially when we bring our iconography
to bare ... for xample... the Br mode of execution is/was traditionally to 'put to death by
hanging' (or for v Specials by beheading) The Asante/Maroon mode was to 'put to death
by knifing' - which is perhaps why Nanny wore all those knives about her like a girdle -
as Thicknesse in fact probably witnessed on a different occasion: 'The old hagg, who
passed sentence of death upon [the] unfortunate [Laird of ?Lanceret] had a girdle round
her waste, with (I speak within compas(s) nine or ten different knives hanging in sheaths to
i t . . . ' (Thicknesse loc cit/p!21)
17 The LAND PATENT TO NANNY (pRO/Patents Vol 22. Folio 15B) witnessed & signed 23 Dec
1740 & entered 20th April 1741/reproduced in Brathwaite, Wars of Respect/pp 49-52
18 See the most recent arguments by Mavis Campbell (1988, loc cit) who holds the view that
the Nanny being referred to was 'another Nanny' (I found the same problem with the
other freedom fighter, Sam Sharpe. I 'investigated' at this time. If you take the Records
too 'seriously' you could end up with several Sam Sharpes - all designed of course to
CRIPPLE & OBSCURE THE ACHIEVEMENT) And there were the people in Jamaica & England
around this same time [the period of Nanny's 'elevation' (1977)] who started writing let-
ters to the papers saying that Nanny (& Anancy/Ananse, too) was really a kind of - well
- nanny, whose name might have been Nancy, seen?) So that the whole thing started to
go round & round in little widening circles again: that this parcel of land which we
thought had been granted to GrandeeNanny in recognition of her Honourable Opposi-
tion/her Valiant Warriorship (resulting of course in the PEACE TREATY) could really have
been intended for some faithful Nancyperson who had done oddjobs for the Plantation

Some time in the early/mid80s, I rec'd a note from Arnie Sio, Prof of Hist at Colgate
and a Caribbean slave society colleague and friend from way back, saying that he had
come across a ref in I think the JAJ of the 1840s, to a (female) descendant of Nanny
living, I think, in Nova Scotia. Prof Soi's invaluable note, like so many other things of
mine, was mired up in the mud and water that Hurricane Gilbert brought to my home
& archives at Irish Tn in 1988 - it has even been difficult to prepare this paper since most
if not all of my research material on maronage has gone the way of so much else up there
- see my unheeded document HELP (1988/89) - & when I got back to Arnie soon after Gil-
bert, he confessed that he too had probably lost or 'too mislaid' the ref - though of course
is something that any serious or ambitious research asst could track down esp since the
needle is probably in the hay-stack of the JAJ ...
19 We are only now just beginning to get towards this with the work of Richard and Sally
Price (Maroon Societies (1973) & beyond, Hurault (1970), the book on Suriname by those
Black Americans; Fouchard (1972) of course (although his work is one of those clearly &
consciously neglected & submerged) & (of the contemporary a/cs) Stedman's quite re-
markable Narrative and Journal ('soldier & author' 1744-1797) of his life among the re-
volted negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America, from the
year 1772 to 1777 (1796) See also the novel Black Albino (1961) & the art work of Namba
Roy, the Ja Maroon who lived in London "' & The View from Coyaba (1985), the novel
by the brilliant Azanian writer, Peter Abrahams, who has lived in Jamaica since "" The
celebration & respect for women, well started by some of our (male) novelists, is now
safely in the visionary 'hands' of our female novelists, some singers & songwriters (some
- both male & female here - still 'controversial') & wonderfully perhaps above all, in the
style & power of our actresses. The title of Wars of Respect carries a resonance to the song,
'Respect', by Aretha Franklin

Nanny, Pafmares & tlje Caribbean Maroon Connexion 137

20 See for instance van Sertima's They Came before Columbus (1990); also Agorsah, this
volume (chap. 11)
21 See Fouchard Les Matrons de la liberte (1972)
22 CO 137/21 £9
23 Brathwaite, Wars of Respect, op cit fn22
24 The formation of the group dates to about 1650; the island Maroon groups probably
started earlier
25 The 'story' of maritime maronage (numbers involved, transportation, how navigated,
the whole management of it) has still to be looked into & 'told', though a start has
been made by the Bajan historian Hilary Beckles for the Bajan period of 'high maritime
maronage', 1660-1720 - i.e. during the first xperimental years of Barbados' rapidly devel-
oping Plantation system
(One suspects that after 1720 w/ their Full Plantation just about fully developed, the
Bajan Authorities tightened up effectively on their maroons of all sorts - but this also
we'd like to know about)
What has to be assumed, however, is that (the pattern is the same today) after
havening in Bequai & the islands for some time, the Bajan and no doubt other island
maritimes made their way onto the larger islands of the Windward archipelago (St
Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, Martinique & Guadeloupe) where, over time, there
'occurred' the emergence of the Blk Caribs - the details of which would reveal much
about cultural action & reaction among different cultures/people faced w/ at least a
common predicament
26 The first confrontation in St Vincent against Chatoyer's Maroons at Morne Yarou came
in 1765-73 followed by a Peace which lasted for 25 yrs (1770-95/when it was broken by
the British beginning their ?final War of Xtermination with/> St Lucia (1700 British
troops) - and in St Vincent a progrom which resulted in the xpulsion of the 5000
survivors to Rattan Is & Honduras & the Mosquito Coast where after further 'inter-rela-
tionship' with their new 'hosts', they 'emerge' as the Garifuna of the Great Barrier Reef
Coast (It is said that the ?few Blk Caribs who had eluded the Plantation &/or remained
on as last-ditch guerrillas, were destroyed in the Soufriere volcano eruption of 1812 ...)
271 find Black Regiment mutinies in Dominica (1802), Tobago (1805), Trinidad (1805), Suri-
name (1809), Jamaica (1809), & there may well have been others
28 Mavis Campbell, loc cit, has promised us a study of this little known development which
has introduced an African Caribbean Creole culture into Sierra Leone ...

138 MarooM Heritage

 nine

Characteristics of Maroon Music

from Jamaica and Suriname
Marjorie Whylie and Maureen Warner-Lewis

Introduction

Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some of the enslaved Africans
managed to escape from the plantations into the forested highlands of Jamaica and
the jungles and riversides in the interior of the Dutch South American colony of
Suriname. Maroon communities were composed of Africans from a large number
of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, and were people who had been slaves for
varying periods of time. Some are referred to as having been taken to the Americas
from "Koromantee" in the Gold Coast from where, between 1700-1725, about 17%
of the Suriname slaves were derived. This figure rose to 29% by 1735. From the
Slave Coast and Dahomey came 64% by 1700, 50% by 1725, 33% within the ten
years that followed—this figure dropping off to 1% by the close of the eighteenth
century. From the Loango/Angola area came 34% in the 1650s, 33% around 1725-
35, and 24% between 1735-95. As regards Jamaica, half of the seventeenth century
slaves were drawn from "among the Akan and Ga-Adangme peoples of the coastal
strip" of present-day Ghana. 40% were from Angola, 30% were Ewe-Fon from the
Slave Coast and Dahomey. However, between "1792 and 1807 approximately 83
per cent... came from the Bight of Biafra (Ibo) and Central Africa (Congo), com-
pared to 46% over the entire history of the slave trade to Jamaica."
It is only natural, then, that several generalized features of activity in Maroon
life show African connections. These include music, dance, and other art, craft, and

Characteristics of Maroon Music 139

artistic expressions. This heterogeneous yet structurally and functionally similar
heritage underlying the music of Jamaican and Surinamese Maroons provides
clear examples of the life-sustaining element of African cultural traditions in the
West Atlantic. The transformations wrought to this heritage were produced by in-
ter-African syntheses and attritrion as well as by the contact of African musical
styles with those of Europe and the Americas.
Based on a fairly small sample, this chapter discusses some of the main features of
Maroon music of both Jamaica and Suriname, locations at virtually two extremes of
the Caribbean archipelago. The musical corpus comprises Kenneth Bilby's Music of
the Maroons of Jamaica (Ethnic Folkways Records FE 4027,1981), and a series of tape
recordings made by Surinamese musicologist, Terry Agerkop, of mainly Juka music,
though occasional reference will be made to a smaller sample of Saramaka songs and
drumming. However, for these Suriname examples we have no accompanying notes
with regard to instrumentation and function.3 It should be explained here that the
Juka (Djuka) constitute only one of several clans of Maroons in Suriname. But com-
parison of aspects of the musical culture of Jamaican and Surinamese Maroons pro-
vides clear examples of sustained African cultural traditions in the West Atlantic.
Furthermore, analysis of the music of these two separate Maroon locations reveals
many striking similarities, so much so that it is difficult to distinguish the two tradi-
tions in their styles of both singing and drumming.

Singing Style
The melodic structure of both the Juka songs and Jamaican Maroon jawbone (rit-
ual) songs follows the natural minor scale such as shown in Fig. la. But there is a
tendency for the singer to pause on a note which is not the tonal centre of the scale.
That gives the impression that the melodic phrase remains in suspension, and the
melody is not resolved, or never comes to its rest or natural centre until the very
end of the performance.

Fig. la

Also both traditions exhibit use of both large and small scales. The large scale
in this case is the diatonic and carries eight notes comprising heptatones plus
the octave as the eighth note. A small scale carrying four tones is called a tetra-
tonic scale; a scale of five tones is pentatonic. It is unusual for one community to
utilize both large and small scales in its vocal repertoire, and the fact that both
Juka and Jamaican communities do so is evidence of their syncretic nature, that
is, that they represent an amalgamation of differing African peoples, with vary-
ing musical traditions. The fact that in the Jamaican case some types of rhythms

140 Maroon Heritage

are called Madinga, or Ibo, and others Kramanti and Prapra (Popo), confirms the
idea that Maroon communities on the island represented a synthesis of African
ethnic groups.
The tetratonic scale in both communities comprises a 1st, 3rd, and 5th in addi-
tion to the 8th on the diatonic scale. But the Surinamese songs may also be described
as utilizing the pentatonic scale since a 4th tends to occur rather unexpectedly at
times, and only when the melodic line is descending. This 4th is not a passing note;
rather it occurs on strong beats of the bar. The scale of these songs, therefore,
follows the pattern in Fig. Ib.

Fig. Ib
While the Jamaican songs in our sample contain both diatonic natural minor
scales and pentatonic scales, most are diatonic. This may signal the predominance
of an African tradition or an African sub-cultural music which emphasizes the
diatonic natural minor scale (Fig. Ic). In both, song structure is characterized by a
call and response format. In fact, one of the Juka songs presents an interesting in-
terplay between the lead and the chorus, in that the male lead punctuates the song
with two staccato calls (Gi gi) and then goes on to sing the first of the two lines that
form the response, while the choral ensemble of female voices sings both the first
and second lines, so that the effect is of overlapping alternation rather than the dis-
crete segmentation found in most antiphonies (Fig. 2a).

Fig. Ic

Fig. 2a

characteristics of Maroon Music 141

 Both Maroon traditions use sustained notes at the end of the melodic phrase.
In some of the Surinamese songs, the lead singers employ a tremulo on this
sustained note.6 This wavering note produced by glottal constriction is called
te erne by the Juka and is a distinctive feature of their singing style, in contrast with
that of the Saramaka who do not employ this technique. The samples of Jamaica
Maroon singing here similarly lack this feature. Apart from the tremulo, a trill
appears to characterize the melodic curve as it begins its descent (Fig. 2b).

Fig.2b

The singing style among both Jamaican and Surinamese groups is basically
open-throated and nasal, with nasality and high pitch being more pronounced
in the Jamaican examples of female singing. In Jamaica, female singing is more
in evidence among the eastern Maroons, even when a male takes the lead role,
whereas male singing typifies both call and choral sections of the Maroon ensemble
in western Jamaica. Choral singing in Jamaica and in Suriname is performed,
not in harmony, but by means of parallel unison or organum in which the singers
find their own pitch level and sing at octaves apart. This type of unison is typi-
cal of West African music on account of the tonal contours of languages there.
All the Juka songs in this limited sample are metric, with the pulse being un-
derscored by muted shaka or by loud percussion with a muffled resonance.
These may be handclaps of the type which forms the exclusive accompaniment
Q

of a Saramaka music called sekiti, or it may issue from sticks hit against drum-
sides or upon a wood instrument or benches and, in fact, somewhat in the man-
ner of the two-jointed bamboo kwaat (anglicized as "quart") used by the Scott's
Hall Maroons, though the kwaat produces a sharper sound. In Suriname "any
two pieces of wood at hand" may be used to produce this sound, but it may also Q

be "a flat board of resounding wood . . . beaten with a hand paddle". But
among urban Maroons the "kzvakwa . . . is a low bench with a hardwood top,
beaten with two sticks by a player who squats beside it facing the players".
This instrumentation recalls the Jamaican kata and Cuban katd, two sticks
knocked against drum sides by a player positioned in front a drum being
played by another. Some of the Juka singing is accompanied by drums, and
some by shakas, and it is noticeable that the shaka in this instance sounds on the
beat. When used among the Scott's Hall Maroons, however, it is seldom simply
metronomic, but is rhythmically more varied.
The Jamaican collection also offers examples of non-metric chanting (Fig. 2c).

Fig. 2c

142. Maroon Heritage

 This type of music is called Kmmanti, and is by its form either declamatory or in-
vocational. Statements are chanted to the punctuating accompaniment of drum
flourishes and rolls which relate more to the verbal phrasing than to regularity of
metre. This format accords with the traditional African introit to ritual ceremony—
that of an opening declamation which carries instrumental support (Fig. 3a).11

Fig. 3a

In the selection (Fig. 3b) from Scott's Hall, Jamaica, the lead singer maintains a
vestige of the tremulo heard in the Juka singing. A comparable invocation (Fig. 4a)
occurs in the Juka collection, but here the instrumentation is not only muted but
also metric.

Fig. 3b

Fig.4a

Characteristics of Maroon Music 143

Drumming Style
The instruments heard in the limited Jamaican samples are, in the case of
Moore Town, two drums called printing, Scott's Hall the grandy and gumbe,
and Accompong a bass drum, two side drums and gumbe. In all instances, the
drums bear a male-female relationship, the female being the lead instrument or
"cutter", imparting to each rhythm complex its recognizable characteristic
features.
An in-depth examination of the recorded Jamaican samples shows two
distinct functions of drums in the ritual setting:
• non-metric patterns appear as (a) drum language mirroring the tone
and rhythm of speech, and (b) "rolls" or vibratory passages inviting or
acknowledging the presence of ancestral spirits or deities (Fig. 4b):12

Fig. 4b
rhythmic phrases are broken into equal numbers of segments within the
time span, the pulse structure in the grouping of notes showing regular
divisions of differing density (Fig. 4c):

Fig. 4c

It should be noted also that the apparently preferred metre is duple and its
divisions into quadruple. In an initial observation of the sample from Suriname and
comparison with the example from Jamaica, two clear differences appear. The
rhythm structures found in Jamaica's Moore Town, Scott's Hall and Accompong
are more densely textured, both in sub-divisions of the beat and in numbers of
instruments played. Each group breaks away from regular division, that is,
multiples of two, in different ways—syncopation appearing in Jamaica and triplets
in Suriname (Fig. 5a).

144 Maroon Heritage

 Fig. 5a

Special mention should be made of the instrumentation of Accompong. In the

case of the Maroons of eastern Jamaica, the male-female relationship is clear in the
cylindrical printing of Moore Town, the male as the "roller" and the female the
"cutter"; in Charles Town and Scott's Hall, the grandy, a cylindrical instrument,
maintains the time line—a male function—and thegumbe is the "cutter". In Accom-
pong in western Jamaica, however, a military type double-headed bass drum and
two side drums to which snares are affixed, produce a density of sound not typical
in ostinati patterns, creating an interesting rhythm bass above which the lead
instrument—thegumbe—cuts (Fig. 5b).

