During the 18th century, the powerful Maroons, escaped ex-slaves who settled in the mountains of Jamaica, carved out a significant area of influence. Through the use of slave labor, the production of sugar in this British colony flourished. But the courageous resistance of the Maroons threatened this prosperous industry.

These efforts included plantation raids, the killing of men, and the freeing of slaves. The threat to the system was clear and present; hence, the planters were willing to sign a treaty with the Maroons in 1738. The treaty offers good insight to the relationship between the planters and the Maroons at the time, and deserves further attention. On March 1, 1738, the articles of pacification with the Maroons of Trelawny Town signaled to Jamaica that a new era was emerging. The English planters had feared the rising power of the Maroons, and therefore tried to subdue them. This proved to be unsuccessful, consequently causing the English to realize that making peace with the Maroons was the only possible solution.

This treaty was the first of its kind and it demonstrated that a group of rebellious ex-slaves had forced a powerful class of planters to come to terms. This was an unlikely event during the eighteenth century, given the dominance of the planter class across the Caribbean. Yet the fact remains that the treaty did not solely serve the planters’ interest.

For example, article three of the treaty states that the Maroons were given 1500 acres of crown land, a necessity for the Maroons to maintain their independent way of life. In addition, it made a boundary between the Maroons and the planters, which was to avoid future conflicts. Another example of an unbiased stipulation is article eight of the treaty, which states: “that if any white man shall do any manner of injury to Captain Cudjoe, his successors, or any of his or their people, shall apply to any commanding officer or magistrate in the neighborhood for justice.” This showed some equity under the law between the Maroons and the planters.

Furthermore, the fifth article of the treaty specifies “that Captain Cudjoe, and all the Captain’s adherents, and people now in subjection to him, shall all 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, crawl, 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.” In other words, the English planters were willing to divide the game equally amongst themselves and the Maroons, but more importantly, they were giving the latter the liberty to hunt freely.

Although the articles of pacification granted the Maroons of Jamaica many privileges, it also attempted to limit their attacks against the system of slavery in general. There were hints of favoritism towards the planters, for example, article thirteen required that the Maroons continue to help clear roads from Trelawny Town to Westmoreland and if possible from St. James to St. Elizabeth.

This was biased because, as free men, the Maroons were not entitled to labor for the planters. This showed that the planters viewed the Maroons to be inferior to them. Another bias in the treaty includes article eleven which states that “Captain Cudjoe, and his successors, shall wait on his Excellency or the Commander in Chief for the time being, every year, if thereunto required.” This article reveals an attempt to keep the Maroons subordinate and under control. In addition to article eleven, another article that reveals a biased attitude is article fourteen, which affirms that two white men shall live with the Maroons “in order to maintain a friendly correspondence with the inhabitants of this island.”

Even though this treaty was to encourage a friendly relationship between the two parties, it also gave white planters first-hand knowledge of the situation in the Maroon camp. Most important of all, the treaty also required the Maroons to act as a sort of police force for the planters, returning future runaways to the plantations, and drafting them to fight against future rebellions.

This treaty contained elements of fairness and favoritism that were evident through its articles. Some of these were beneficial to the Maroons, while others were not; however, the signing of the treaty indicated that the Maroons constituted a substantial threat to the planters. This treaty was not only ground breaking in that it recognized the Maroons and their needs, but also revealed that the English planters were fearful of the Maroons capabilities and ever-rising power.

Bryan Edwards, On the Maroons, (London, 1794) XIX-XX

We can trace the tale of the courageous run away slaves, or Maroons of Jamaica, back to 1655, when the British captured that island. This crucial time in Jamaican history marked the end of Spanish power and the rise of an independent force in Jamaica, the Maroons. When the British conquered Jamaica, many of the Spanish inhabitants fled to neighboring Cuba, leaving behind their slaves.

However, because the British soldiers were so few in number, they were only able to occupy the south side of the island. As a result, many Spaniards were able to remain in Jamaica and inhabit the north side of the island in a town then known as Sevilla Nueva. The Spaniards in Jamaica kept up communication with their former neighbors who were now living on the south side of Cuba.

