Quilombo

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At the time of the Portuguese rule, Quilombo was the name given to a settlement of escaped black slaves in Brazil . The word Quilombo comes from the Bantu languages Kikongo and Kimbundu and means housing estate. If it was a matter of defensive communities, the term “Mocambo” was also used, which means “refuge” or “hiding place” in Kikongo.

history

The largest and most famous Quilombo was that of Palmares in what is now the Brazilian state of Alagoas with at times between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. The branch existed from 1630 to 1694 and withstood several attempts at conquest by the Portuguese colonial rulers until it was completely destroyed by a force under the command of the notorious Bandeirante Domingos Jorge Velho. The anniversary of the death of the legendary last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares Zumbi on November 20, 1695 is celebrated today by the Afro-Brazilian movements as the day of black consciousness (Dia da Consciência Negra).

There are other legends about the battles between slaves and slave owners in the quilombos - it is said of the quilombos that the martial art of capoeira developed strongly there and that the slaves also used it in the fight against the slave hunters (armed with firearms).

The Quilombos resistance was broken in the 17th century, but the settlements persisted.

Quilombolas

The inhabitants of the Quilombos or their descendants are called "Quilombolas". The exact number of their territories is not known and varies depending on the originator of the census. To make matters worse, many quilombolas are still in a self-identification process. A number between 1,000 and 10,000 quilombot territories can be assumed as a very rough guide. The concept of the Quilombot Territories corresponds to the concept of the indigenous territories. It aims at self-determination in the community's own territory. An influence on national politics is not intended.

The land rights of the quilombolas have been enshrined in the Brazilian constitution since 1988. By default, Brazil is among the frontrunners for the rights of non- indigenous local communities who lead traditional lives.

Palenque

There were also settlements similar to the Quilombos in Spanish-speaking America, which are called palenques (singular: palenque ). This Spanish word in the original sense of the word denotes a fence or enclosure with a palisade .

See also

literature

  • Werner Zips (Ed.): African Diaspora. Out of Africa - Into New Worlds. Vol. 1, 2nd edition, Lit Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-3971-0 .
  • Cicilian Luiza Löwen Sahr, Francine Iegelski: Quilombos and quilombolas in Brazil: Resistance and future developments . In: Shadia Husseini de Araújo, Lisa Tschorn, Tobias Schmitt (eds.): Resistance in the ›Land of the Future‹ . ISBN 978-3-89771-050-4 , © UNRAST Verlag, Oct. 2013.
  • Marcelo D´Salete: Angola Janga - A Story of Freedom , Bahoe Books , Vienna 2019. ( Non-fiction comic with commentary and glossary, from the Brazilian Portuguese by Lea Hübner.)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Yeda Pessoa de Castro : Falares africanos na Bahia: um vocabulário afro-brasileiro. Academia Brasileira de Letras, Topbooks Editora e Distribuidora de Livros, Rio de Janeiro 2001.
  2. ↑ Chronology of the Quilombo in Palmares (Portuguese)
  3. ↑ Dieter Gawora, Maria Helena de Souza Ide, Romulo Soares Barbosa (ed.), Mirja Annawald (transl.): Traditional peoples and communities in Brazil. Latin America Documentation Center. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2011.