Fig.Sb

Although attention has been directed solely at drums in the sample, there was
some evidence of body percussion and shakas and other percussion of secondary
importance. The following up-tempo processional from Accompong, Jamaica, by
its language, tempo, and Euro-African drum rhythms (Fig. 5c), points the way
toward Jamaican mento and Trinidad calypso. It illustrates how African rhythms
and melodic curves transmute into later Caribbean types of music, while at the
same time the vocal timbre and unison singing style exemplifies many of the
techniques already described.

Fig. 5c

Characteristics of Maroon Music 145

 As in many parts of Africa, Maroons identify drums not only by their form but
also by the role they play in particular types of performance. For example, the
apinti is so called when played alone as a talking drum, like the Ewe vuga or Akan
atumpan. But when it takes "a specialized rhythmic role in the drum choirs which
accompany women's bandammba dancing and rites to warrior gods and forest
spirits", it is called tumau.
Though the Yoruba had a type of drum called apinti, the word appears
cognate with the Jamaican Maroon printing, a term in all likelihood derived
from Akan drum names like apentemma and aprenteng .u Certainly, some of
its Surinamese and Jamaican functions overlap. The Jamaican Moore Town
Maroons communicate not only with the side-blown cow horn called by the Twi
term abeng, but also with the Kromanti drums (printing). During wars both tonal
instruments, the abeng and the printing, "were used for strategic purposes".
However, in the twentieth century drum language is retained for the beginning
of religious ceremonies "to invite Maroons from the surrounding area to partici-
pate". But drum language is said to have several other applications", among
them "invocation and communication with the spirits of ancestors . . . The drum
'language' is kept a strict secret . . . only a few older Maroons understand a
significant amount. And the really "deep" knowledge is restricted to a few
specialists (printing-man)".1
In Suriname the apinti is a talking drum used at major Maroon council meet-
ings and at certain important rituals. As a kind of town crier at certain commu-
nity functions, its rhythms officially open proceedings, summoning and
greeting gods, ancestors, spirits, and public officials; it is also used to comment
on current and past events as with the drum histories of the Volta, Ascend, and
northern areas of Ghana, and in many parts of Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, Benin
(Dahomey), and Togo. A popular proverb played on the apinti translates as:
"smoke has no feet but makes its way to heaven". The proverb explains the powerful
qualities of the ancestral spirits through whom all supplications are made. As
in many parts of West Africa, the ability to select proverbs appropriate to
particular issues and situations is seen as one of the most important skills of a
Suriname apinti player.
Among the Juka, the 6 to 8 foot cylindrical agida is the bass drum which, "with
its low note, dominates the battery with a steady beat. With the kwakwa ... this beat
sets the basic rhythm of the more complicated notes played by the drums of higher
pitch".17 The latter are the nanda and the small babula. However, in comparison
with Jamaican Maroon drumming, the pitch relationship between the secondary
and lead drums of the Juka is much closer. At Accompong the bass is a two-headed
drum beaten with a stick; in Moore Town one of the two kramanti drums is tuned
quite low, whereas at Scott's Hall the bass is somewhat less resonant because the
metronomic beat is kept by the kwaat. However, the texture of the two drumming
styles is similar, so is the tonal relationship of the notes; and the Juka rhythms, like
those at Moore Town in Jamaica, subdivide into duple and quadruple beats with
regularly recurring patterns of syncopation.

146 MarooM Heritage

 Another rhythmic pattern in the sample begins, as at Moore Town, with eighth
notes (quavers) alternating with two-sixteenth notes (semi-quavers), the accent
falling on the eighth note, but then the rhythm diverges into a pattern reminiscent
of the AccomponggMW&e in the way the beat is subdivided. In this case the rhythm
breaks into dotted eighth notes with a sixteenth note, then sixteenth notes followed
by a rest.
The Juka drumming begins with sequences of tonal invocation, and sub-
sequently the same drum sets the metronomic beat. The lead drum then joins in.
Shakas later take up a steady straight-line pulse. This streamlined shaka rhythm is
unusual in Jamaica and it is noteworthy that in the Saramaka sample the shakas
provide a denser rhythmic pattern than among the Juka.

Conclusion

From the perspective of the "cultural" or "social" historian, features of music help
explain the formation, survival strategies, and transformations within a society.
They also mirror cultural and aesthetic variations between peoples. So while simi-
larities in musical style unite Maroons within Jamaica and within Suriname, and
correspondences unite Maroon music across the two geographical locations, differ-
ences do exist—even between the musics of Maroons within the same territorial
unit. At the same time, the stylistic elements and changes in Maroon musics pro-
vide unique examples of the trajectory along which Caribbean music would have
evolved had Maroon communities been the norm rather than the exception in the
postColumbian era. In the hostile yet syncretic encounter between Africans, Euro-
peans, and indigenous Americans, the creolizing factor dictated by European po-
litical and economic dominance would have been the more recessive gene in the
American amalgam.

Notes

1 Sally Price and Richard Price, Afro-American Arts of the Suriname Rain Foresst (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1980), 195.
2 Barry Higman, Slave Population and Economy of Jamaica, 1807-1834 (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1976), 76.
3 We acknowledge the generosity of Terry Agerkop of the Fundacion de Etnomusicologia
y Folklore (FUNDEF) in Caracas who made copies of Juka music recordings available to
Maureen Warner-Lewis.
4 Among such clans are the Saramaka, Paramaka, Juka (Djuka), Boni or Aluku, Matawai
and Kwinti. Their populations are as follows: Juka and Saramaka, 15,000 -20,000 each;
Aluku, Paramaka and Matawai 1,000 each, and Kwinti 500. The main town, Paramaribo,

Characteristics of Maroon Music 147

 continues to attract large numbers of people from each area and this may have implica-
tions for the figures. See Richard Price, ed., Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in
the Americas (New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1973), 295.
5 On the other hand, Samule Akpabot, Foundations of Nigerian Traditional Music (Ibadan:
Spectrum Books, 1986), 81, points out that generally Nigerian music uses the pentatonic
scale in instrumental music and the heptatonic in song, although the fusion of the two
scales does occur in certain cases.
6 This technique, called gonde in Trinidad, has traditionally been used in Trinidad's stick-
fight or kalinda songs and is salient in certain genres of Yoruba singing, such as apala and
ese odu.
7 Because many African languages are tonal, a spoken sentence can have only one fixed
intonational curve. In order to maintain that curve, harmonizing voices have to imitate
that melody at exact intervals. Any deviation affects a change in tonal contour and there-
fore in the meaning of the words of the song.
8 Cf. Mary Jane Hewitt, "An overview of Suriname", Black Art 5, no.l (1981): 18.
9 Morton Kahn, Djuka—the Bush Negroes of Dutch Guiana (New York: Viking Press, 1931),
55.
10 M. Kolinski in Melville Herskovits and Frances Herskovits, Suriname Folklore (New York:
Columbia Univ. Press, 1936), 522. There may be a common African term or series of
cognate terms from which words like kwaka (Trinidad, Surinam) kwekwe (Guyana), and
kwaat (Jamaica) have come. They all refer to wood-on-wood percussion, bamboo lengths
in the case of Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad.
11 Cf. Akpabot, op. cit, 109.
12 The use of bells and other forms of rattling and vibrations—whether of vegetal matter
such as straw or seeds or of musical instruments—is, in African tradition, indicative of
mystic communication.
13 Price and Price, op. cit., 178.
14 Kofi Agorsah suggests the former, while in Music of the Maroons of Jamaica Notes to
Folkways Records Album FE 4027 (1981), 3, Kenneth Bilby proposes the latter.
15 Bilby, op. cit., 7.
16 See Price and Price, op. cit., 179.
17 Kolinski, op. cit., 521. Kolinski's analysis and transcriptions of Suriname Maroon music
occupy pp.491-527 of Herskovits and Herskovits, op. cit.
18 Kahn, op. cit., 54.

148 Maroon Heritage

 ten

Maroon Warfare: ttye Jamaica Modef

Albert Edwards

Introduction

To discuss the history of the Maroons is to examine the life of a society whose entire
life in the diaspora has been warfare. It was warfare of a special kind and that is the
history of guerrilla warfare in the New World, beginning with the establishment of
the first Maroon settlements in Hispaniola in 1503 or even earlier in some other
places. Thomas Higginson, writing in 1889, has rightly observed that:
The Maroons! It was a peril once; and terror spread along the skirts of the Blue
Mountains of Jamaica when some fresh foray of those unconquered guerrillas
swept down upon the outlying plantations, startled the Assembly from its order,
General Williamson from his billiards and Lord Balcarresfrom his diplomatic
ease—endangering, according to official statements, 'civil rights'and the
'prosperity, if not the very existence of the country', until they were persuaded
to make peace at last...

Susan Pierres has noted that they have been variously referred to as "desper-
ate villains", "pernicious scum", as well as "sneaking and treacherous rogues".
But these were the people who embarked on a process of freedom fighting that
pioneered liberation toward human dignity in the New World. Writing over two
decades ago at the height of the Vietnam War, Robert Taber, who is highly
respected for his "critical analysis of great guerrilla campaigns in history", set
out to show by examples from Algeria, Cuba, China, Cyprus, Malaya and
Greece that guerrilla warfare, when used as a political weapon, can be extremely
potent and may even be used for other purposes far beyond politics. But in all

Maroon Warfare: t^e Jamaica Model 149

his analysis, no mention is made of one of the longest guerrilla campaigns
in history—the Maroon guerrilla campaign against the English in Jamaica. The
lessons of this great survival strategy of the Maroons constitutes the discussion
of this chapter.

Guerrilla warfare

The word guerrillero was used to describe the Spanish or Portuguese insurgents
who fought alongside the Duke of Wellington's armies to help drive the French,
under Napoleon Bonaparte, from the Iberian Peninsula during the military cam-
paigns which lasted from 1809 to 1814. Spanish records also indicate that some
members of the Yssassi family who settled in Jamaica were from the Basque Prov-
ince of Guipuzcoa, northern Spain, a region which has prided itself on the fight-
ing capabilities of its inhabitants. They functioned as mercenaries and sea
captains to many expeditions which were sent to the New World as guerrillas.
They were also said to have served in Roman armies as far back as 200 BC. So how
can the term guerrilla warfare be applied in relation to the wars fought by the
Maroons against the English from 1655 to 1796? Which comes first, the warfare or
the name? To answer these questions one needs to examine the state of affairs in
Jamaica just before the English invasion of 1655 and the events leading up to the
peace treaties in 1739 and after.
Jamaica was a Spanish colony before the English invasion. The first Spanish
settlers arrived around 1509, and brought with them black slaves from the west
coast of Africa. It is claimed that at the time of the invasion, there were approxi-
mately 1,000 black slaves in Jamaica. Not all of these were brought to Jamaica
by the Spanish, for there are reports of the French abandoning slaves off the
coasts of Jamaica and also of slaves being washed ashore from vessels, follow-
ing acts of piracy [Postma 1990]. Jamaica was then a kind of supply centre for
expeditions going further east to Mexico and Santo Domingo.
There were extensive Spanish farms or estancias on which a wide variety of
crops were grown. Cattle ranches dotted the island and in between large herds
of wild cattle roamed the vast savannas on the south of the island. On the north
coast cattle was raised and there was an abundance of wild pigs. In 1581 Fran-
cisco Lopez de Villalobos, an Abbot, wrote: "There is such a great quantity of
pigs, so much so that very often the smaller ones are caught by hand". The
Spaniards, who inhabited Jamaica at the time, were a hardy lot. There were the
clergy, the laity and the common folk. In 1611 there was a population of some
1,510 persons, 103 of whom were described as "Free Negroes" in Jamaica
[Wright 1924]. A cleric of the period said that the Spaniards were mostly from
three large families, and among these families the names Yssassi and Leyba
(Leiba) were very prominent and were to be later associated with the Maroons.
Don Francisco Leyba de Yssassi (Yzazi), father of Cristobal Arnaldo de Yssassi,

150 Maroon Heritage

a leader in the Spanish resistance, is said to have cohabited with a coloured
woman for more that sixteen (16) years, even though he was a married man
[Wright 1924].
The Spanish records mention that in addition to the "Free Negroes" there were
such groups as "Fifteen Negro Bowmen" who arrived in the island with a group of
130 soldiers who had firearm and lances. It appears, therefore, that in addition to
the slaves and freemen there were blacks serving in the Spanish forces. Who were
these other black people? They may have been second and third generation blacks
who were taken as slaves and body servants to Jamaica. Many abandoned their
masters to live a free life in remote and inaccessible settlements of their own, soon
after arrival. Men like . . .

a Negro belonging to Sargento Mayor Duarte de Acosta Noguera—

although an Angola Black, this Negro was clever. He could read and write,
knew... conjunctions of the moon and tides as well as though he had studied
them. He was a good sugar master and could give an excellent account of himself
when necessary.

This may be an extreme example but it demonstrates that not all the blacks in
Jamaica were "wild and unruly savages". Unfortunately, this prominent Negro,
"despite many pleas for his life", was later hanged by the Spaniards who suspected
that he had collaborated with the English against them.
When the English landed, many of the blacks were no strangers to arms or
military discipline. Men under Lieutenant Don Cristobal included "skeleton
companies of fifteen Spaniards and fifteen negroes" and "negroes who aban-
doned their masters and built stockades for themselves". There were blacks
such as those whom Captain Julian Castilla wrote about in 1658 when reporting
on a particular incident during which an English supply of wagons were cap-
tured: "The negroes of the stockade got their share, whether they returned very
well satisfied offering the Lieutenant and Sargento Mayor to serve on any
subsequent occasion in larger numbers".
The English had their "guides" and "fugitive negroes" who were to assist
them in rounding up the "persons who had retreated to the bush". It was this
struggle in the bush that was to bring to the fore men like, Diego Pimienta,
whom Castilla described as "This slave, a Creole named Diego Pimienta, in
these combats showed how greatly does virtue adorn the individual and how
diversity of colour is no obstacle on nobility of blood and worth. He was a fine
marksman and did not waste a shot. Whenever he fired he indicated his mark
saying to his comrades: That English man drops now'" [Wright 1924]. It was
men like these and others who passed on their military experience and skill to
generations who were to be part of the Maroon struggle. The skill also came
from men such as Captain Don Cristobal Leiba de Yssassi as leader of the Span-
ish resistance in Jamaica. He was not only a trained soldier, but "a brave and
proven fighter against French and English pirates" [Wright 1924].