Less than 24 hours away on sail, the Spaniards in Cuba would eventually be called upon to help those in Jamaica try to regain control of the island. In 1655, Don Arnoldo de Sasi, the old governor, five hundred of the former inhabitants, and one thousand troops from Old Spain, landed at Rio Nuevo east of Seville where they built a fort. But, the surprise attack was quickly suppressed when Colonel Doyley, the English governor, arrived with five hundred men from the south side of Jamaica and forced the Spanish to run back to their safe haven in Cuba. With the departure of their Spanish masters, about 1500 slaves decided to seek refuge on the north and east sides of the mountains rather than to submit to the conquerors or follow the fortunes of their former owners. As Dallas’ History of the Maroons Vol I mentions, it is believed that “for some time they were instigated by their former masters to commit hostilities against the new possessors of the country.”

Although this idea seemed unlikely, the possibilities of communicating with their former slaves could have been accomplished since Cuba was so to Jamaica, and because the Spaniards were very familiar in navigating the Leeward Islands. Located in different parts of the island, most of the Spanish slaves from the south side of Jamaica sought refuge in the mountains of Clarendon where they were led by a chief named Juan de Bolas. Under his leadership, many of these Clarendon Spanish slaves attacked the British inhabitants of Jamaica, as well as the other fugitive slaves of the island. However, once they were defeated and their leader slain, the Clarendon slaves began diminishing in number, never to return to their safe haven in the mountains. After the quiet retreat of the Clarendon fugitives, the fugitive slaves that remained were given the name Maroons, which was taken from the Spanish word “cimarrones” meaning unruly, fugitive, and wild.

The Spaniards used this term to refer to wild cattle that had escaped. Living mainly in the northern and eastern parts of the island, this surviving group of fugitive slaves waged war against Jamaica’s English settlers. However, another group of fugitives would soon arise. In 1690 a group of slaves from the Clarendon parish rebelled against their masters and sought refuge in the interior parts of the country. Through the recruitment of other plantation slaves, this new group of Clarendon fugitives increased in number and acquired the necessary provisions from the plantations of their newest recruits. In time, these rebels, not yet associated with the Maroons living in the east, would plunder plantations, destroy cattle, and carry off slaves by force in order to survive, simultaneously causing planters to constantly live in a state of fear. As a result, the planters made many complaints to the British legislation and parties of armed forces were soon organized to kill the Clarendon rebels.

The Clarendon rebels, who always traveled in small gangs without a particular leader, decided to organize themselves and appoint a chief who would protect them from the wrath of the Jamaican colonists. They picked Cudjoe, “a bold, skillful, and enterprising man,” he in turn appointed his brothers Accompong and Johnny to lead under him, and Cuffee and Quao as Captains. With new leadership and an increase in size, due to the Coromantee slaves who had joined them, the Clarendon rebels were gaining strength in numbers and through their leadership. Moreover, Cudjoe’s war against the white inhabitants of Jamaica had brought him great fame amongst the white planters and the fugitive slaves alike. As a result, a group known as the Cottawoods, who had separated from the other Maroons prior to 1730, marched through the mountainous, uninhabited areas of the country to join Cudjoe and the Clarendon rebels.

Hundreds of Cottawood members joined Cudjoe until they were all united again under his leadership. Another group, known as the Madagascars, also joined Cudjoe and the Clarendon rebels. According to Dallas, these Negroes where “distinct in every respect (figure, character, language, country), from other blacks”. The Madagascars, who were small in number, claimed to have run away from the settlements around an area known as Lacovia in the parish of St. Elizabeth after the planters had purchased them. Although these three groups merged, each attempted to preserve their group names and language: Cottawood referring to the former Maroons; Kencufees referring to the original fugitives under Cudjoe. However, throughout the years, the Madagascars eventually lost their native language and learned the Coromantee language, which was in use by everyone else among the Maroons. Finally, in 1730, the Jamaican planters’ parties of armed forces were sent out against Cudjoe and his people.

