Granny Nanny
Granny Nanny (* 1700 in Ashanti Empire ; † 1740 Jamaica ) is the only woman on the list of national heroes of Jamaica and was a leader of the Maroons in the early 18th century and in the First Maroon War .
Granny Nanny, also known as Grandy Nanny or Grandma Nanny, belonged to the Ashanti people in what is now Ghana . She was probably abducted as a slave to Jamaica along with five of her brothers, Accompong, Cudjoe , Cuffy, Johnny and Quao . At the time of their arrival in Jamaica it was already to some slave revolts on the sugar cane - plantations come.
The first slaves from Africa , known as Maroons, had fled during the conquest of Jamaica between the English and the Spanish in 1655. Even under British rule, there were repeated movements of refugees.
Because of the brutal treatment of the female slaves by the plantation owners, Nanny and her brothers decided to flee. They formed their own maroon group. Above all, Cudjoe was the driving force behind further uprisings, which also enabled slaves to flee and join them.
In order to better organize the Maroons against the British colonial power, the siblings decided to split up. Cudjoe therefore moved to Saint James Parish in northwest Jamaica and founded a maroon settlement that was later called Cudjoe Town . Accompong went to Saint Elizabeth Parish in the southwest while Nanny and Quao moved to Portland Parish in the Blue Mountains in the northeast of the island.
In 1720, Nanny and Quao took over the management of a maroon group that had settled here. During this time the place and the defense system was named Nanny Town (now: Moore Town ). The small town had an area of around 2.4 km² around 1723, which was used as a residential area with around 140 houses for livestock and agriculture. Due to the influence of Nanny and Quao, living together was organized like that of a typical Ashanti tribe in Africa. Since they knew how to use negotiators to exchange their agricultural products for weapons and clothing in the cities, they managed to survive in the mountains. They also raided plantations to steal weapons and necessary goods. After a successful raid, they set the plantation on fire and led the freed slaves to Nanny Town .
The place was strategically located as a defensive installation. It was on a ridge , 270 yards long , overlooking the Stony River . This made a surprise attack by the British almost impossible. The Maroons had also set up scouting posts. When attacked, they blew a horn, the abeng , calling on the warriors to take up arms and stand ready for defense.
Nanny is described in legends and documents as a woman with exceptional leadership skills. She was a small wiry person with piercing eyes who was busy making plans to free slaves. She is said to have been involved in the liberation of more than 800 slaves. In addition to her cleverness in warfare, she also knew how to gain the trust and respect of the Maroons through her knowledge of herbs and spiritual African traditions.
The raids on the plantations and the liberation of the slaves were of course a thorn in the side of the colonial power. Between 1728 and 1734 Nanny Town was repeatedly attacked unsuccessfully by British troops. The Maroons and their strategist Nanny were superior to the military because of their local knowledge, their guerrilla tactics, with which they repeatedly knew how to lay ambushes, and also because of their motivation to defend their freedom. The fight known as the First Maroon War ended in 1739 with the conclusion of a peace treaty.
It is said about Granny Nanny that her urge for freedom was so great that in 1739, as Quao, after Cudjoe, she was the second to sign the peace treaty with the British , is said to have been very angry. In her view, the treaty was contrary to the basic rules of freedom and she saw it as a form of submission.
literature
- Werner Zips: Black Rebels: Maroon Resistance in Jamaica . Lit-Verlag, 2011, pp. 158-164
- Alan Tuelon: Nanny - Maroon Chieftainess . Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 4 (December 1973), pp. 20-27 ( JSTOR )
- Serafín Mendez Mendez, Gail Cueto, Neysa Rodríguez Deynes: Notable Caribbeans and Caribbean Americans: A Biographical Dictionary . Greenwood Publishing, 2003, pp. 324-325
Web links
- National Heroes information on Granny Nanny, accessed July 7, 2015
- Unesco World Heritage u. a. Nanny Town Heritage Route since July 2015 World Heritage Site , English, accessed July 7, 2015
Footnotes
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nanny, granny |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jamaican maroon and freedom fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1700 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ghana |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1740 |
| Place of death | Jamaica |