Maroon Warfare: t^e Jamaica M.obe.1 151

Strategy

Yssassi wrote to the Duke of Albuquerque, Viceroy of Mexico, concerning the Eng-
lish: "I will make him retire to his forts and prevent him doing any planting or
benefitting from what planting he has already done". Out of this struggle came
men and women whom Juan de los Reyes, a Spanish Commander, in a letter to the
King of Spain (Phillip IV) spoke about as: "Three settlements of two hundred and
fifty black men and women who govern themselves". This may have been the nu-
cleus of the guerrilla warfare against the English. The Spanish resistance against
the English continued. It is reported that "a Mexican contingent" was to arrive in
Jamaica with 31 captains of infantry, 31 ensigns, 28 sergeants and 467 infantrymen,
including Negroes, mulattoes and Indians.
So the arrival of blacks with military skills continued. Unfortunately, many
of these were to die at Rio Nuevo at the hands of Edward D'Oyley and the Buc-
caneers whom he brought in from Tortuga to hunt the Negroes in the bush. The
Spanish capitulated in 1665 and many departed for Cuba, leaving behind many
of their former slaves to fend for themselves. The groups of people who formed
the Maroon societies, therefore, were already very conversant with the condi-
tions of the environment in which they were to fight for centuries of survival.
The Maroons who took to the bush were practising one of the cardinal rules
of guerrilla warfare, which was to fight on their terms in the terrain that was
most familiar to their combatants. To retain their cultural identity was no doubt
foremost in their minds. The first phase of their struggle was, as Mao Tse Tung
would put it, the period of "strategic withdrawal". During this period the
Maroons retreated into the bush, only attacking where necessary to obtain arms
and supplies. The next phase is referred to as the "strategic defense".
The slave rebellions during both the Spanish and English periods were
blamed on the Maroons and many runaway slaves joined the Maroons. In addi-
tion, in September of that year, 1660, the English Governor was to report that a
band of rebels in the mountains of St Mary, St George and St Thomas had estab-
lished settlements in the hills. This shows that the Maroons were extending the
range of their source of supply of arms and ammunition. In addition to planting
their own crops and establishing themselves as a "settled" community, raidin
for supplies was an important part of the fighting strategy to the Maroons. They
also utilized the natural resources and land available to them at any time [Hart
1985]. In his writing on guerrilla warfare, Mao Tse Tung [1966] recognized three
elements which were vital if a guerrilla campaign was to be successful. These he
defined as time, space and will.
The location of Maroon strongholds were in three main areas of the island: the
cockpits of the modern parishes of Trelawny, St James, northern Manchester and
St. Elizabeth, the bush and scrubland of St Catherine and the Grand Ridge of the
Blue Mountains in St Andrew, Portland and St Thomas, Juan de Bolas and sur-
rounding areas. Familiarity with the terrain of these areas was an important asset
of Maroon guerrilla warfare. The two principal groups chose the territory with

152 Maroon Heritage

which they were most familiar and dictated their tactics. The strategy of the Eng-
lish forces was to keep the various Maroon groups separate, except for small joint
actions. Nonetheless the communication between the Maroon groups continued.
The English had, soon after the invasion, opened the old Spanish roads across the
hills of St Catherine to St Ann to get at the Spaniards hiding on the north coast of
Jamaica.
This effectively cut the island in two. Consequently, both Maroon groups were
to operate independently of each other. Terrain demanded this, but the guerrilla is
an "improviser" and the Maroons were able to use such tactics as "hit and run"
which was very effectively suitable in the kind of environment in which they had
to fight.
Because of the nature of the terrain, the Maroons had more space than one
would suppose. Mountainous country, packed within a defined geographical area,
offered as in their case, several more times the surface area of land. Their number
at peak is reported to be less than two thousand—a small number that probably al-
lowed them more than enough space to live in security and to carry on their de-
fence operations.
The second ally of the Maroons was the forest cover. In the case of the Blue
Mountains, this was covered by virgin forests, native hardwoods and scrub. In
most areas, sun does not touch the forest floor. Stories of soldiers climbing up trees
to spy out the surrounding countryside have been told, indicating desperate en-
emy attempts even to locate the Maroon hideouts.
The cockpits, on the other hand, though without the same growth as that found
in the Blue Mountains, offered more than enough cover for the purposes of the Ma-
roons. Even today helicopter-borne troops would find if virtually impossible to
spot settlements that are concealed within the trees and where the settlers have not
cleared wide areas away from the tree cover. Fire, if kept to a minimum, would not
be spotted from great distances. The Cockpit Country does not possess the abun-
dance of rivers as are to be found in the Blue Mountains, but water in sufficient
quantities may be found in sinkholes and acquifers.
Alan Eyre [1980] has conducted a geographical appraisal of the Maroon wars and
appears to have come to the conclusion that geographical factors were more impor-
tant in the direction of events of the war than anything else. Eyre explains that:
The Maroon Wars from 1690 to 1796 in Jamaica were the only significant
British colonial wars to be fought in the humid tropical forest environment. Not
until World War II was there military conflict in such conditions. These wars have
a nearly contemporary literature on the British side6 and an interesting modern
descriptive appraisal from the Maroon viewpoint? Even a cursory review of the
progress of these wars suggests that geography was more than usually significant,
and was a critical factor affecting the strategies used by both sides. The tragic
denouement of the Second Maroon War in 1769 was clearly due more to the
geographical constraints imposed upon the combatants than to great generalship
or any unambiguous military victory ...

Mdnxm Warfare: t(>e Jamaica MoDe( 153

 The enemies which the British Army had to fight were three: the Maroons, the
terrain and the climate. The terrain is the ultimate in tropical karst, a classic land
form through which J.V. Danes rode on horseback in 1906, subsequently present-
ing the pioneer study of karst to the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences in 1914.
Fully developed Jamaican karst is a spectacular landscape, a bewildering jumble of
cones, cockpits and caverns. Viewed in one way, it can be conceived as cockpit
karst, a complex pattern of star-shaped closed depressions averaging less than four
hectares in floor area, with steep, often precipitous convex slopes. They vary from
20 to 200 meters in depth. Drainage is radially into the centre, where there is
usually a sinkhole. The depression is floored with red or yellow ferruginous earth
which after heavy rain may hold a small, temporary perched water table. This
concentrated on the positive rather than the negative elements of topography.
The landscape is thus seen as dominated by rounded forested limestone masses
with convex slopes, the cockpit being simply the intervening space where vertical
erosion had widened joints in the limestone. This terrain obviously favoured
Maroon defence and baffled British commanders newly arrived in the tropics.

The climate also was kinder to the insurgents than to the British troops ... The
heat, humidity and daily downpours of the rainy season were a constant irritation
to the heavily clothed British solders. Climate-related tropical fevers drained their
strength. Affections of the lower alimentary tract were almost universal and, to
put it very mildly, both inconvenient and debilitating. Robinson [1969] summa-
rizes the overall results of the struggle with 'Maroons, mountains and malaria'.8

It appears that the Maroons, knowing the advantage of the terrain in which
they were fighting, tried as much as possible to restrict the wars to the geographi-
cal area that was of advantage to them. This is supported by the tactics adopted by
their leadership. For example, Dallas [1805] explains that Cudjoe displayed a keen
geographical sense and shrewd judgement in choosing this position and himself
describes its advantages with considerable perception: "It proved to be impregna-
ble against infantry assaults, however well armed. It has access to a small perennial
river".9 Robinson [1969], writing from the Maroon viewpoint, describes a typical
assault on Pettee River Bottom:
Whenever the lookouts sounded their abengs (conchshell horns), warning that
an enemy force was approaching, the Maroons would climb into the ledges on
either side of the passage (into the cockpit), and conceal themselves behind large
rocks. From there they could bottle up an attacking force by rolling down large
boulders at either end, and even without using their guns they could destroy
such a force with rocks alone... The [British] troops, all wearied by the long
march, by fear of imminent attack and by tension caused by constant vigilance,
would suddenly find themselves fired upon from two or three sides. They would
10
return the first, but the Maroons would simply disappear.

Vietnam War veterans will recognize an all too familiar pattern in the last
sentence! Eyre also explains that

154 Maroon Heritage

 several parties, seeking to penetrate the Cockpit Country from the British base
at Vaughnsfield were badly mauled or dispersed in disorder. One force of three
hundred infantrymen set off from Vaughnsfield to storm the Pettee River Bottom
headquarters but got hopelessly lost in the jumble afforested karst and found them-
selves very red-faced in Colonel Fitch's advance base at Flagstaff, whereupon he
called them 'a bunch of fools' and sent them back to barracks!

Taking advantage of the terrain, however, did not last, as the British forces real-
ized their difficulties and attempted a remedy, which worked. Names of places in
the Maroon areas indicate to us how the Maroons used the terrain to the fullest.
Land of Look Behind, Quick Steps, Me No Sen You No Come, First Breakfast Hill,
Flagstaff, Horse Guards, Don't Come Back, Cun See—and many more peasant
farming districts today tell us where long forgotten British soldiers once passed
and left their mark. Space also incorporated geographical features such as caves,
rivers, ravines, forest and clearings. All these features, if familiar to the guerrilla
operating in that defined area, could be used to great advantage. Terrain deter-
mined Maroon tactics and tactics assisted in bringing war to the enemy. Sun Tzu,
in The Art of War [1983], speaks of "generals who know terrain but fail to take it into
consideration in determining tactics".
The coffee planters, spurred on by the Coffee Encouragement Act (Act 5 George
11,1732) had by this time sought to extend their plantations over the slopes of the
Blue Mountains into the former parish of St George on the north coast of the island.
Land in the Buff Bay and Spanish River Valley brought the settlers once more into
conflict with the Windward Maroons who considered the area as their hunting and
fishing reserve. Although the Maroons were restricted to the hills, there is no evi-
dence that the Maroons failed in this regard. The terrain was their greatest ally. Not
only was the terrain exploited for warfare, but in the hunt forfood, especially wild
hogs. Terrain also played an important part in the selection of ambush sites. The
site, if properly chosen, would lead the enemy into a ravine or river course. The
Maroons would then close the trap, cutting off both ends then pepper the trapped
enemy troops with musket fire.
Nicholas Plysham, a regular officer who accompanied an expedition in 1730,
spoke of troops being caught in such an ambush near the "Rebels Plantation". The
Maroons abandoned the town and sent the women and children up the mountain.
The following morning an advance group of twenty soldiers tried to enter the
town. They were beaten back by effective fire. As soon as this group returned to the
larger body they realized they were surrounded and pinned down by Maroons.
Some tried to retreat down the river only to find to their dismay that they were ex-
posed to the accurate fire of the Maroons. They were able to escape only because
the Maroons allowed them to do so. Lieutenants Thicknesse and Concannon who
led groups of soldiers up the Spanish River Valley suffered a similar fate in 1739.
A naval lieutenant, Thomas Swanton, was to report on a similar type of ambush.
The armed sailors were 200 in number and were accompanied by 200 baggage
"Negroes". The sailors had tried to outsmart the Maroons by sending some of their

Maroon Warfare: t^e Jamaica Model 155

number to high ground overlooking the route of the march. All this was of no use
for they still fell into the ambush set by the Maroons. Seamen's Valley bears the
name of the site of that battle. "The general who does not understand these [terrain
and tactics] may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he
will not be able to turn this knowledge to his advantage" [Sun Tzu 1983].
Nanny Town was reported taken by the British forces in December 1734 and
kept until July 1735 [Hart 1985; Campbell 1988]. No mention is made of the hurri-
cane which occurred in September 1734 and which "did unspeakable damage to
the eastern end of the island" [Gentleman's Magazine, 1734-1738]. This would have
robbed the Maroons of their best ally—the forest cover—as well as modified their
lifestyle by forcing them to concentrate on rehabilitating their provision grounds
and coming into direct confrontation with the enemy, a situation which combat-
ants engaged in guerrilla warfare should always avoid.
The troops who occupied Nanny Town were in constant fear of attack by the
Maroons. As if this was not enough, their supplies were constantly stolen from
them along the trails leading to Nanny Town. Another tactic of the Maroons was
the use of fire. In an area where rainfall is an ever-present phenomenon, shelter
played no small part to both Maroon guerrilla and colonial soldier. As soon as the
Maroon realized his settlement was threatened, he would set fire to the abandoned
huts thus depriving the enemy of shelter and supplies left behind. This must have
played on the minds of soldiers who, after a long march into the mountains, looked
forward to some abandoned Maroon huts to rest their tired bodies. Sun Tzu [1983]
has suggested that "there are five ways of attacking with fire: the first is to burn
soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage
trains; the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines; and the fifth is to hurl drop-
ping fire among the enemy". It appears that the Maroons often modified tactics in
the use of fire. There were times when they left their huts standing, only to set them
afire after they were occupied by the enemy soldiers.
The period 1733 to 1734 was an active time for campaigns against the Maroons.
In August 1733 the Maroons captured Hobbies (Habbys), a fort near Shrewsbury
and three other plantations near Port Antonio. The reaction was that sale of rum
was forbidden at Port Antonio and all gunpowder was ordered lodged in the gov-
ernment store at Fort George (Titchfield). The purists would say that it was at this
period that the Maroons should have enlisted the aid of the population to drive the
English off the island. But such a move did not appear to be in the priorities of the
Maroons, because all they were fighting for was to be free from bondage and to live
in peace.
In October 1734 martial law was declared and the full weight of the war un-
leashed on the Maroons. This change of approach and seriousness on the part of
the British administration is demonstrated by the fact that between 1664 and 1668,
forty-four laws were enacted in its connection. In addition, making an expenditure
in the sum of two hundred and forty thousand pounds further supports the impor-
tance of the Maroon activities to the plantation system and the British government.
Fort George was designed to hold as many as twenty-two cannons and cost in the

156 MflrooM Heritage

region of two thousand pounds. In 1728 much of the money was used to pay for
regular English troops brought in from Gibraltar. It was clear at the time that the
Maroons had not run out of space. However, they may have run out of time.

Time

Time, to the Maroon guerrilla, determined the direction of action. Time also influ-
enced the strategy or tactics: how and when to start and where and when to stop.
Could the Maroons have understood the meaning of the situation as is being ana-
lysed in this presentation? Time, to a highly mobile society, revolved around sea-
sons of the environment which the Maroons knew very well. What the Maroon
had to do depended on the season rather than fixed periods of weeks or months.
To gain time, the Maroons avoided any direct confrontation, blocking off all possi-
ble routes of attack, for as Hart [1985] has pointed out, several of the British sol-
diers lost their lives at various isolated points to "hit and run" night attacks.
Several observations may be made about Maroon strategy. Firstly, it appears that
they knew that to fight the type of war they were fighting they needed to know
their environment and make the best use of it. They appeared to have absolute re-
spect for their leadership in fighting back or engaging in "hit and run" tactics.
Points of escape and entry appear to have been controlled and monitored very
well. The names mentioned above give support to this action.
"Surprise, treachery and secretiveness", to quote Che Guevara , appear to have
been their watchwords. It is probably due to their secretiveness about their mili-
tary struggle why many issues about the Maroons have not yet been uncovered.
They watched constantly for spies and as oral traditions record, set not only sink-
holes in the Cockpit country as traps for their enemies but also constructed mis-
leading trails. They avoided excessive enlargement of their territories—this,
perhaps, explaining why by the end of the wars they had little land for themselves.
Most importantly, the Maroons made the best use of woman power which Kamau
Brathwaite and Carolyn Cooper (this volume) have discussed in greater detail.
A guerrilla army in the field without time piece has to use nature's clock, day
and night, to break down longer periods. The Maroon fighter was no different. His
tactics depended on his objective. Did he want to gain time so that his women and
children could escape? Was he concerned that a particular British monarch may
reign for "x" number of years or was he more concerned about time for his sons
and daughters to reach adulthood and live in freedom and peace? The year 1655
was of no concern to the Maroon, apart from the fact that the developments of that
year interrupted his flow of time.
The Maroons did not set out in 1658 and after, to fight the British for a certain
number of years and stop there. The fact that the eighty-four years to the peace
treaty in 1739 were spent in conflict is measured more in terms of generations than
in any other period. The fact that so soon after so many successful actions against