Those under his leadership were given the name Maroon, which was a term originally given to the original Spanish fugitives. The Maroons retreated to the mountains throughout the mid-seventeenth century, unaware of the impact they would make on British and Jamaican history. With a vast knowledge of the uninhabited Jamaican mountain side, the Maroons were able to wage war against British planters and eventually contract a peace agreement with the British. Through the courage of fugitive slaves and the leadership of Cudjoe and his colleagues, the Maroons became a people whose history exemplified the driving force of freedom. R.C. Dallas, Esq., the History of the Maroons, Vol I, London, 1803).Maroon Culture and How it Came About

Culture means many things, but we can all agree that how and where a person has been raised helps to define their way of life. The shared beliefs and forms of a certain culture include characteristics such as language, material traits, type of music and the instruments used, marital beliefs, social customs, and just everyday rules of life. In earlier centuries, some traveled from Europe to start a new life, and of those, many took it upon themselves to transport African natives along with them. Despite the fact that they were forced to come to an unfamiliar place, these enslaved migrants continued practicing the beliefs known to them in Africa. For instance, many of the ancestors of present-day Jamaicans, like the Maroons, came from Africa.

Because of the characteristics of the culture these ancestors brought, modified, and preserved, historians have been able to identify these forced migrants, including many of the Maroons, as Koromantis”—people from the Akan culture. Because of the persistence of earlier generations, present-day descendents are able to see how their modern culture came about. Jamaican planters used the term Koromanti was to refer to slaves purchased from the Akan region of West Africa, presently known as Ghana. In the earliest years of the British settlement the Koromantis were the most stubborn, and yet, the most respected. Many of them were experienced with military methods because of the fighting and wars they encountered in Africa.

They were a very proud and disciplined group. The British felt these characteristics would make them good slaves; the Koromantis’ pride and discipline might make them want to do their work to the best of their ability. Slave owners often put them in charge of a certain section of a plantation to make sure the others were working properly. But the Koromantis, who came from a natural environment very similar to that of Jamaica, were also able to rebel against slavery and run to the mountains of St. Ann, Clarendon, and Elizabeth, the original homes of the Jamaican Maroons. While the planters feared to pursue the runaways into the hills, the Koromanti used the mountains and their own disciplined way of life as an advantage. In the mountains, they developed their own way of life by incorporating the various cultures with those of the other runaway slaves who made up the diverse Maroons. In fact, among the Maroons—and among the people brought to Jamaica as slaves in general—Akan cultural influences predominated.

One of the characteristics most useful in pinpointing a group’s origin is their language. This is very important when speaking of the Maroons, because many of the slaves did not speak the same language as other slaves that joined them throughout the years. Many of the slaves brought over came from different parts of Africa, and therefore, were unable to communicate by verbal means with other slaves. Instead, they often used body language to communicate; in particular hand gestures and various physical actions. As time passed on, verbal communication improved among the slaves because they learned to communicate using their own language they invented using variations of their previous language and that of the people who owned them. According to an author of that time, Bryan Edwards,” they [Maroons] are in general ignorant of our language”. He said that their language was a mix between African dialects, Spanish, and broken English. While the Maroons’ language was not uniformly a product of Akan origins, we can find extensive Akan influence on the Maroons and Jamicans of African origin generally by looking at naming patterns.

These patterns can “reveal the extent to which concepts of family, lineage, and kinship were retained beyond the Atlantic crossing.” By doing this, they have found that many of the names used by the Maroons and even descendants of slaves today, come from Africa, and often from particular regions of Africa.

One of the most recognizable African naming patterns in both North America and the Caribbean is the West African custom of “day names.” This means that each day was assigned a particular name, and a baby was named according to which day of the week he or she was born. Akan day names predominated among the Maroons and other African people of Jamaica. For example, a baby born on Sunday was named Kwesi in Ghana and Quashie in Jamaica.

