First Maroon War

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Map of Jamaica ( Herman Moll , 1717)

The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and British settlers and colonial troops that lasted for several decades and ended with the peace treaties of 1739/40.

prehistory

The for slave labor on the sugar cane - plantations deported to Jamaica Africans came mainly from what is now Ghana and the Ivory Coast . They therefore mostly spoke similar languages ​​( Akan languages ), which helped them to exchange plans and to form alliances. Time and again, groups of fled slaves made their way to the indigenous peoples , the Arawaks and Miskitos , in which they were absorbed.

British rule

In 1655, British troops under Admiral William Penn landed on the island and defeated the Spanish settlers. Some Spaniards had freed their black slaves and armed them to fight the British. These withdrew, however, together with many slaves left behind by the fleeing Spaniards inland, where they mixed with the local population living there and formed the Windward Maroons. The British never managed to fully control the island, as the hilly and densely forested interior, known as Cockpit Country, was difficult to access and ideal for guerrilla warfare . So there were always small clashes, assaults and slave revolts. One of these revolts resulted in about 200 slaves escaping in Saint Ann Parish in 1673 . They joined forces in the northeast of the island with a group of Malagasy people who had survived the sinking of a slave ship. This is how the independent group of Leeward Maroons came into being.

The Maroons survived by farming, hunting, and gathering. But they also traded with the white settlers and traded food for weapons and clothing. Raids were made on plantations to supply European goods. The freed slaves strengthened the Maroon settlements. Important leaders in this fight were Granny Nanny (Windward Maroons) and Cudjoe (Leeward Maroons), who, according to the oral tradition of the Maroons, were siblings.

The continued unrest forced the British colonial powers to bring additional troops to the island in 1728. However, the maroons, who hid in ravines, caves and thickets, could not be decisively weakened. Maroon scouts in the forest could warn anyone of approaching enemies by blowing the abeng , a cow horn.

peace contract

When the British realized they couldn't defeat the Maroons, they negotiated a treaty with them instead. This was first achieved in 1739 with Cudjoe from the Leeward Maroons. They were obliged to stay in their five main settlements, where they could live largely independently. However, they were no longer allowed to take in escaped slaves or even had to take part in the hunt for them. Since the British saw them as capable warriors, the Maroons were also obliged to defend the island in the event of an attack from outside.

Under pressure from the Europeans and the Leeward Maroons, the rebellious Windward Maroons also agreed to a treaty in 1740. The continuing dissatisfaction with this led to the Second Maroon War from 1795 .

literature

  • Orlando Patterson: "Slavery and Slave Revolts: A Sociohistorical Analysis of the First Maroon War" in: Richard Price, Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas, Anchor Books, 1973, ISBN 0-385-06508-6 .
  • Mavis C. Campbell: The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655-1796, Africa World Press (Trenton, NJ), 1990, ISBN 0-86543-096-9 .