Maroon Warfare: t^e Jamaica Mooe( 157

the British the Maroons were at the point in time ready to make peace was not very
clear. The Maroons wrote very little down, and therefore any clarification would
require further reference to the colonial record. It is also interesting to note that the
Maroons started their prolonged guerrilla campaign only after punitive action was
taken against them. The time was thrust upon them.
The Maroon guerrilla chose time and nature but at that point, time was chosen
for him. He made the best use of whatever time was left for them by withdrawing
from direct conflict and taking refuge further into much more inaccessible areas of
the hills. There they used time to consolidate, plan and develop [Hart 1985]. They
also chose time to take action in search of supplies to hunt and to communicate
with other blacks who worked as slaves on the various plantations. The Maroons
appeared to have too much on their hands: they needed time to train, rest, consoli-
date and prepare for new attacks. For instance, timing in relation to the ambush
was most critical. The use of time had to be effective, both from a strategic as well
as a tactical point of view.
A concerted effort and a common goal was behind the strong will which served
as the driving force of Maroon guerrilla fighters. It was what kept them going
against the odds. This willpower came from many sources. According to experts in
guerrilla fighting, in modern times such determination may be ideological, nation-
alistic or religious as one finds, for example, in ancient and modern times with fun-
damentalism, kumina or obeah in the New World.
The fight between the Spanish settlers and the English was to a large extent a
fight between religions—Cromwell's Protestants against Spanish Catholics. The
blacks no doubt retained their own religious beliefs. Kamau Brathwaite, writing
about "The spirit of African Survival in Jamaica", speaks of the Spirit-Ancestor
remaining close to the living; the possession of the living by the dead. ". . . In
this achievement music and dance—locomotive energy—plays an essential role
. . . The Priest... in whose company the community can be led most easily into
a wholesome relationship with the ancient and the approaching past" [Brath-
waite 1978].
It is well known that the African approached religion in a situation much closer
to the ways of native American Indians, rather than to that of the Judeo-Christian.
The African looked to nature, to his clan, to family as all integral parts of his relig-
ion. It is in the same way that the Maroons, consisting mainly of people of African
descent, approached war.
Ethnographic evidence and oral traditions [Bilby 1985,1987] indicate that
preparation for war always included the use of music, dance and libations. The
drums, which were used in the dance, were ideal for focusing one's attention on
the task at hand. During the ceremony instructions could be easily passed on to
persons preparing for battle. Compare the war-dance ceremony of the American
Indian. This type of activity, though in a different form, is carried out by all
modern armies when troops are blessed and exhorted to perform valiantly, just
before a battle, by stirring speeches and martial music. The priest/priestess was
no doubt a central part of the Maroon community. It was their role to justify to

158 Maroon Heritage

the fighters the reason and importance of the struggle they were waging. It was
to the priest or priestess that the community looked for inspiration and morale
building.
It is interesting to note that in the period 1735-1739 the English began to use and
obtain a lot of information from spies about the life and tactics of the Maroons.
Much of this information may have been of increased significance, since the Eng-
lish were becoming more involved with the dynamics of West African society and
so the information gleaned took on its true meaning. There are secrets behind the
successes of the Maroons. Ease of movement, an effective communication system,
the ineffectiveness of the sophisticated British military equipment in an unfriendly
environment, procurement of supplies, effective use of spiritual powers such as is
related to those of Nanny, the great warrior woman, and a determination to sur-
vive in the life-or-death circumstances of the time—all these circumstances sus-
tained their struggle.
In any military confrontation, engagement is of two types: direct or indirect. Di-
rect engagement is primarily the province of the main battle and aims at control
and influence of the battle. Indirect engagement involves effecting an attack with-
out necessarily coming into direct or face-to-face contact with the enemy. The aim
is to restrict effective onslaught or manoeuvre. In both types of engagements tech-
nology—old and new—are important. The Maroons may have realized their tech-
nological weakness, knowing very well the superiority of the equipment of the
British forces.
Sensibly and logically, the Maroons chose the indirect method which in-
volved quick, effective, sudden "hit-and-run" engagements. Clumsy, heavily
armed and unable to move swiftly and decisively, the British forces only re-
corded the attacks after they had happened. It was not until the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries that long-range arms came into use, so there was no oppor-
tunity to use such facilities against the Maroons. In addition, the terrain and the
location of the Maroon settlements [Agorsah 1992b] indicate that the Maroons
would have made considerable use of trenching and ditching as a method of be-
sieging the enemy and staging surprise attacks. The technique of camouflage
described in the traditions of the Maroons of Accompong and Moore Town,
lends support to this proposition. It appears, from all indications of the events
of the Maroon wars, that one can rightly apply the Chinese aphorism: "Know
yourself and your adversary and you will be able to fight a hundred battles
without a single disaster".
The ability of the British forces to withstand the power of Maroon warfare
greatly depended on technological development of arms and ammunition. The
first explosive device consisting of what came to be known as gunpowder was in-
vented in China from where it spread to the West. Although it was mentioned as
far back as 1044, its formulation was not made fully available until AD 1242, when
Roger Bacon disclosed it in the journal, De Mirabili Potetate Artis et Naturae. The
following year, directions were given on how to manufacture such an explosive
device by use of charcoal, saltpetre and sulphur.

Maroon Warfare: t^e Jamaica Mo5e( 159

 The use of such explosive power did not become popular until the fourteenth
century, when gunpowder was used to propel a projectile or shot. It was first used
in the West by the English in 1346 at the battle of Crecy. By the seventeenth century,
the use of the explosive device had become quite popular. During the voyages of
exploration which took several European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Swe-
den, France and others to various parts of the world, weapons related to the use of
explosives were carried along, not only for self-defence, but also for launching
attacks on rival colonizers.
The musket, a military weapon fired from the shoulder, was the most popular of
the arms brought to the Caribbean. Introduced in the mid 1500s by the Huguenots,
it was a long barreled weapon which could fire a 203 ball some 300 metres. The fir-
ing mechanism was a "match lock", which was modified later into a "flint lock".
This was an easier and more reliable method for discharging the weapon. This was
well suited to the open battlefields of Europe but quite unsuited to the jungle war-
fare of Jamaica. In particular, its adaptation for the peculiar circumstances by the
Maroons may have given them the edge over the English. Archaeological evidence
from Nanny Town [Agorsah 1992c] points to the adaptation of the shorter barreled
version of the "Brown Bess" flintlock musket which was the standard military
weapon of English forces for over 200 years (1660-1860). By shortening the barrel
one sacrifices range, but 150-200 metres would have been more than sufficient for
the distances encountered. The "Brown Bess" was cheap and easily manufactured.
A basic knowledge of metallurgy and forging would have enabled the Maroons to
repair and refit this weapon. Records [Hart 1985] speak of the capture of large
quantities of muskets. Therefore, apart from the need for adaptations of newer
models, the Maroons may have been amply supplied with muskets in relation to
the number of combatants in their ranks. By combining the qualities of marksman-
ship, good powder and ammunition with their encyclopaedic knowledge of the
terrain, they could use a minimum of men to pin down large groups of English
troops without the need for exposing themselves. They may have used sniper
techniques to greater effect than had been heard of before.
On the battlefield, even in modern times, fast movement of soldiers is a priority.
A system of linkages between various parts of a force thus becomes very impor-
tant. Commanders must have not only continuous communication, so essential for
operations, but must themselves be able to move very swiftly in a combat situ-
ation. In the terrain of the Maroons this was a difficulty for the British troops. The
Maroons used the side-blown "cow horn", the abeng, a name derived from the
Akan language of the then Gold Coast (now Ghana), to sound messages. Although
the sound would be heard by the British troops, the content of the messages would
not be understood. The abeng remains today as part of the cultural paraphernali
of the Maroons.
The ability to procure supplies of good quality food and water is a vital factor in
the effective operation of any military group. The Maroons, as well as the British
forces, relied on the destruction of each other's food supply in order to introduce
weakness into the enemy camp. Water supplies were also poisoned. Maroon

160 Maroon Heritage

traditions relate that Maroons never drank from free flowing rivers, but from such
waters as the Nanny Falls near the site of Nanny Town—the sources of which the
British could not gain access in order to poison. Even if this particular situation did
not arise, it is at least clear that the Maroons were aware of the possibility of river
poisoning. Also, certain plants, such as the cocoon or black whiss in the Blue
Mountains, were depended upon for drinking water. This is an indication that the
Maroons understood their environment and its resources, medicinal qualities, food
yields and features it provided for defence or attack. Frequent shortages of certain
critical supplies appear to have characterized the operation of the British forces,
especially in their expedition against the stronghold of the Maroons in and around
Nanny Town.

Conclusions

The Maroons were not the first people who won the battle only to lose the war.
Today the Maroons do not accept that they were defeated by the British forces. It is
thought that they forced the seemingly invincible British army to a military stale-
mate. The Maroons faced forces backed by the largest and most successful colonial
power of the time. They knew their strength. They knew the strength of their
adversary and planned all their strategies around that knowledge. Their strategy
at the inception of the war was to maintain freedom and autonomy. This ultimately
meant a stern test of their ability to retain their cultural identity. In the end they
succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations.
This analysis is only a first step towards understanding the struggle and
survival of one of the first freedom fighters in the New World and is only one
example of many that have taken place over time. It should not be considered as
being exhaustive of all the available evidence. Discussing this issue as an officer
still in active service imposes certain restrictions, but the discussion should open
the doors to further discussion and analysis. But one thing is clear: The Maroons
deserve a Nobel Peace Prize with retrospective effect from the 1730s.

Notes
1 Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Black Rebellion (1899).
2 Susan Pierres, "Land of Look Behind", Caribbean Travel and Life (March-April 1993): 86-93
and 115.
3 Robert Taber, The War of the Flea - Guerrilla Warfare Theory and Practice (Paladin, 1970).
4 Irene Wright, Translations of the letters of Captain lulian Castilla. Spanish Resistance to
English Occupation of Jamaica, 1655-1660 (Diary of the Indies Collection: Institute of Jamaica,
1660).

Mflroon Warfare: ti^e Jamaica Modef 161

5 Mao Tse-Tung, Problems of War and Strategy (Peking: Language Press, 1966); also, his
Selected Works, Vols.1-4 (Peking: Language Press, 1966).
6 R.C. Dallas, The History of the Maroons, 2 vols. (London, 1803); G.W. Bridges, The Annals of
Jamaica, Vol. II (London, 1828).
7 C. Robinson, The Fighting Maroons of Jamaica (Kingston, 1969).
8 Alan Eyre, "The Maroon Wars in Jamaica: A Geographical Appraisal", The Jamaica
Historical Review XII (1980): 5-18.
9 R.C. Dallas, op. cit, 43-44.
10 C. Robinson, op. cit., 44.
11 Che Guevarra, Guerrilla Warfare. Translated from Spanish by J.P. Morray with prefatory
note by I.F. Stone (N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969).
12 In 1242 Roger Bacon, an English friar, in the technical journal, De Mirabili Potetate Artis et
Naturae (see Compton's Encyclopaedia), disclosed the formulation of gunpowder/black-
powder as a mixture of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur: 75-15-10. Saltpetre or potassium
nitrate (KNO2) is used not only in gunpowder, but also as an important
ingredient in preserving pork today in rural communities. Did the Maroons understand
the dual nature of this commodity at that time? Charcoal—from wood fires, especially
dogwood or alder—the other important ingredient, was always available. Sulphur
though occuring naturally in nature, is not known to be readily available in Jamaica.
There may, however, be elements with similar properties which were available to the
Maroons. Therefore, the ability to formulate one's own ammunition would have saved
them the risk of raiding plantations or other stores for supplies. Even today the formula
for mixing blackpowder is a matter largely of individual taste, and the important thing
is that it works and is not detrimental to the user while it is being formulated. Keeping
it dry would be most important, and the historical record shows that the powder horn
was widely used by the Maroons. There is also evidence that the Maroons obtained
gunpowder supplies from Jewish merchants in Kingston. The quality and quantity of
the ingredients would have some effect on the projectile, but a 2oz. ball fired from such
a weapon has a devastating physical and psychological effect.
13 See, for example, Olive Senior, A-Z of Jamaican Heritage (Kingston: The Gleaner Co.,
1987); also Maroon guide to the 1991 Nanny Town expedition, who described "whiss"
(also called by several other names, e.g. "black wiss", "water wiss", "withe", "wild
grape") as Maroon traditional survival medicine.

161 Maroon Heritage

 eleven

Arclyaeo[o0y of Maroon
Settlements in Jamaica
E. Kofi Agorsah

Introduction

The significance of Maroon heritage in Jamaica as an important link between the

prehistoric and the historical periods, as well as the only major chain of cultural
history that weaves through the whole of Jamaica's historical past introduces the
subjeect of this chapter. A review of the location and distribution of Maroon com-
munities in Jamaica in historical times is conducted and some of the outstanding
features of the sites examined through archaeological reconnaissance, survey and
excavation are described. A discussion of the material follows and some generali-
zations or interpretations are made in an attempt to identify the place and the heri-
tage of the Maroons of Jamaica in a more objective cultural perspective, and the
implications of the material available so far for the history and culture of Jamaica
as a whole.
Archaeological excavations at the sites of Nanny Town in the Blue Mountains
and Old Accompong Town in the Cockpit country are reviewed and used as the
main basis for the generalizations.
It is generalized that finds such as the cowrie shells from Old Accompong Town
(simply referred to as "Old Town" by Maroons of Accompong) as well as prehis-
toric and historical earthenware from the ancient site of Nanny Town, indicate
that some issues of interpretations of the early history of Jamaica which claim the
complete extermination of the prehistoric groups by the Spaniards need to be

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 163

re-examined. Also, the true Amerindian and African elements in the heritage of the
Maroons of Jamaica, need to be reviewed and revised if Thermoluminiscence and
Carbon 14 dates turn out as expected. Archaeological evidence coming to light in
the last few years is beginning to unravel some of the most exciting mysteries
about the Maroons, placing it in its right position in the history of cultural develop-
ment, not only in the Caribbean, but in the New World as a whole. Although the
main evidence discussed in this chapter is archaeological, considerable reference is
made to ethnographic and historical evidence.
A critical analysis of the history of Jamaica clearly demonstrates that Maroon
society provided a cultural link between the indigenous societies of the island and
the Spanish on one hand, and the English on the other [Blake 1898; Brathwaite
1977; Robinson 1969, 1987]. Historically, this is significant because it reconfirms
that the history of the Maroons of Jamaica is not only a link, but has become and
remains in its entirety a part of the historical period [Agorsah 1993]. The impor-
tance of Maroon heritage as a major cultural element that runs through the histori-
cal period in Jamaica, can therefore not be over-emphasized. A reconstruction of
the cultural development of Jamaican society is thus incomplete without retracing
the course of this major thread [Agorsah 1990,1991]. Evidence regarding other as-
pects of Maroon heritage, such as their music, dance and religion [Bilby 1984,1987;
Beckwith 1969; Black 1983; Martin 1972] points to the availability of a substantial
amount of background material with, and on which, to build a more complete
picture of the Maroon heritage.
Many historical references portray the Maroons more as "rebels" than "freedom
fighters". This attitude is criticized in this chapter as a one-sided way of presenting
the cultural heritage of the Maroons [Eyre 1980; Furness 1965]. In addition, very few
colonial writers have been bold enough to emphasize the point of the fight for free-
dom. But thanks to the spirits of their ancestors, the spirit of real freedom-fighting is
still observable among Maroons and it continues to be very strong among them to
this day [Bilby 1984,1987; Dalby 1971; Hall 1982; Carey 1970; Kopytoff 1973,1978].

Archaeological research

Archaeological research in Jamaica that deals with Maroon heritage is limited to

very few reconnaissance, survey [Teulon 1967], and minor excavation expeditions
[Bonner 1974]. It was only recently that major excavations have been conducted by
the University of the West Indies Mona Archaeological Research Project [Agorsah,
1992b, 1993a,b]. In 1967, a reconnaissance expedition led by Alan Teulon of the Sur-
vey Department made the first attempt to locate and identify the ancient site of
Nanny Town and to conduct an environmental study of the area. A ruined stone
wall, a stone with engraved inscriptions as well as several surface artifacts such as
fragments of bottles and crockery, and some botanical specimens were observed
and some collected. The 1973 expedition led by a Lieutenant Harvey Nott, with
Anthony Bonner as the scientific leader, appeared to be more serious and

164 Maroon Heritage

conducted a small-scale excavation. Although not a large quantity, the range of
artifacts was quite significant [Bonner 1974] and at least seems to confirm that mili-
tary action took place at the site. Since 1991, a series of planned reconnaissance,
surveys and large scale excavations have been undertaken at the Nanny Town and
Accompong Old Town sites in eastern and western Jamaica respectively, although
work at the former has been more intensive and extensive.
The amount of archaeological material assembled so far in no way compares
quantitatively to the amount of ethnological and written data on the Maroons.
However, the few finds made indicate that several new issues regarding Maroon
heritage, particularly in Jamaica, have to be raised for reconsideration and dis-
cussion and review: the mysteries of Maroon survival; contribution to the
achievement of freedom, human dignity and liberty in the New World; Maroon-
Amerindian relationships; Maroon social, political and economic systems; Ma-
roon women, specifically Nanny, the great woman warrior of all time; Maroon
settlement and behaviour patterns; and history of guerrilla warfare. The main
goal has been to determine the nature and mechanism of functional adaptation
of Maroon communities in the New World over time—a search for a culture his-
tory rather than a history of "rebels" or a second-rate group of people. Tackling
these new issues or elements in the history and archaeology of the Caribbean is
not an easy task, especially since previous speculations or conclusions have
become so well accepted as facts. It means that one really needs to approach the
questions with absolute objectivity [Agorsah 1993a, b].
Although today Maroons occupy three main areas of Jamaica (Fig. 11.1), the
total area under Maroon control in the past was quite substantial. The activities of
the Maroons were geared solely towards maintenance of their hard-won freedom
and for survival (economic, social and political) [Dallas 1803; Blake 1898; Robinson
1969; Brathwaite 1977; Campbell 1988]. Owing to the constant need to fight back
against slavery and to maintain independence, many of the settlements would, as
expected, be semi-permanent or even if permanent, destroyed during attacks by
the British and rebuilt several times over.