• AKAN JAMAICAN MAROONS Male Female
• Sunday — Kwesi Quashie Quasheba
• Monday – Kwadwo /KojoCudjoe/KujoJuba
• Tuesday — KwabenaBene Cobena
• Wednesday – Kweku, Quaco, Cooba
• Thursday — Kwau, QuawAba
• Friday — Kofi, Cuffe, Fiba
• Saturday — Kwame, Quamin, Mimba

Dr. Edmund Abaka from the University of Miami and the book Language in Exile, Barbara Lalla & Jean D’Costa provided the names shown.According to the book Language in Exile, these names often carried specific connotations to them. Both male and female names for each day had a different meaning. For instance, the Monday male day-name Cudjoe means strong-headed and the female version means clever. Also, the Friday male day-name, Cuffee, means hot-tempered; while the female Friday day-name, Fiba, means gentle and mild.

Other links between the culture of the Jamaicans and their Africans forebears include their music and instruments used.

In the article “African Music in 17th Century Jamaica,” Richard Rath explains the how an English physician, Hans Sloane of the Royal Society discovered that the music played and instruments used by the slaves of Jamaica were similar to the sounds of African music. He attended a festival held by the slaves and found that the music and instruments were unfamiliar to the Europeans and that it “sounded” like African music.

He took a sketch of the instruments they used and found that the way they were made is the same way the Africans made their instruments. Among these were included the central African lute, but also the eight-stringed harp, a Koromanti instrument. Instruments were often wound with fiber iun the Gold Coast style.

The styles of the dances, including style of movements, done by the Jamaicans were also very similar to that of the Koromanti. Another similarity between the Jamaicans and the Akan included what Edwards called the “prevalence of Obi,” which is a sort of witchcraft now often called Obeah. Edwards argued that, like all nations of Africa, the Jamaican Maroons believed that the older men were wizards, or Obeah-men.

These Obeah-men were extremely intelligent and would use special herbs and medications to perform weird acts. For example, they would pretend to raise someone from the dead by giving them something to slow their heart down, causing people to believe they were dead, and then the Obeah-man would pretend to resurrect the “corpse.” This is one of the reasons the Maroons, the most independent and rebellious blacks in Jamaica, tended to come from the Koromanti, one of the most prized group of slaves in Jamaica. They used Obeah to make others, including planters, believe they had power. Maroon Culture mostly originated from beliefs and ways of the Africans; especially the Koromantis from the Akan region.

Because of this, historians have been able to trace where many of the ancestors of the people of the New World actually originated. This allows descendants of these slaves, and the Maroons, to learn more about their heritage and also, why their culture may be different, but at the same time, very similar to the cultures of the people of the Akan region of Ghana.

R.C. Dallas’ History of the Maroons and Bryan Edwards’ On the Maroons provide good accounts of the Maroons of Jamaica. Both were written in the 18th century, when the Maroons were still prominent in the island, by whites who had frequent dealings with them. They not only give us an explanation of the Maroons’ culture, but they also provide us with a first hand account of their existence.

This includes many interesting aspects of their lives, such as the way they lived, their habits, and their manners. One should start by describing the basic aspects of their lives. The Maroon habitations were meager, to say the least. Their houses were built “for the convenience of a sloping ground to carry off the floods occasioned by heavy rains.”

Most were small cottages covered with thatch or long grass, usually with no floor but the ground itself. Some of the houses of the chiefs had shingle roofs and floored rooms. Surrounding these houses was a fence, “made of a prickly shrub, called the Pinguin”. Agriculture among the Maroons was not very complex at all, in part because they did not have a great dependence on it. The Maroons fulfilled most of their wants through hunting, and from their rewards for catching runaway slaves. The Maroons also raised fowls, and bred cattle and hogs. Nonetheless, they still grew fruits and vegetables.

These included “plantain, Indian corn or maize, yams, cocoas, toyaus and in short all the nutritious roots that thrive in tropical soils”. The women did most of the cultivating, which included clearing the land. They did this by setting a fire around trees and leaving it to burn until the trunks of their own weight. Neither Dallas nor Edwards tells us why the women were the farmers. This, like many other aspects of their lives, was probably connected to the Maroons’ heritage in West Africa, where women were generally the farmers in a community or village. Edwards and Dallas almost certainly underrated the value of the women’s work to the Maroon camps. Despite what seems to be a very simple provision of food, they had some luxuries, provided by the woods. These included wild boar, ring-tailed pigeons and the land crab. Accounts by both Dallas and Edwards describe the Maroons as looking different from the rest of the Negroes on the island.

