in 1519, led by Henriques against the Spanish in
Hispaniola. In Brazil, the Africans set up settle-
ments known as Quilombos. The most famous of
such settlements was Quilombo dos Palmares, in
the northwestern part of Brazil. It functioned
successfully as an independent republic of the
Maroons in the 17th century, following an African
pattern of social organization. At its apex, it was
the home and refuge of more than 30,000 African
men, women, and children who had managed to
escape the dreadful experience of plantation life.
Its most famous and last leader was Zumbi dos
Palmares, who was born in freedom in Quilombo
dos Palmares.
The Jamaican RebellionIt is the Jamaicans, however, who hold the distinc-
tion of waging the most slave rebellions in the
West per capita. Historically, two major groups
inhabited either side of the Caribbean island, the
Windward Maroons of the East and the Leeward
Maroons of the West. They were led by Queen
Nanni (Nanny) and Kojo, respectively. Some
accounts even indicate that Nanni and Kojo were
siblings, whereas others discount that notion.
Whatever the case, they no doubt shared a blood
bond forged in the crucible of the Maroon Wars.
Although they both fought valiantly, and although
the written history of the Maroons is almost
totally dominated by male figures, it is Queen
Nanni who is arguably the most consequential
military figure in Jamaican Maroon history, in
that she successfully united all the Maroons of
the island.
So monumental and superhuman were the
accomplishments of the Obeah woman, Grande
Nanni, that some even believe that she is more a
mythical than a historical figure. Nonetheless, it is
believed that Queen Nanni was born in present-
day Ghana in the 1680s. The Akan Queen Mother
was the religious, military, and cultural leader of
the Windward Jamaican Maroons from around
1725 to 1740, during the acme of their amazing
resistance against the British, who outnumbered
them exponentially and, at that time, were the
world’s greatest military power.
Queen Nanni, known as “The Mother of Us
All,” was able to successfully evade capture for
many years, even during the height of the British
effort to exterminate her from 1730 to 1734.
During this time, they raided and destroyed Nanni
Town, the bunker town she established at
Jamaica’s highest vantage point, atop the Blue
Mountains, with the Stony and Nanny Rivers
flowing through it. The town was guarded by
armed sentinels, who used the abeng, the side-
blown horn that came to symbolize the Jamaican
Maroons, to communicate with the troops.
After 83 years of armed warfare, the Leeward
Maroons, led by Captain Kojo, and the British
entered into the Peace Treaty of 1739. The
Windward Maroons signed the Land Grant of
1740, after which Queen Nanni founded New
Nanni Town in 1740. It is believed that she died
in the 1750s, and in 1976 she was named a
National Hero of Jamaica. Even now, Maroons
continue to believe that Queen Nanni was sent by
the Almighty God to lead the Jamaican people to
freedom.
Her brother Kojo is equally celebrated among
the Leeward Jamaican Maroons based in
Accompong. Each year at 10 a.m. on his birthday,
January 6, the Maroons meet at the Kindah Tree
to renew their traditional rites and to honor their
ancestors. The Kindah Tree is said to be sacred
and symbolic of family unity in the community.
There they prepare unsalted pork and ritually
make their way to the Peace Cave, the site where
the Treaty was signed.
Perhaps this rich tradition is what has made the
Jamaican Maroons the most widely known
around the world, fueling the global love affair
with Reggae music and Rastafarian culture. The
Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the father of
black nationalism, and the renowned poet Claude
McKay, a giant of the Harlem Renaissance era,
both are direct Jamaican Maroon descendants.
Contemporaneously, there remain four viable
Jamaican Maroon communities: Moore Town
(formerly New Nanny Town), Accompong, Scott’s
Hall, and Charles Town.The Haitian Insurrections
Of course, this was not the end of the pitched
battles of the Maroons. Haiti was home to two of
the largest such insurrections. One such was the
6-year rebellion led by François Makandal, a
GuineanVodunpriest. Before being captured andMaroon Communities 407