Earliest Maroon settlements

The earliest Maroons in Jamaica may be traced to a mixture of prehistoric groups ex-
isting in the island before the Spaniards, Africans and possibly people of other ori-
gins. Many such runaways under the Spaniards or the British, seized the
opportunity, presented by the war between the Spanish and the English who
invaded the island in the early 1650s, and escaped from the estates to set up free com-
munities in various parts of the hilly regions of the island [Dallas 1803; Morales
1952]. Although Spanish and British colonial documents provide figures of numbers
of Maroons in some of the settlements of which they were aware, information on the
exact location as well as their spatial extent and related data that would be relevant
for identifying the individual settlements, was grossly neglected. For example, the

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements m Jamaica 165

 Fig. 11.1 The Maroons of Jamaica today

166 Maroon Heritage

term "Negro village" [Hart 1980] became so very commonly used that one is unable
to identify the particular settlement being referred to in any report. As a result of such
unclear references and, also, owing to the fact that the Maroons did not possess a sys-
tem of documentation of events, there is an almost absolute absence of the traditional
names by which they referred to their individual settlements. Much more important
to the Maroons may have been the need to keep information about their locations
within closed circles, a situation one would expect in their circumstances.
The earliest known Maroon settlements were those established by Spanish
slaves or aborigines enslaved by the Spaniards, but who escaped into the inacces-
sible parts of the island. In the Caribbean as in other parts of the New World, par-
ticularly Latin America [Bryan 1971], one of the main features of flight from
bondage or captivity was that it was related to cultural contact between local Indi-
ans on one hand and between them and the various African ethnic groups on the
other. This was the case with the establishment of the first Maroon settlements in
Hispaniola in 1503, just a few years after the arrival of the Spaniards' first slave
ships in the Caribbean.
In Jamaica, one of the known areas settled was Guanaboa Vale in the hilly Juan
de Bolas area located in the modern parish of St Catherine. Generally, the Maroons
of the Spanish period occupied and controlled the area between the modern towns
of Linstead and Chapelton, including the Ginger Ridge, Pindars and Marlie Hill
areas, which are dominated by the Rock River and Rio Cobre drainage systems.
Colonial records dating from about 1667-68 5 also refer to another such settle-
ment at Los Vermajales, a savannah area in the general vicinity of Guanaboa Vale,
though said to be isolated from those in the Juan de Bolas mountain area. Accord-
ing to Mavis Campbell [1988], the group at the Vermajales settlement was led by
one Juan de Sierras, then considered to be an outstanding fellow. Another early
Maroon settlement is reportedly located south of Cave Valley, near the Clarendon/
St Ann border, in a grassland area lying between the Mocho mountains and the
modern town of Porus. Its exact location is not known, but it is speculated that in
addition to that one, there may have been several other temporary settlements.
The Spanish period Maroon settlements are not very well known, probably
because of the fact that they may not have developed or may not have been
established well enough by the time the English attacked and took over the
island. Some Maroon groups who had at first sided with the Spaniards switched
allegiance to join the English about 1633. However, others refused to change
sides and consequently relocated in even more inaccessible parts of the moun-
tain regions, mainly in the eastern portions of Jamaica away from their original
locations. The groups were being reinforced continually by other slaves who
escaped from the English plantations. Another group probably resettled in the
Cockpit country, in the vicinity of modern Accompong in St Elizabeth and at
Maroon Town in Trelawny. The Maroons continued to live in groups throughout
their fight for freedom. The Accompong area became the main control point for
the groups living in the adjoining modern St Elizabeth, St James and Clarendon
parishes [Kopytoff 1973]. Meanwhile, New Nanny Town (Moore Town) controlled

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 167

the Maroons in the Blue Mountain region. Many more Maroon settlements are
referred to in colonial records of the eighteenth and nineteenth century or later,
as the Maroon communities became more effective in their operations.

Eastern Jamaica sites

In eastern Jamaica, in the Blue Mountains in particular, many sites have been iden-
tified, some with features such as building foundations. Sites include Nanny Town,
Pumpkin Hill, Mammee Hill, Watch Hill, Seaman's Valley, Marshall's Hall, Gun
Barrel and Brownsfield. These sites are located in and around the Windsor, Ginger
House and Comfort Castle area, as well as parts of John's Hall district in the parish
of Portland. The environment is generally fragmented because of its mountainous
nature and the deep gullies of the Rio Grande, Negro and Dry Rivers which cut
through the region. The Blue Mountain region, like the El Cobre and El Cuzco of
Cuba and the forest regions of Suriname, proved to be particularly suitable for run-
away slave settlements. Documentary evidence indicates that several years before
the British came in, the Spanish government had sent troops to flush out some
"Arawak" escapees from the Blue Mountains [Morales 1952]. This confirms the
speculation that some prehistoric groups enslaved by the Spaniards or others who
escaped from the Spaniards had begun to establish settlements in the Blue Moun-
tains at that time. This also supports the view that the earliest Maroons consisted
of indigenous people who may have been enslaved by the Spaniards and possibly
people of African descent who may have come with the Spaniards.
One of the interesting sites is Marshall's Hall located near Comfort Castle, close
to the Dry River, in the parish of Portland. The site is interesting because of its
structural features and, also, because of the fact that oral traditions link the site to
the modern town of Moore Town, also in Portland. Surface finds consist mainly of
eighteenth and nineteenth century ceramics, house platforms and steps leading up
to rooms. The site overlooks the Jackmandoore, a spring which flows into the Dry
River. The Marshall's Hall site appears to consist of many quarters, each probably
housing groups of families. Identifying these quarters of the site should explain as-
pects of Maroon social network.
The Brownsfield Maroon site [Agorsah 1990] is located on the Snake River near
Alligator Church Bridge in the parish of Portland, high on a hill overlooking the
main road that skirts the modern town of Brownsfield. House foundations are the
principal features, along with a few ceramic pieces and green glass wine bottles—
mainly surface finds.
The locations of Brownsfield and Marshall's Hall appear to support the view
that they may have been chosen for the defence needs of the Maroons. This is to be
expected in periods of conflict and war such as the Maroons experienced during
the early part of their history. A test excavation of the site was undertaken, but it
turned out to be a very disturbed area. Sub-surface testing has been undertaken in
a few areas as well, but features encountered are yet to be exposed and identified.

168 Maroon Heritage,

One problem about the Brownsfield site is that much of it is being farmed and a
greater portion of it continues to appear to be disturbed. This disturbance is ex-
pected to become even more intense, as many more Maroons are moving back to
settle in the area around the site.
Seventeenth to nineteenth-century maps were useful in the identification of
territories occupied by Maroon groups, as well as locating dwelling sites, guer-
rilla war camps, hideouts, burial and battlegrounds, military tracks and fortifi-
cations [Agorsah 1991, 1992b]. Several of the maps indicate the changing
locations of the settlements over time, a feature that was common to Maroon
settlements in other areas of the New World, such as in Spanish Florida, Mexico
and Suriname. By the beginning of the 1700s several Maroon settlements vary-
ing in size and composition are observed to have developed. Thicknesse [1788]
mentions Quao's Crawford Town and another camp, supposedly one of those
under Cudjoe, the Maroon leader who signed the Peace Treaty of 1739, but not
much information is given about it. Other settlements mentioned include
Quao's Town and "a fishing and hunting village near Quao's Town with sev-
Q

enty four huts", Nanny Town, and Men's Town described as located on the
way "going towards Nanny Town with a dancing place". It is not clear what the
"dancing place" referred to could have been. It appears to suggest a place for
some kind of community activity.
English reports observe that the main town (Nanny Town ?) was located in
the ridge of the Blue Mountains with two smaller towns in the same area but
Q

fairly far apart. Also reported is a large cave with "two great troughs to hold
water" and considered to be an important Maroon hideout.10 Guy's Town is
mentioned as a refuge for Nanny Town Maroons after the British forces had
taken control of the Nanny Town site in 1734. In a confession to the English
authorities, one Seyrus mentions "Hobby's", a "Negro Town", and settlements
in the "Carrion Crow Hill". The locations of these sites have still not been
clearly established.
One of the conditions of the peace treaties signed between the British and the Ma-
roons called for grants of land as well as the survey of land occupied by Maroon
groups. Consequently, Maroon settlements became more and more spatially defined.
A square parcel of land situated on the Negro River, an eastern arm of the Rio
Grande, was granted to Nanny, described as "a great Negro woman", and her fol-
lowers in the parish of Portland. This land is said to have been bounded on three
sides by the "King's" land and on the other by land belonging to a John Stevenson.
This land grant refers to the location of New Nanny Town, which is today's Moore
Town in the parish of Portland, referred to in Harris (this volume, Fig. 2 .1). Other
Maroon settlements that resulted from land grants and colonial survey include Bath,
a splinter town to the south of Nanny Town surveyed in the 1760s; Scott's Hall13 with
the Wag Water River serving as the main boundary in that area; Crawford Town, re-
located and documented in 1754; Charles Town, which was a new settlement of
Crawford Town, several kilometres from the latter and located on the Buff Bay River
close to the south shore.

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements m Jamaica 169

 Goucher [1990, 1991] suggests that artisans of African descent from nearby
splinter settlements, engaged by a John Reeder to run a brass and iron foundry at
Morant Bay in the 1770s, may have come from among the Maroon communities in
the Bath and Hayfield areas. The British government had given its approval for
John Reeder to tap iron ore in the area. In western Jamaica, the Maroon lands, like
those of the east, became more clearly defined. Accompong was granted some
1,500 acres of land 1000 of which was for Accompong itself.16 Trelawny Town was
another such settlement near Accompong [Dallas 1803].
The examples noted above indicate that only vague information exists about the
earliest Maroon sites. One difficulty faced in attempting to locate the earliest sites is
the craggy or rugged nature of the terrain in which they were established. The loca-
tion of some of these settlements was certainly known by the British forces, but they
may have had difficulty gaining access to them. Similarly, many of the settlements
may not have been known at all as it was not an easy task to enter these areas to
search for them, and also because the Maroons, as guerrillas, may have been con-
stantly on the move, changing bases and establishing misleading tracks or trails.
Place names such as Parade, Gun Hill, Watch Hill, Lookout Point, Kindah, Bath-
ing Place, Petty River Bottom, Gun Barrel and Killdead, identified from historical
records and oral traditions of the Maroons, have helped to obtain directions to and
information about some of the sites [Agorsah 1990,1992b]. Also, the Maroons pos-
sess oral traditions about historical and other events related to some of the sites
and sometimes could point out features they may have noticed in the past at some
of the sites. Where settlements are identified, structural features may not be read-
ily identifiable. But there are exceptions, especially in the case of some of the mod-
ern settlements. For example, a 1757 map marks out one thousand acres of land for
Accompong Maroons.
The modern settlement of Accompong appears to be in the same strategic
area with restricted access routes, although it has been shifting south and west-
wards away from the original location of Old Accompong Town, locally re-
ferred to as Old Town. The main historical structural features in modern
Accompong Town include the old church and cemetery, and the monument
dedicated to Colonel Cudjoe (Kojo) who signed the peace treaty witht he Eng-
lish in 1739. Today Accompong consists of several quarters that appear to repre-
sent those of related family units [Francis 1991]. It is not clear whether these
units or quarters were established at the initial stages of the founding of the
town and later continued at the new quarters or were developed later. Oral tra-
dition records that these quarters do not represent any predetermined family re-
lationships. The quarters include Hill Top, Parade, Middle Ground, Over
Yonder, Gipson, Guinea Grass, Pondside, Cedar Valley, River Hole, River Pond,
Out Yonder, Force Hill, Outer Road, to mention some (Fig. 11.2).
The main archaeological sites in the neighbourhood of Accompong include
Kindah, interpreted to mean "We are a family". It is located just outside Accom-
pong Town to the northeast and is the venue for the annual anniversary celebra-
tions of the 1739 peace treaty. It is said to have been the camp for holding

170 Maroon Heritage

Fig. 11.2 Accompong Town quarters

consultations between Maroon military wing leaders during their encounter

with the British forces. The site of the burial ground of Kojo is located on fairly
level ground, about half a kilometre down a rugged slope north-east of Kindah.
The only identifying mark consists of two large stones on a piece of slightly
raised ground. There must be a reason for maintaining the burial ground of
such an important historical personality in its very simple form. Big Ground
Grass is another site. It is mainly an open area to the east of Kojo's burial
ground. It has no apparent archaeological feature and is very bare and in the
middle of a well vegetated area. The question to be examined is, why is that
area so heavily deforested? Was it constantly sourced for timber or for burning
coal? Could it have been that the area was inhabited only recently?

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements I'M }ama.ka 171

 The Peace Cave site is located almost on the eastern border of the Accompong
Maroon lands. The cave, also referred to as "Ambush" was, according to Maroon
oral traditions, used as a hideout, as it was strategically located closest to the oppo-
nent's military camp, situated in the then Aberdeen Plantation to the east. The
physical appearance of the cave appears to have changed over time and no longer
fits the description in reported documents and photographs. The last battleground
of the British/Maroon wars before the peace treaty of 1739 is said to have been lo-
cated in the valley in front of the Peace Cave referred to as Pettee River Bottom
[Eyre 1980]. Guthries Defile, an important point of access into Maroon lands in the
Peace Cave area, is located in this vicinity.
The elementary school compound at Accompong also marks the location of the
site referred to as Parade. A large quantity of imported ceramics, buttons, frag-
ments of green glass bottle and nails were surface-collected from this site, and on
the slopes leading up from the Peace Cave. Parade was what oral tradition refers to
as "Lookout Point" because its strategic location enabled the Maroons to spy, or see
in advance, any approaching person or army from all directions. Other sites to the
north and west of Accompong include Gun Hill, Trelawny Town, Flagstaff and
Vaughnsfield, where structural features such as burial ground and house founda-
tions have been identified.
The fascination of the Cockpit country cuts across many scientific and historical
fields. In such scientific fields as geomorphology, entomology and ornithology, the
area ranks second only to the Gunun Mulu National Park as a potential heritage
area. With its tropical karst terrain and unique vegetation the Cockpit country was
to be the scene of some of the wars in which the Maroons set an unprecedented ex-
ample to the world, by successfully engaging the seemingly invincible British army
to a military stalemate. It is speculated that a military track constructed across the
Cockpit country from Windsor to Troy in 1796, a few kilometres east of Troy and
popularly known as Robertson's Run, may have followed early Maroon military
trails. The association of the Cockpit country with historical events can therefore be
gleaned also from the special characteristics of the area, particularly from the star-
shaped closed depressions within the rough and rugged terrain.