As Dallas explains, they “displayed a striking distinction in their personal appearance, being blacker, taller, and in every respect handsomer”. He attributes this to their constant exercise in climbing and descending the mountains, in pursuit of wild boars and runaway slaves. The Maroons, who looked “handsomer” to Dallas, and had “great bodily perfection”, according to Edwards, were muscular and strong men, constantly on the move through the rough terrain of the interior of Jamaica. They frequently hunted for wild boar, often selling the meat to buyers in the settlements on the coastal regions.

When they were not doing this, they were searching the woods for runaway slaves, whom they would return dead or alive for a reward. According to Edwards, the Maroons, “like all other savage nations, regarded their wives as so many beasts of burthen; and felt no more concern at the loss of one of them, than a white planter would have felt at the lost of a bullock”. He further explains that polygamy was a common practice among them. Some men claimed two to six wives. Edwards also explains that the children were not treated well. He claims, “that it was not an uncommon circumstance for a father, in a fit of rage or drunkenness, to seize his own infant, which had offended him by crying, and dash it against a rock, with a degree of violence which often proved fatal.” Edwards may well be exaggerating, as he was not fond of the Maroons, when he considered a threat to planter power. Further, Edwards claimed, that young women would be offered to visitors, with or without their consent for the purpose of prostitution.

The guests of the Maroons were given a “hearty and boisterous kind of hospitality.” On most of these occasions, a mock fight was a part of the entertainment and a variety of foods were served, including wild boar, land crabs, pigeons and fish. The language of the Maroons, Edwards argued, “was a barbarous dissonance of the African dialects, with a mixture of Spanish and broken English.” The Maroons also communicated by use of a horn, is known as the Abeng. Their use of the horn was remarkable, “they distinguished the orders that the sound conveyed.” Dallas tells us “the Maroons had a particular call upon the horn for each individual, by which he was summoned from a distance, as easy as he would have spoken to by name, had he be near.”

Where religion was concerned, the Maroons, like their forefathers, believed that “Accompong was the God of Heavens, the creator of all things, and deity of infinite goodness.” Dallas provides this information and adds that they neither offered sacrifices to him nor had any modes of worship. Edwards also speaks of the Maroons’ belief in the practice of obeah, a sort of “witchcraft.”

Allegedly some of the chiefs used obeah to to keep some of the younger men in subordination. Marriages among the Maroons had no religious or juridical ceremonies. The consent of the woman to live with the man was sufficient and as previously stated; a man had as many wives as he pleased. Gifts of cloths were presented to the bride, and hogs and fowls to the groom. If they were to separate however, they were to return all the gifts bestowed unto them. Funeral procedures were simple among them and were much the same as the other blacks on the island.

They would place the dead in a wooden coffin and sing prior to burial. Deaths were not more frequent to the Maroons than elsewhere. However, when they were able they saw the plantation doctors or took simple herbs prescribed to them by their old women.” The Maroons of Jamaica lived a somewhat simple life in an exceptionally difficult terrain. However, they adapted well to the environment, where they made themselves as comfortable as possible.

They were not savages running around in the forest, as many writers depicted them. They had for the most part created a way of life that reproduced African customs and traditions, while also incorporating new customs, manners and habits into their lives.

Maroons: Violence and Confrontation with the Planters During the eighteenth century, the Maroons of Jamaica evolved into formidable opponents for the English planters who occupied the island during that period. The original Maroons were the descendants of a band of run away Spanish slaves who had taken refuge in the mountainous interior of the island.

Later, runaways also supplied much of their numbers. In the mountains they together sought freedom, created villages and a new way of life. They divided themselves in two groups, the Windward and Leeward Maroons. The Windward maroons were situated in the eastern section of the island and the Leeward in the western section of the island.

Both locations were far away from the oppressive and tyrannical sugar plantations that the English had established in the island’s coastal regions. However, despite the considerable distance between the maroons and the planters, the two groups came into repeated confrontations, which ultimately resulted in the First and Second Maroon Wars.

