Jamaican Maroons

Origins

When the English invaded Spanish Jamaica in 1655, many enslaved Africans fled into the interior and formed free communities. Their numbers grew as runaways from British plantations joined them, many of them Akan from the Gold Coast. Two main groups emerged: the Leeward Maroons of the Cockpit Country and the Windward Maroons of the Blue Mountains.

Rule and society

Maroon towns were run by elected or chosen leaders, among them Cudjoe in the west and Nanny in the east, now a national heroine. They farmed hidden provision grounds, hunted wild hogs and used guerrilla tactics and abeng horn signals. After the First Maroon War, treaties of 1739 and 1740 granted them land and autonomy in return for returning runaways and helping suppress revolts, a clause that soured relations with the enslaved.

To the present

In the Second Maroon War of 1795 to 1796 the Trelawny Town Maroons were deported to Nova Scotia and later Sierra Leone. Other communities, at Accompong, Moore Town, Charles Town and Scott's Hall, survive and still claim treaty rights, keeping Kromanti ritual language and traditions.