Archaeological evidence

Two sites which were of particular significance, Nanny Town and Accompong Old
Town, were selected for site differentiation and excavation. The Nanny Town site
(Fig. 11.3) is strategically located within the loop of the Stony River which marks its
southern and eastern boundaries [Agorsah 1992b]. Blocking off the Stony River
and standing steeply against it is Abraham Hill. To the north and west of the site is
Nanny Hill from which Nanny Falls splashes down on to the open level ground
and flows into the southeastern bend of the Stony River, marking the boundaries
on that side of the settlement (Fig. 11.3).

171 Maroon Heritage

Fig. 11.3 Location of Nanny Town in Blue Mountains, Jamaica

Archeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 173

Rock with inscription at Nanny Town site. (Archaeological find.)

Recent archaeological investigations indicate that in fact there are five (three
large and two small) rectangular stone structures and not only one, as noted
from previous expeditions. They are considered and reported to be military for-
tifications built during the Maroon-British wars [Bonner 1974]. A large block of
stone located near the stone structure is engraved with a message that the settle-
ment was taken and briefly controlled by the British forces. Another stone
monument (slab) measuring 27 x 35 cm, which appears to be more recent, has
the inscription "BERMUDA REGIMENT 1971"—clearly very recent.

The Nanny Town site

As indicated above, the Stony and Peters Rivers and their tributaries dominate
the drainage pattern of the site and areas around it, while Abraham Hill to the
south and Sugar Loaf to the north and northwest dominate the topography.
Rocky and rugged, the Nanny Town site and the surrounding areas are engulfed
in thick luxuriant green vegetation [Adams 1972]. Some of the plants identified
during the pre-excavation surveying of the site include broomweed (Sida acuta);
bully tree (Bumelia nigra); climbing cocoon (Entanda gigas); tea bush (Ocimum gra-
tissimum); ashes bush (Tetrazygla pallens); bachelor's buttons (Gonyshrena globosa);

174 Maroon Heritage

One of five rectangular stone structures (military fortifications?) at the Nanny Town site.
(Archaeological find.)

common bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris); basket hoop (Croton lucidus); bitter aloe (Aloe
vera); bitter wood (Picrasma excelsa); black sage (Lantana luticifolia); sweet wood
(Nectandra antiliana); cow itch (Mucuna pruviens); gully bean (Solarium torvum); poi-
soned hogmeat (Aristolochia grandifolia); lablab tree (Alchornea latifolia); congo
mahoe (Hibiscus clypeatus); cow foot (Pothomorphe umbellata); chew stick (Go
lupuloides), among others.20
Until this day, the Maroons have very good knowledge of the medicinal and
other traditional uses of many of these plants and claim that knowledge of the
uses of the plants was handed down from their ancestors [Lang 1991]. Today
many of the known plants in the area appear to include plants introduced into
Jamaica from the very time the Spaniards introduced Africans into the island in
1517. The Nanny Town site continues to be populated by wild hogs, as well
some of the very few types of known snakes in Jamaica. Hunting and fishing are
the normal occupations of people encountered in those remote areas of the Blue
Mountains and, according to Maroon traditions, these were their occupations
from ancient times.

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 175

Fig. 11.4 Nanny Town site

Excavation
The site was differentiated into areas during the pre-excavation survey as Area 1,
Area 2 through to Area 9 (Fig. 11.4) first, for logistical reasons as well as according
to the distribution of artifacts and the general topography of the site and adjoining
territories. The period 1991 to 1993 has seen three major excavations which appear
to have covered approximately 40% of the total site of Nanny Town, and were
based on a three-metre grid superimposed on the 10-foot grid of the 1973 excavation
Depth to bedrock or sterile layer of the 3 x 3 or 1.5 x 1.5 metre pits and sometimes
1.5 x 6 or 8 metre trenches ranged from 10 to 72 cm and only more than 1 metre in
very few, especially in areas to the east and south of the site.
Several areas appear to have been disturbed by recent military activities at the
site, but these were easily identifiable. The stratigraphy, particularly the texture
and humus content of the soils varies from area to area, depicting differential site
utilization which could be related to different periods of time or to the same
period, but for different activities.
Considering the distribution of artifacts in the pits generally, one thing is clear:
local ceramics (earthenware) are more common as one moves away from the west
toward the east and southeastward of the site. Four more stone fortifications have

176 Maroon Heritage

been identified. Two of them are much the same in size as the only one known so
far, and two smaller ones—one at the entrance to the site coming from the west and
the other on top of the highest point of the site. One of the newly discovered large
stone structures has been excavated and one side (which had completely col-
lapsed) has been reconstructed. Much of the local earthenware were recovered
from this particular stone structure, at depths that indicate that it had been built
over a previous living floor which, obviously, would have been the Maroon level,
dateable by a coin find in that level to approximately 1681. But this speculation
must await a complete analysis of the finds. Results of soil chemical analysis and
further dates are expected to also confirm the relationships of the levels.

Finds
Artifacts recovered from the site of Nanny Town consist of a wide variety of items
such as local earthenware and teracotta figurines; imported ceramics such as Be-
larmine jars, tin glaze and delftware; glass including wine, alcoholic and medicinal
or pharmaceutical bottles; metal implements; fragments of gun barrels and musket
balls of various sizes and weights; nails, lead and other metal objects such as
knives, spearheads and door hinges; crockery, red clay and kaolin (white clay)
smoking pipe stems and bowls; grinding stones and other stone implements in-
cluding fragments of worked and unworked flint; Spanish (pieces of eight) coins;
glass and stone beads and buttons (see photographs below, pp.177-180).

Lower grinding stones with upper grinding stone, recovered 45cm away from it, placed on
top. Scale in inches. (Archaeological finds from Nanny Town.)

A.rcyaeo[o0$ of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 177

Stone tools (Amerindian-Arawak?). (Archaeological finds from Nanny Town.)

Ceramic fragments - handle and rim areas. (Archaeological finds from Nanny Town.)

178 Maroon Heritage

Kaolin smoking pipe stems (top) and bowl (bottom left) and fragment earthenware (local)
smoking pipe stem (bottom right). (Archaeological finds from Nanny Town.)

Terracotta figurines (Amerindian-Arawak?). (Archaeological finds from Nanny Town.)

Arcbaeolo0y of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 179

Spanish coin (peices of eight) dated early Maroon phase to 1668. (Archaeological finds from
Nanny Town.)

Occupation levels
The 1993 excavation appears to indicate that there were two occupation levels,
rather than three, observed during previous excavations. The lower level appears
to have a combination of two different cultural features which, although clearly
different, do not appear to represent one cultural entity. The terracotta figurines
and the associated local thin but highly-fired earthenware at the bottom of the
lower cultural level, appear, from all its features, to be typically Amerindian. This
level changes as one comes up toward the upper level, into a combination of
poorly fired ceramics mixed with imported European material.
The top sections of the lower cultural level, however, are completely devoid of
any such material that can be referred to as Amerindian. Not a single clay figurine
comes from that top part. Neither were there any such Amerindian material in the
top cultural level containing European imported material. Thermoluminescence

180 Maroon Heritage

dates should confirm this relationship in cultural levels, as well as confirm the
speculation that the "Arawaks" were still inhabiting parts of the island at the time
that the British took over the island and had, therefore, not been exterminated as
has often been asserted.

Phases of history at Nanny Town

Nanny Town is recognized as having seen three phases of occupation. The first ap-
pears to predate Maroon presence in the area and is represented by a mixture or lo-
cal ceramics, shell and stone artifacts, such as beads and flint. The second phase,
provisionally referred to as the Maroon Phase, contains ceramic (much of which is
local), grinding stones and a considerable quantity of charcoal, gun flints, frag-
ments of gun barrels, musket balls, iron nails, a red clay and several kaolin smok-
ing pipe bowls and stems and green and clear glass bottle fragments. This phase
probably lies between 1655 and 1734. One of the Spanish coins dates the lower sec-
tion of this phase to 1668. The third phase, and the latest in time, is represented by
the stone fortifications and an engraved stone. The main finds include kaolin pipe
stems and bowls, buttons, fragments of gun barrels, medicine bottles, imported ce-
ramics bowls, plates and cups, a large quantity of green glass bottle fragments,
pairs of scissors, among other things. One of the several post holes observed ap-
pears to represent the location of a flag post erected at the site at the time of its brief
occupation by British forces. The picture from Accompong is equally interesting,
although the evidence is somewhat different.

Old Accompong
The Accompong settlement was surveyed and mapped in order to determine the
boundaries of the Old Town and to relate it to other adjoining sites. An excavation
was conducted near the burial ground of Kojo. Although not an extensive excava-
tion, the finds were of great significance. Artifacts recovered include local earthen-
ware, a bead (probably imported), a copper bracelet, fragments of green glass
bottles, and a few musket balls. Three cowrie shells, identified as West African,
where they were used as currency in ancient times, were also recovered. No spe-
cific period or date has been assigned to the excavated material, but many of the ar-
tifacts point to the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, although
occupation of the area could have been much earlier.

Discussion

Although no data are yet available from a study of Nanny Town and Accompong
presentation, the results appear to be very interesting because they raise many issues
that suggest the need to begin a rethinking of the interpretation of the history of Ja-
maica. That Nanny Town, for example, was a stronghold that has seen considerable

Archaeology o\ Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 181

military action, is clearly confirmed by the evidence. Evidence seems to suggest, also,
that Nanny Town has been occupied for a fairly long period of time and that its oc-
cupation could date to periods long before and during colonial contact.
This speculation becomes even more attractive if the artifacts, suggested to
be prehistoric or "Arawak", are confirmed. In this case, one could further sug-
gest that Nanny Town was, certainly, a stronghold or a hiding place for freedom
fighters during the Spanish period. These freedom fighters may have consisted
of the traditional prehistoric groups (the people encountered by the Spaniards
on their arrival) or slave crew men who came with them on their voyages to the
New World. It also appears that some of the traditional groups who may have
inhabited the island and who were already settled at Nanny Town or adjoining
areas before the Spanish came in, may have eventually welcomed and accom-
modated escapees from the Spanish, and also the later English estates. If we
assume that the prehistoric group were "Arawaks", it would suggest that the
very first escapees (Maroons) were "Arawaks".
Association between material of the first two phases at Nanny Town, therefore,
points to the suggestion that a few (even if a few scores) of the "Arawaks" who
may have escaped into the inaccessible parts of the Blue Mountains and similar
places, were still around, some at Nanny Town at the time the English drove the
Spanish from the island. Although attempts to provide population figures for the
prehistoric groups as well as for Maroons have been made, there is no indication of
the areas covered by the counting. It is not known whether the inaccessible areas of
the Blue Mountains were also covered, as there is no record that indicates that any
person or persons visited the Blue Mountains to take a census. If there was anyone,
how was the counting conducted? Extreme reliance on estimated figures has there-
fore become the basis of acceptance of historical interpretations. Should this be
confirmed by the analysis of the material, books on the history of Jamaica would
have to correct the erroneous impression that the "Arawaks" had all been extermi-
nated by the Spanish. It appears from the evidence from Nanny Town, that prehis-
toric groups in hideouts on the island may have been gradually absorbed into the
groups who later joined them.
Material associated with the stone structures at the site of Nanny Town
clearly supports the view that the structure was built by the British forces when
they briefly occupied the site in the 1730s. The feature may have been used later,
after the Maroons took over the site, but only after the British had left Nanny
Town.
As regards Accompong, the cowrie shell finds, now identified as West African,
clearly establishes that connection. Cyprae moneta, as it is known, was used as cur-
rency in West Africa in ancient times. The context in which it was brought into the
New World is not definitely known. Had it been in a large quantity, one would sug-
gest that it may have been hoarded for use in West Africa for buying more slaves.
It appears that the three cowrie shells were part of an ornament brought by a
slave or a master from West Africa. Armstrong (personal communication) has also
reported about a dozen cowrie shell finds of West African origin from excavations

182. Maroon Heritage

at the site of New Seville, the first Spanish settlement in Jamaica, located in the
parish of St Ann. The Accompong excavation was too small and limited, and there-
fore any further generalizations should await additional work.
Archaeological evidence available so far appears to be identifying certain
features of West African connections [Armstrong 1990; Agorsah 1992b, 1993a].
However, it is appropriate to begin to examine the material against the back-
drop of the evidence related to the traditions from which the majority of Ma-
roons were drawn. For an objective assessment and cross-cultural comparison,
it is necessary to begin to examine evidence from both sides of the Atlantic at
this initial stage when archaeological evidence is becoming available. This intro-
duces the issue of West African connections.

The roots
Archaeologists and historians are now agreed that the slaves often referred to as
Kromantee did not all come from or through Kromantse, a small fishing town of
that name. When the English arrived on the coast of the then Gold Coast, the Por-
tuguese and the Dutch had set up bases at various points along the West African
coast from where they operated their trading activities with the local people. Kro-
mantse, a small settlement of the Fante-speaking people, became the first location
from which the British commenced their colonial economic operations, having
built a small fort there for the purpose. It was from there that, beginning 1631, the
English shipped out their first consignment of slaves.
Controlling the whole coastal area within which Kromantse was located, long
before the arrival of the English, was the traditional Kingdom of Efutu (Fetu),
whose kings were the first to be involved in trading activities with the English, as
well as the Dutch and the Portuguese before them. Given the circumstances of their
shipment, one would ask the question as to which cultural practices the slaves
would have taken with them before making the long, long journey to their new
home. Life at Fetu, their last stop on their way out of the native land, would leave
a few memories on the minds of the slaves. Archaeological evidence indicates that
early seventeenth century Efutu had become a well developed, typical coastal
chiefdom with an advanced political system that is described in historical records
[Meyerowitz 1952; Ward 1958; Birmingham 1966; Claridge 1915; Fynn 1975; Muller
1973; Ozanne 1962; Shinnie 1971].
It had come into contact with European traders and obtained such items as
smoking pipes, wine, glass beads and possibly textiles in exchange for gold dust.
By the end of the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century, Efutu had
absorbed some features of western culture through trade and politics. They began
to bury their dead in coffins constructed with metal nails and handles imported
from Europe.
As an important camp on the main military route coming from the powerful
Asante area, it probably saw a large number of slaves coming from many different
parts of West Africa. Evidence shows that by the end of the eighteenth and early

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 183

nineteenth centuries, Efutu, like other kingdoms of the interior such as Begho [Pos-
nansky 1972, 1976], Buipe and Gonja [Braimah and Goody 1967], Kitare [Davis
1967], Bonomanso [Effah-Gyamfi 1978] and others had declined as Asante power
vigorously expanded and seemed to attack many states interested in the gold trade
at the time [Ward 1958]. At the same time, the Sudanic states of the interior of West
Africa had also turned their attention to the coastal trade and thus introduced
more cultural elements into the system from or through which the slaves were to
live for the last time before being shipped out into the New World. All these events
have significant implications for the relationship between the traditions of the
Maroons and those of the West African region.
The example of Efutu is only one of the many that need to be examined,
although historical archaeology in West Africa is only just beginning to consider
issues of such connections.
First, it is clear that considerable activity and interaction were taking place in
the coastal area of the Gold Coast which brought together people who were
shipped out from different backgrounds. Secondly, many of those shipped out
seemed to have obtained considerable military experience, such as in the use of
fighting equipment, local and imported, during their local wars, guerrilla tactics
similar to that which later characterized the Maroon struggle in the West Indies,
political organization obtained from their individual kingdoms, trade transactions
and traditional technological knowhow such as metal working, textile production
and other practices.