In Richard Dunn’s Sugar and Slavery, the author argues that the causes of the Maroon wars were directly related to the numerous insurrections that plagued the island during the years of 1694 to 1704, and the number of slaves that ran away to join the Maroons. Small revolts had broken out on Jamaica’s north coast in 1694, 1702 and 1704. Runaways fleeing from the repression that followed these revolts then attempted to hide with other ex-slaves in the mountains. This activity set the stage for the Maroon Wars of 1720 to 1739. (261). Dunn argues that these revolts were the cause of the war. Yet other factors also contributed, especially the unwarranted aggression of the planters towards the Maroons.

Bryan Edwards, a very prominent speaker for the planters during the eighteenth century, and the author of Maroon Negroes, revealed (both wittingly and unwittingly) some of the other factors that led to war between the Planters and the Maroons. Edward argues that the primary cause of the first Maroon war was that the white Planters and the members of the militia were becoming more aggressive towards the Maroons. These altercations became more and more violent: “Scare a week [passed] without their murdering one or more of them; and as soldiers became more confident and careless, the Negroes grew more enterprising and bloody-mined.”(1).

But Edwards, himself a planter, also reveals white planters’ outrage at the fact that the Maroons remained free. Slave owners feared that the Maroons represented a symbol of hope for the slaves who were still in captivity. The maroon villages were a place of refuge for the runaway slaves.

Edwards says, “From time to time, without the least provocation; and by their barbarities and outrages [the Maroons] intimidated the whites from venturing to any considerable distance from the sea coast”(123). The island was the whites’, and slavery the Africans’ proper state—or so thought the planters. And planters even feared that the Maroons’ independence undermined the property value of their own land.

Edwards also makes mention of the fact that the English were offended when the Maroons inadvertently refused the proclamation offered by Lieutenant- Governor. Sir Charles Lyttelton. This resulted in yet still further aggression by the English, who sent a white militia into the interior to subdue the maroons. The Maroons in turn unleashed their vengeance upon the white planters, raiding plantations at night, and killing whites regardless of their age or sex. Even after the first Maroon War ended in the famous treaty between their leader Cudjoe and the colonial government of Jamaica, conflict between the two warring parties continued.

The size of the Maroons grew considerably after 1740, and they soon wanted more land to sustain their growing population. And, according to eighteenth-century author R.C Dallas, by the late 1700s the Maroon men had become increasingly friendly with the slave women and in numerous cases fathered children with slave women. “He, who connected himself, “Dallas claimed,” with women whose brother, sister, or other relations, were fugitives, would probably be tempted to remit his pursuit of them, and even favor their concealment.”(125) What this meant was that when relatives of these Maroon children ran away from the plantations, the Maroons were more than eager to help these new runaways.

This greatly angered the planters, who used the new situation as an excuse to break the terms and conditions of the peace treaty of 1738. Other tensions increased conflict between the planters and the Maroons in the eighteenth century. In one outstanding incident, a group of Maroons came in dispute with a band of surveyors. According to Dallas, “Some surveyors being employed to mark lines of the adjoining patents, or grants of Crown lands, for the purpose of determining the boundaries of their 1500 acres conceded by treaty to them, they took alarm, supposing an encroachment to be made on their territory, and they threatened the surveyors”(128) This was just a simple misunderstanding between the two parties involved.

The result was, however, more complex. The Maroons, thinking that they had been wronged, sought justice through their Superintendent. They resided in a white town until the matter was settled. By the eighteenth century the Maroons viewed the planters as a clear and present danger to their autonomous way of life.

The planters viewed the Maroons as an unruly, rebellious group that threaten their lavish and luxurious way of life that had grown accustom too. The planters formed an elite group who had the power of making laws, and who had much to lose. Their fear of losing power was evident when they signed the 1738 peace treaty with Cudjo. The tension that divided the two parties was also apparent.

All that was needed was a misunderstanding to occur to ignite, the outbreak of violence between the Planters and the Maroons. By the end of the eighteenth century, such misunderstandings were not wanting, and the result was the second Maroon War of Jamaica.

Richard Dunn. Sugar and Slavery, Published 1978

Bryan Edwards. Maroon Negroes, Published 1948

Allen Facey. The Jamaica Gleaner Published 1834