Fig. 11.5 Gold Coast (1655) showing coastal kingdoms and location of Kromantse

184 Maroon Heritage

 For example, in some areas fighting shields consisted of woven leaves of special
trees and were strong enough to imbue fighters with what they believed to be
physical and spiritual protection; they knew the use of musketry carried guns and
gunpowder and leather belts. With very strong fighting skills and good knowledge
of trading operations and given the wealth of the kingdoms from which they were
coming, it is no surprise that the tendency to fight for their freedom should resur-
face after they had landed in the New World. Back in their West African homeland,
prisoners of war were, for example, enslaved, sometimes for life and many of them
were either sold or taken to other areas to provide labour. According to tradition,
important personalities were sometimes ransomed for some debt or gold.
Plundering, burning of towns and villages, destroying granaries and food
crops, were very characteristic of the wars and life of the people along the coast of
West Africa, particularly during the period of European contact. Carey Robinson
(this volume) describes the hassle which the slaves encountered, from the point of
their departure from their homelands. Although not many of these past behaviour
patterns on the West African coast are directly obvious from the archaeological re-
cord, ethnohistorical activities of the Maroons indicate that some aspects have been
carried over to the New World (see Col. Harris, this volume). But such studies and
comparisons are only one step towards the search for identification in archaeologi-
cal records that are almost non-existent or just coming to light [Agorsah 1992b;
Armstrong 1990; Goucher 1990].
Identification of West African cultural elements in the Caribbean also depends
on the identification of the particular regions from which slaves were imported to
different places and times. For example, there were preferences for slaves from par-
ticular areas. Postma [1990] mentions, for example, that the Dutch obtained their
slaves, generally referred to as Calabaris, from the Bight of Biafra (the region ex-
tending from the Niger Delta to the Cameroons); the Luango or Angola slaves from
the Congo region and the "slave coast", and the Cormantin slaves from the Gold
Coast. The Dutch are reported to dislike Calabari slaves because they were consid-
ered to be "prone to run away or die more readily than other African slaves". On
the other hand, the English were reputed to have preferred Cormantins although
Ardra slaves, as those from the slave coast were called (also referred to as Papas in
Suriname) were often rated above the Cormantin and the Luango—especially in the
eighteenth century. Such preferences and related issues need to be examined, in
any attempt to identify cultural links between the Maroons of African descent and
their West African roots.
Similarly, evidence available so far is insufficient to enable conclusive generaliza-
tions about issues such as the relationship between Accompong and Nanny Town,
and other known Maroon settlements in the vicinity of these sites, as well as those in
other parts of the island during the period of their occupation, or to make specula-
tions about the social network that may have bound them in any relationships.22 It is
also premature to speculate about the spatial pattern of the Maroon settlements be-
cause of the limited extent of excavation undertaken. With much more data on the
physical nature of the settlements, as well as those of other Maroon sites, it should be

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 185

possible to attempt serious generalizations, particularly on the perceived character
and mechanism of the functional adaptation of the Maroons over time. There is the
need also to come up with more generalizations as evidence becomes available later,
to be able to write a cultural history about the Maroons.
There is a strong chance that the final results of ongoing archaeological studies
will necessitate revision of some issues related to the history of Jamaica. The results
of the excavations appear to have reopened the opportunity for the achievement of
a better appreciation of the heritage of the Maroons within the general history of
Jamaica. As the research programme continues with further excavations, it is
hoped that more evidence will be obtained which will provide an expanded ver-
sion of the generalizations made so far. It cannot be assumed that much has been
achieved at this time. But one fact is clear, and that is that the true place of the his-
tory of the Maroons and their heritage is being gradually defined, a situation that
makes the realization of a meaningful history of Jamaica imminent.

Notes
1 The Daily Gleaner, 17 August 1967,3a, reported Alan Teulon had mentioned that in 1890
Mr Herbert Thomas, a police inspector, had reported visiting the site to search for the
swivel gun reportedly used by Captain Stoddart, the commander of the military forces
that reportedly destroyed the ancient town in 1734. Also, Mr Reginald Murray, a moun-
taineer and a former head of one of the leading high schools in Kingston, is also men-
tioned to have claimed that he visited the site several times in the 1920s and 1930s. It is
not known exactly what the results of these trips were.
Alan Teulon's 1967 party consisted of several Maroon guides from the Windsor and
John's Hall areas of Portland; Mr Terrence Bennett, assistant supervisor of forests; Mr
George Proctor, botanist at the Institute of Jamaica; Dr Henry Osmaston, geologist from
Bristol University, England; Mr Neville McFarlane, geology undergraduate, Dr Michael
Ashcroft, Mr David Lee, Mr Dennis Hendriks and Mr Franklyn St Juste, a cameraman
from the Jamaica Information Service. The Jamaica Defence Force assisted with transpor-
tation to the site. The location of the site was described as 42ol"N and 71ol"E using com-
pass bearings to recognizable topographical features on valuation index sheet 115 in the
12,500 series map published by the Survey Department of Jamaica.
2 Anthony Bonner, "The Blue Mountain Expedition", Ja Jour 8, nos.2 & 3 (1974): 46-50.
3 The figures used to make this graph were derived from the 1973 expedition report avail-
able at the Archaeology Museum at Port Royal. Thanks to Mr Roderick Ebanks for mak-
ing the report available to me.
4 The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Archaeological Research Project
(UMARP) has benefitted from the support of various kinds from the Research and Publi-
cations Fund Committee of the University, The Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT),
The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, USA, The Archaeological
Society of Jamaica (ASJ), Earthwatch and Centre For Field Research, Watertown, MA,
USA, Helitours 0amaica) Ltd and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). Providing further
support have been student volunteers of the University of the West Indies.
5 This settlement is also probably one of the early ones established by a separate group of
Spanish escapees and probably did not last as it may have been located in a lowland area
with no ecological protection. The founding of this settlement palenque is dated to about

186 Maroon Heritage

 1668 [Kopytoff 1973]. When the British took the island from the Spaniards in 1655,
some of the slaves who had been working on the Spanish plantation took to the more
protective hills, some into the Blue Mountains of the east to join those who had escaped
earlier, and others into the craggy Cockpit country in the parish of Trelawny where they
were well sheltered from attack.
6 Ayscough, Board of Trade, May 1911,1734, CSP 41,103-4 and 15-116.
7 Lamb's Journal, enclosure in Hunter/Board of Trade, 18 November, 1732, CO/ 137 and
154.
8 Ja Jour 3: 62.
9 Lamb's and William's Journal, encl. in Hunter/Newcastle, 27 March 1733, CSP 40,61-63;
Allen's and Peter's Journals, encl. in Hunter/Newcastle, 28 March 1732, CO 37/54.
10 Extracts Campbell/Hunter, encl. in Hunter/Board of Trade, 23 January 1730, CO 137/47.
11 Confession of Seyrus, encl. in Hunter/Board of Trade, 25 August 1733, CO 40,173.
12 STA, Patents 22,16-17.
13 JAJ 4: 288,315.
14 JA] 4: 507,517,1754.
15 JAJ 4: 517. The land was purchased for the Maroons in 1770.
16 Laws of Jamaica 1758 and 1791. JAJ 4: 602,644-45.
17 For example, locating the Nanny Town site would not have been possible for the 1967
expedition had they not been directed or guided by the Maroons of Windsor and Moore
Town.
18 According to the Geographical Society of Jamaica in its regular field trip pamphlet
issued each year, "it was in the Cockpit country that the geomorphology of tropical karst
was first investigated in detail by geographers". Of the 106 species of vascular plants of
43 families found in the area, many of them endemic, many of them are confined to a
very small percentage of the total area. The Cockpit area is also renowned for over a
hundred species of ferns, orchids, land snails, frogs and live bromeliads (wild pines),
lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and others. See pamphlet, "Cockpit Country Field
Trip 1991", Geographical Society of Jamaica.
19 The engraving read [Hart 1985]: DECEM 17,1734 THIS TOWN WAS TOOK BY COL. BROOK AND AFTER
KEPT BY cAPT COOK TILL JULY 1735. It appears that the stone monument has been tampered
with in recent times as additional names can now be read. This stone slab is mentioned
by the 1967 and 1973 expeditions.
20 The local names were collected from Maroon guides Leopold Shelton, Windsor,
Garcia West, Clinton West and Wooley West of Cooper's Hill, all in the parish of
Portland, Jamaica and may not be the same in other localities of the island.
21J. Ashford, "Arawak, Spanish and African contributions to Jamaica's settlement
vegetation", Ja Jour 24, no. 3:17-23.
22 Other settlements mentioned as associated with Nanny Town or possibly as parts of it
include Molly's Town, Dinah's Town and at least one other. These were sites supposedly
captured by attacking British forces en route to the seizure of Nanny Town in 1734
[Hart 1985: 52-53,55-56, 82]. The exact location of these sites is not known but, using the
routes taken by the British troops to Nanny Town, they are most likely to be located
between Nanny Town and back of the Rio Grande.

Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 187

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AJ - Archaeology Jamaica
BT - Board of Trade
CO - Colonial Office Papers in the Public Records Office
CSP - Calendar of State Papers, Colonial America and West Indies
JAJ - Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica
JJ - Jamaica Journal
JNWA - Journal of New World Archaeology
WAJA - West African Journal of Archaeology

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Bitfiograp^jj? 2.03
 Index

Abeng, 45,46,68,160 Arms: development of, 159-160

Accompong (Chief), 46, 64,90 Art: role of, in West Africa, 20
Accompong Town, 2,65; archaeological sites Art forms: of West Africa, 20
around, 170; drums used at, 144
Accompong Town (Old), 64,181; archaeological Bahoruca: revolt at, 127
explorations at, 163; artifacts recovered at, 181; Bahoruca Maroons: and negotiation of peace
excavation near Cudjoe's burial site, 181; treaties, 128; existence of, in Columbian
significance of finds at, 181 period, 128
Adou: husband of Nanny, 121 Balcarres, earl of (Governor), 48-49,91
Adowa, 57 Bamboo vessels, 52
African heritage: and Caribbean society, 11 Bangga, 81
African men: and relationships with Mexican Bangu bige (bag), 52
Indians, 96 Bennett, Louise, Jamaican Oman, quoted, 113
African slaves: and establishment of strong- Big Ground Grass, 171
holds, 1; provenance of, 89-90; relationships Bilby, Kenneth, Music of the Maroons offamaica,
with Spaniards in Mexico, 96; resistance to 140
plantation system, 133; support for Mexican Black Carib: emergence of, 129-131
independendistas, 103; use of, by British forces Blacks and Indians: attempts to prohibit unions
in Jamaica, 91 between, in Mexico, 97
African society: development of, in prehistoric Bonner, Anthony, 164
period, 10 Borequinos, 1
Africans: arrival of, in Jamaica, 87,150; on board Brownsfield Maroon site, 168
vessels with Spanish colonisers, 1; and familiar- Bmkinsfete, 59-60
ity of some with small arms, 151,152; fighting
skills of, 152,185; presence of, in colonial Mex- Cacique Henri: and founding of Haitian Maroon
ico, 94; provenance of, in Mexico, 94,96; resis- group, 127
tance to British invaders in Jamaica, 88; status Campbell, Archibald (Governor), 37
of, under Spanish rule in Jamaica, 88; use of, in Canada de Negros (Mexico): establishment of
defence force in Jamaica, 87 black settlement at, 96
Agerkop, Terry, 140 Caobana river, 88
Agriculture: earliest signs of, in Caribbean, 6; Carey, Beverley, History of the Maroon Peoples of
origins of, in Africa, 10 Jamaica, 121-122
Akikreh. See Abeng Caribbean region: prehistory, 4-5
Amapa, Mexico: foundation of, 103; Maroon Caribs: and European colonization, 1
town of, 97,98 Catholic Church, Mexico: and efforts to convert
"Ambush" cave, 66, 69. See also Peace Cave Maroons, 98; and "Encounter of Black People",
"Americas" the: significance of the term, 109-110 105; and influence on Africans and Indians,
Amphrey Town. See Accompong Town (Old) 106; and religious observances among
Apinti drum, 146 Maroons, 100
Archaeological evidence: at Nanny Town, 172,174 Ceramics: identification of, in Caribbean, 6

2.04 Index
Charles Town, 39,49,169 Europeans: and establishment of colonial
Christianity: impact of, on Africa, 23 administration in West Africa, 28
Chorkie: use of, 56 Eyre, Alan, quoted, 153-154
Churches: in Accompong Town, 70
Climate: effect of, on British troops, 154 Family systems: similarity to West African, in
Clothing: use of as metonym in resistance Accompong, xv-xvi; in West Africa, 15
science, 111 Family traditions: among Jamaican Maroons, 42
Cockpit country: association with historical Feedback: problems of, in written documents, vii
events, 172 Fernandez, Andres: and proposal of formation
Cocoon soup, 57 of free village in Mexico, 102
Coffee Encouragement Act (1732), 155 Festival, annual: at Accompong, 68-70
Combolo machete, 116 Festivals: effect of European influences on, in
Community cooperation, 45-46 West Africa, 18; military element in, 18
C6rdoba, Mexico: establishment of, as garrison Fete-man., See Fettehman
to control maronage, 98 Fettehman, 49; function of, 76
Cornwall Barracks, 39 Fighting Maroons the, Robinson, Carey, x
Coromantins: reputation of, 90 Fire: use of in warfare by Maroons, 153,156
Costa Chica: and retention of African cultural Fish pots: making of, 56-57
heritage, 104 Fishing: methods of, among Moore Town
Cowrie shells: at Accompong Town, 163; identifi- Maroons, 53
cation of, 182 Fishing lances: types of, 52-53
Cowshut boots, 52 Food preparation: among Maroons, 57
Craton, Michael, 121 Fort George, 156
Crawford Town, 169 Foundry: at Morant Bay, using Maroon labour, 170
Cuba: Maroons in, 128,128n Freedom: concept of, 86-87,92
Cudjoe, 46,90; burial site of, 171 French Revolution, 131
Culture: intangible aspects of Maroon, 73; of Funeral traditions: of Maroons, 46
Maroons, as Jamaican culture, 79-83 Garifuna, the: and ties to St Vincent, 129
Cupping, 62 Geographical conditions: advantages of, in
Maroon wars, 153
De Bolas, Juan (Juan Lubola), 89; desertion of, to Ginger House, 39,168
British invaders, 89 Ginger Ridge, 167
De la Matosa, Francisco, 99 Gold: importance of, in trans-Saharan trade, 29
De Serras, Juan, 89 Goodison, Lorna, Nanny, 113-114
Dispute resolution: among Jamaican Maroons, GrandeeNanny, See Nanny
60-61 Grandy Nanny. See Nanny
Djuka music: use of large and small scale in, 140 Griot, 110,112; defined, 118; Vic Reid as, 117
Djuka songs: melodic structure of, 140 Guanaboa Vale: Maroon settlement at, 167
Dominica: final confrontation between Maroons Guerrilla: derivation of, 150
and whites in, 130-131; intermixing of Caribs Guerrilla warfare: techniques used by Maroons
with slaves, 127, and Maroons at Morne in, 159,160; terrain as asset in, 153-154; use of,
Negre, 129-130 by Maroons, 152; value of, 159
Drums: function of, in Maroon ritual setting, Gumbey drumming, 70
144-147 Gun Barrel, 37,168
Dual ethnogenesis: in eighteenth century Gunpowder: development of, 159-160
Jamaica, 82-83; in Suriname, 82 Guthrie's defile, 66,172
Dukunu: preparation of, 57 Guy's Town: refuge for Nanny Town Maroons, 169

Earthenware: find of, at Nanny Town site, 163 Haitian Revolution, 2,127,131
Efutu, kingdom of: 30; archaeological finds at, Harrison, James (Colonel), 38-39
183; implications of find for relationships Historical period: in Africa, 10-14, archaeologi-
between Maroons and West African traditions, cal reconstruction of,8; in Caribbean chronol-
184 ogy, 8; Maroons of Jamaica as part of, xiv;
Elmina, 30 proposed sub-periods, 8
Ethnic groups: effect of colonial intervention on, History: writing of, 109
in West Africa, 15 History of the Maroon Peoples of Jamaica, Beverley
Ethnicity; concept of, 15 Carey, 121-122

Index 205
Human movements: significance of, in archaeol- Machete: functions of, 116
ogy^ Macpherson, Dugall (surveyor), 37
Humphrey Town. See Accompong Town (Old) Macute (Captain), 102,105
Hunting: among Moore Town Maroons, 53-56 Mammee Hill, 37,168
Manners: among Maroons in Jamaica, 62
Indians: in Caribbean archaeology, 8-9; and re- Manuel, Fernando: support for pact with
sistance to enslavement,! Spaniards, 102-103,105
Indians and Blacks: attempts to prohibit unions Mao Tse Tung, 152
between, in Mexico, 97 Maritime maronage, 130
Indian communities: Maroons and relationships Markets: in West Africa, during slave trade
with, in Mexico, 97 period, 28-29
Industrial revolution: and campaign against ma- Marlie Hill, 167
ronage, 132-133; effect of, on African king- Maronage: effect of measures against, in Mexico,
doms, 27-28; and impact on labour, 131-132 98; measures taken by Spaniards to prevent, in
Inquisition, Spanish: effect of, on Maroons in Mexico, 98; in Mexico, 96; peculiarities of, in
Mexico, 106 Mexico, 105-106; as threat to Industrial Revolu-
Islam: impact of, on Africa 22-23 tion, 132-133. See also maritime marronage
Maroon: explained, 2,89
Jamaican Oman, Louise Bennett, quoted, 113 Maroon communities: formation of, 1-2
Jamaicans, the, Vic Reid, 109 Maroon heritage: conference on, vii, viii-ix; as
Jawbone song, 48, melodic structure of, 140 link between pre-historic and historic period,
Joe Hill, 39 x, 163; significance of, in Caribbean history, xii
Johnny, 46,64,90 Maroon Lands Allotment Act (1842), 72
Josiah, 39 Maroon settlements: difficulties in locating sites,
Juka. See Djuka 170; earliest in Jamaica, 165-172; in eastern
Jamaica, 168
Katta, 52 Maroon strongholds: location of, 152
Kennedy, 39 Maroons: in Belize, 129; in Brazil, 128; and
Kent, 38 capture of runaways, 91; in Cuba, 128,128n;
Killdead, 37 creation of social systems by, 91; cultural conti-
Kindah site, 65,69,170 nuities and processes experienced by, xiii-xiv;
King: role of, in African society, 25-27 79-83; as descendants of Nanny, 74; in Domin-
Kingdoms: factors affecting decline of, 27-28 ica, 127,130-131; as distinct cultural grouping,
Kojo. See Cudjoe 73; of eastern Jamaica, 73; experiences of,
Koromantse: shipment of slaves from 30,183 throughout Caribbean, 127-129; effect of Afri-
Kramanti dance, 49,59-60; exclusion of outsid- can retentions on, 5; expulsion of, from St
ers from, 75 Vincent, 129,130; as fighters in the struggle
Kramanti drums, 49,58 against slavery, xiv; and formation of commu-
Kramanti language: and link to Jamaican Creole, nities, 1; and Haitian Revolution, 1; in His-
81-82; use of among Maroons, 39-42,48, 77-78 paniola, 127; increase in membership through
Kramanti play. See Play runaways, 91; interconnectedness of, through-
Kramanti song, 49,58-59; style of, 78-79,141-143 out Caribbean, 126-127; in Jamaica, and trade
Kwadwoo. See Cudjoe with coastal dwellers, 128; music among Djuka
and Jamaican, 140-143; in St Lucia, 130; reasons
Lamp wicks: making of, in Moore Town, 50 for differences between Jamaican and Mexican,
Land patent: to Nanny, 125-126 105-106; singing style of, 140-143; significance
Land settlements, 37 of victory over British in eighteenth century 36;
Language: comparison of Jamaican Creole with in Suriname, 129; survival strategies of, 4; as
Ndjuka Tongo of Suriname, 76-78; of Jamaican symbols of individual freedom, 112
Maroons, 77; relationship between Maroon Maroons in Mexico: assimilation of, 97; internal
Creole and Jamaican Creole, 81; use of, in power struggle among some, 102; lifestyle of,
Kromanti Play, 77 96-97; negotiated settlement with, 98; along
Leaders: in Accompong, 70; in Maroon societies, Pacific Coast, 103-104; and resistance, 99-100;
xv San Lorenzo, and peace settlement with Mexi-
Lithic typology, 5 can government, 101
L'Ouverture, Toussaint, 123,131 Marriage: among Jamaican Maroons, 70; in West
Lucayanos, 1 Africa, 18-19; in Yanga's palenque, 100

206 Index
Marshall's Hall, 37,168; and link to Moore Town, Obraafu (town crier), 45
168 Occupations: in West Africa, 12-13; in West Cen-
Martial law: declaration of, in Jamaica, 1734,156 tral Africa, 11; of women in west Africa, 11-13
Medicine, traditional: among the Maroons, 61- Ohemmaa: Nanny as, 122,123,1224,133
62,71 Olmec culture, 94
Men's Town, 169 Onuora, Adugo, 113
Merchants: emergence of, among Dyula of
Africa 14 Palencjue de San Brasilio, Colombia, 4
Mexico: Africans in, during colonial period, 94; Palenques: under control of Yanga, 98-99; in
negotiated settlement with Maroons in, 98 Cuba, 128n; existence of, in Mexico, 96; recogni-
Mount Cameron, 39 tion of, in Cuba, 4; social life within, 100
Muirtown. See Moore Town Palmares: Maroon community at, 128
Muretown. See Moore Town Parade, 172
Music: call and response format of, 141; com- Peace Cave, 64,69,172. See also "Ambush" cave
parison between Djuka and Jamaican Maroon, Peace Treaties (1739), 47, 64,67; effect of, on ties
140-143 between slaves and Maroons, 79
Music of the Maroons of Jamaica, Kenneth Bilby, 140 Pettee River Bottom, 66,172; assault on, 154
Muster ground, 45 Pimienta, Diego, 88,151
Myal religion: and link to indigenous Jamaican Pindars, 167
religions, 81; and relation to Kramanti tradi- Pinotepa Nacional, 105
tion, 81 Place names: as aid to locating Maroon sites, 170
Play: 75, 78; explained, 49
Plysham, Nicholas, 155
Names: among Maroons, 91; among Moore Political organization: in Africa, 22; develop-
Town Maroons, 42-43; in West Africa, 16-17 ment of, in West Africa, 23-28; of Maroons, and
Naming: among Maroons, 43-44; in West Africa, similarity to traditional African systems, xv
16 Political structure: of Accompong, 68; of Jamai-
Nanga. See Yanga can Maroon communities, 44-45
Nanny, Lorna Goodison, quoted, 113-114 Prapra, 48,141
Nanny: 120-126; 137nn. 16,18; as ancestor of Prehistoric period: evidence of, in Caribbean,
Eastern Maroons, 74,82; as central spiritual 6-8; in Africa, 10
authority, 75; death date of, 39; lack of symbols Prehistoric period, late: and shift to regional
of appreciation of, 123,136nn. 12,13; land pat- traditions, 7-8
ent to, 125-126,137n. 17; 169; military skills of, Pumpkin Hill, 37,168
46-47,64; myths regarding buttocks of, 120- Puttin'On Ole Massa, quoted, 111
122,126; as national heroine, 113; as ohemmaa,
122,123,133; references to, in historical docu- Quancoo, 65
ments, 124-126; relationship to Cudjoe, 121; in Quao, 64
resistance history, xvi-xvii, 120-122,133; roles Quao's Town, 169
of, 122; significance of buttocks of, 120,121,
122,126; and threat to expansion of plantation Reid, Vic: as griot; and resistance science, 109
system, 122 Religious practices: in West Africa, 17
Nanny Town, Vic Reid, 109; resistance science in, Resistance: need for deeper analysis of, xii;
116; quoted, 109,110-111,116,118 recognition of significance of, xii; relation to
Nanny Town, 37,156; archaeological evidence slavery and oppression, 1
at, 163; archaeological explorations at, 163,164- Resistance science: and Caribbean historiogra-
165; artifacts recovered from, 177; excavations phy, 110; clothing as metonym in, 111;
at, 176-177; occupation levels indicated, 180- explained, 109; in Nanny Town, 116
181; plants identified at site, 174-175; signifi- Rio Nuevo: battle at, 152
cance of finds at, 181 Robinson, Carey, quoted, 154
New Day, Vic Reid, 118 Sacred ground: at Accompong, 69
New Nanny Town, 2,37,167 Safu huss, 45
New World: cultural pattern of, 5 St Lucia: Black Caribs of, 130
Newland, Thomas (surveyor), 37 St Vincent: confrontation between whites and
Nott, Harvey, 164 Maroons in, 130; expulsion of Maroons from, 129
Nottingham, 39 San Lorenzo Cerralva, Mexico: abandonment of,
Nottingham Pen, 39 102; establishment of, 98; name change to

Index 2.07
 Yanga, 105; recognition of, 100-101; relocation Traps: types of, 54-57
of, in 1655,101 Trelawny Maroons: and war with British, 48
San Lorenzo Day: celebration of, 105 Trelawny Town, 170
Scott's Hall, 2,169
Seaman's Valley, 156,168
Seboruco-Mordan Culture, 6 University of the West Indies Mona Archaeologi-
Second Maroon War, 48 cal research Project (UMARP), 164
Seminole Maroons, 4 Urbanization: and development of society in
Shot pocket: description and use of, 50-51 West Africa: 21-22
Simon Hill, 65 Untrodden Jamaica, H.T. Thomas, 120
Slave trade: to Caribbean, 11; effect of, on
African kingdoms, 27 Vermajales, Los, 167
Slaves: importance of, as items of trade, 29 Veridian (poem), 133-135
Social practices: transformation in, of slaves, 21
Social system, West African: continuities in
Caribbean culture, 30-31 Walpole (General), 48,49
Space: value of, to Maroons during warfare, 153, Warfare: psychological preparations for, among
155 Maroons, 158
Spaniards in Mexico: and relationships with Wars of Respect, Kamau Brathwaite, 119,135 n. 2
African slaves, 94 Watch Hill, 37,168
Sun Tzu, 155,156 Weaving: among Moore Town Maroons, 57-58
Suriname: and dual ethnogenesis, 82; Maroon West Africa: climatic conditions in ,11-12;
communities in, 129; provenance of slaves in, cultural continuities of, in Caribbean, xiii-xiv
139 West African traditions: importance of, in Carib-
Sutton's estate, 90 bean continuities, 9-10
West Central Africa: occupations in seventeenth
Taber, Robert, 149 and eighteenth centuries, 11; social and eco-
Table-setting, 46,49 nomic systems in seventeenth and eighteenth
Tainos, 1 centuries, 11
Tar stick: use of, 56 Women: function of, in Maroon culture, 110;
Teulon, Alan: and expedition to Nanny Town, 164 occupations of West African, 12-13; as mem-
Thicknesse, Philip, 121,155 bers of Maroon Council, 68
Thieves, petty: methods of detecting, 49-50
Thomas, H.T., Untrodden Jamaica, 120 Yanga, 98-99; events in honour of, 105; fate of,
Time: advantage of, to Maroon guerrillas, 157, 100; name change of San Lorenzo Cerralva to,
158; African concept of, 16; concept of, in 105; peace treaty proposals by, 99-100; and
archaeology, 5 resistance to Spaniards, 99
Tinder box: description and use of, 51 Yang Bara Club: formation of, 105
Trade, trans-Saharan: importance of, to West Yoyo: meaning of, 74
Africa, 28-29 Yssassi, Don Cristobal de Leiba, 151

108 Index
 Contributors

E Kofi Agorsah, associate professor in the Departments of Black Studies and

International Studies, Portland State University, Oregon, teaches courses on
African and Caribbean cultures and international studies, mainly cultural or
heritage. Formerly appointed Edward Moulton Barrett lecturer in Archaeology
at the University of the West Indies, Mona he has also served on the board of
directors of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and the African-Caribbean
Institute of Jamaica, among others. Current projects include Archaeology of
Maroon Heritage in the Caribbean and the Volta Basin Archaeological Research
Project (VBARP), Ghana.

Kenneth Bilby, research associate in the Center for Folklife Programs and Cul-
tural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has carried out
extensive ethnographic research in Jamaica and French Guiana, focusing on
contemporary Maroon societies. He has produced several ethnomusicological
recordings, and written numerous articles on Caribbean folklore, expressive
culture, and history. In 1992 he curated (with Diana Baird N'Diaye) a pro-
gramme at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, entitled "Creativity
and Resistance: Maroon Culture in the Americas".

Kamau Brathwaite, professor of Comparative Literature & Caribbean Cul-

tural Expression at New York University, is also poet & cultural historian,
with some 50 publications to his credit. Formerly on staff at the University of
the West Indies, Mona (1962-1991), he is co-founder & secretary, Caribbean
Artists Movement (CAM) and editor of its journal, Savacou.

Carolyn Cooper is senior lecturer in the Department of English, University of

the West Indies, Mona. She teaches Caribbean, African and African-American
literature, and is developing a research specialization in Cultural Studies. Her
study of Jamaican popular culture, Noises in the Blood, was published in 1993 by
Macmillan Caribbean.

Albert Edwards, Detective Inspector of Police, and member of the Jamaica

Constabulary Force since 1974, has been an avid student of Portland history
for several years. His interests also extend to the areas of archaeology and
photography. He has participated in two archaeological digs at Nanny Town
(1991, 1992), and is a member and treasurer of the Archaeological Society of
Jamaica.

Contributors 2.09
Collin Lloyd George Harris, born in Moore Town (Portland, Jamaica), was
elected Chief of the Moore Town Maroons in 1964, remains one of the leading
authorities on Maroon history and culture in Jamaica. He is a member of the
Executive Committee of the International Maroon Organization and chairs one
of the committees of that organization. He has thrice been elected president of
the Portland chapter of the Jamaica Teachers Association, and has also served as
senator. He is also a Justice of the Peace.

Joe Pereira, senior lecturer in the Department of Spanish at the University of the
West Indies, Mona, has focused his research interests on Maroons in Caribbean
literature and the literature of the Cuban Revolution, and has published vari-
ous articles on both areas. Former head of the Department of Spanish and dean of
the Faculty of Arts & General Studies, he is currently director of the Institute
of Caribbean Studies, Mona (ICS). He also continues to be very active in the aca-
demic staff union, the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT).

Carey Robinson, historian and former outstanding journalist and broad-

caster, has studied and published on resistance history of Jamaica. Having
written The Fighting Maroons of Jamaica (1969) and its expanded version Iron
Thorn (1992), as well as Fight for Freedom (1987), he continues to take an active
part in the search for an authentic history of Jamaica with the conviction that
through such studies the true character and needs of the Jamaican people
will be better understood.

Maureen Warner-Lewis, reader in African-Caribbean Language and Orature,

Department of English, University of the West Indies, Mona lectures on African
and Oral literatures. She has co-edited Garvey. Africa, Europe, the Americas and
has written, among others, Nkuyu: Spirit Messengers of the Kumina. Her forth-
coming publications include Yoruba Songs of Trinidad and Trinidad Yoruba: From
Mother Tongue to Memory.

Marjorie Whylie, practising musician, composer, music educator and musicolo-

gist, is consultant on Caribbean music and culture. She leads her own band,
Whylie Wrythm, and is a member of the Jazzmobile and the Big Band. Formerly
on staff at the Jamaica School of Music where she directed the Folk Music
Research Department for fourteen years, she is now also musical director of the
National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC), and part time tutor in
Caribbean musics at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, Univer-
sity of the West Indies, Mona.

Martin Luther Wright, born in Accompong Town (St Elizabeth, Jamaica) has
been Colonel of the Accompong Town Maroons for twenty years, having been
elected and re-elected for three consecutive five-year terms (1967-1982) and
again in 1988, retiring in 1993. He has also been a deacon and local preacher of
long standing, as well as a very successful farmer and businessman.

2.10 Contributors