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How the Jamaican Maroons Resisted British Colonization

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How the Jamaican Maroons Resisted British Colonization Unconquered: How the Jamaican Maroons Resisted British Colonization Dylan Siwicki History 4401: Senior Research Seminar Professor Joe Lunn December 12, 2017 Since Jamaica was one the world’s most productive sugar colonies, it wasn’t long until it captured the eyes of the British. The British then sent an Armada led by Oliver Cromwell and went on to defeat the Spanish in Jamaica. Following the British colonization of Jamaica in 1655, many of the Spanish slaves fled their plantations and moved away into the interior of the island. They became known as the “Jamaican Maroons,” as maroon means runaway. These Maroons often fought the British using guerrilla tactics and raided many plantations, disrupting the sugar economy for the British. The Jamaican Maroons continued to resist the British on the island for the next 84 years, until peace treaties were signed in 1738 and 1739. Since the Jamaican Maroons were never defeated on the battlefield by the British, the Maroons effectively earned the title of freedom fighters. However, while the Jamaican Maroons liberated themselves from plantations and established free communities in the middle of Britain’s most important sugar colony, they collaborated with the British colonial government after 1739 in crushing slave rebellions on the island, therefore the Maroons helped forestall the eventual downfall of slavery in Jamaica and were traitors of their own race. Beginning with Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the new world in 1492, Europeans began to set their sights on extracting wealthy resources, such as gold from the new world. Since Columbus sailed for King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain, the Spanish were able to become one of the first primitive world powers to colonize the new world. In doing so, Jamaica was one of the islands in the Caribbean the Spanish colonized, but they quickly lost interest in the island when little to no gold was found. Although the Spanish never completely abandoned Jamaica, their interests was in gold and there was plenty of gold found on the continent of South American after the they defeated the Aztec, Mayan, and Inca empires. 1 The Spanish, however, was not the only European power to colonize the new world. Shorty after the Columbus’s discovery, other European powers, such as the English and French began colonizing new world land as well. The British and French was primarily interested in North America, along with the Caribbean, while the Spanish and Portuguese dominated South America. As European colonization continued in the new world, the Europeans relied on the natives as the primary labor force in extracting the wealth. The Europeans did not set their sights on exterminating the natives, but rather as enslaving them. However, disease ran rampant and affected both the Europeans and the Natives. Without immunity to European diseases, such as influenza, many natives were killed off and it led to a major labor shortage in the new world. Since Europeans did not have immunity to new world diseases like malaria, Europeans had to look elsewhere for labor. While the Europeans continued world colonization, Vasco da Gama led a Portuguese fleet around the West coast of Africa, while in route to the East Indies. The British, Spanish, French, German, and the Dutch soon followed with their own explorations. Although the Europeans found no gold in Africa, they discovered that Africans were immune to their diseases. In addition, the Europeans had many manufactured goods and weapons that the Africans did not have, but wanted. Therefore, the Europeans ability to cheaply trade with African Kingdoms, along with the Africans immunity to new world diseases made them the most profitable labor option for the Europeans in the new world. It became known as the TransAtlantic slave trade, where the Europeans traded weapons, textiles, and manufactured goods to the Africans for captured slaves within Africa, who then became slaves in the new world for the Europeans to extract wealthy resources that were sent back to Europe. The Portuguese dominated the TransAtlantic slave trade early on due to their 2 position on the Canary islands. Most of the African slaves were taken from West Africa and sent into the Caribbean or South America with many working on the sugar plantations. Although the Portuguese were a primitive new world power, the slave trade was eventually taken over by the French, British, and Dutch as they continued their growth in the new world. The Middle Passage, which was the voyage from West Africa to the Americas saw Africans endure inhumane and cruel conditions. The dehumanization process began as they were often chained and cramped tightly together. These harsh conditions along with low morale led to the death of many Africans during the voyage. Once they arrived, their dehumanization became reality as the sole purpose was to produce wealth for European colonies through enslavement.1 Africans resisted European enslavement from the moment they embarked on the ships transporting them to the Americas. Their resistance took many forms. One is they simply tried to escape the ships by throwing themselves and their companions into the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, many committed suicide during the voyage, as well as upon their arrival. Another form of resistance they took was that women would commit abortions and infanticide. While those are extreme forms of resistance, the most common resistance Africans took was to revolt and stir up rebellions on the plantations. This allowed them to escape en masses and become fugitive slaves or Maroons.2 Although Maroon societies emerged throughout the Americas, the Jamaican Maroons are one of the most well known. During the slave trade, most of the Africans imported to Jamaica were from West Africa. The Africans were from many different African ethnic groups, such as 1 Amanda Moore, “Maroon Societies in Brazil, Jamaica, and Mexico,” Sryacuse University Honors Program Capstone Project. (2005). Paper 710. 4-5. 2 Moore, “Maroon Societies,” 17-18. 3 Coromantee, Congos, Eboes, Mandingos, Pawpaws, and Nagos. The largest of these populations to inhabit Jamaica was the Coromantee, who were from Ghana and were Akan-speaking Africans. The English conquest of Jamaica in the mid-17th century allowed the opportunity for slaves to runaway, which many did. After the British routed the Spanish, pockets of ex-slaves scattered throughout the island. Although the Spaniards were unable to resist the English invasion because of the lack of weapons, many stayed and became rebels. Furthermore, the Spanish rebels went on to form collations with runaway slaves to put up a guerilla resistance against the British. However, the Spanish formally ceded Jamaica to the British in 1670 and many of rebels fled, but many slaves remained in the mountainous interior of Jamaica to continue resistance.3 Since the British demanded the Spanish to hand over all slaves, the Maroons had to secure protection from British invasion. The topography in Jamaica was very favorable to the Maroons, as the interior of Jamaica saw high mountains and many swaps that can help deter a British invasion. Although harsh environments, such as jungles, mountains, swaps, and valleys ensured tough living conditions, the Maroons had no choice but to acclimate themselves to them for protection. The relatively inaccessible mountains gave them a commanding view of the lowlands. By the beginning of the 18th century, two distinct Maroon communities emerged in Jamaica’s interior; the Leeward and Windward. The Leeward’s were based in the west and the Windward’s in the east. Even though both similarity planted crops and hunted for survival, they also had distinct differences. For example, the Leeward Maroons had a central leader that was elected and divided their villagers into politico-military units. The Windward community, on the 3 Moore, “Maroon Socities,” 28, and Vernot Satchell, “Jamaica,” The Retrospective history of Jamaica, World History Archive, Hartford Web Publishing, 1999. 4 other hand did not have central leader, but a loose federation of villages under smaller leadership.4 As the Maroon communities continued to grow to several hundred escaped slaves throughout the latter half of the 17th century, by 1700 the British began financing military campaigns against the Maroons because they saw the Maroons as a threat to English colonization. Since many of the Maroons are escaped slaves, the British believed the Maroon communities could influence future slaves desire to runaway, disrupting the plantation economy in Jamaica. As the British continued to try and suppress the Maroons through military might, the Maroon communities fought back and began to view themselves as freedom fighters. Even though the British were a superior military, the Maroons were familiar with the terrain of Jamaica and their their guerrilla warfare tactics proved quite costly to the British. After 85 years of fighting, the British were unable to subjugate the Maroons and were forced to sign separate peace treaties with the Windward’s and Leeward’s in 1738 and 1739. The treaty formally acknowledged the Maroons as free and independent, however the Maroons also had to collaborate with the British in suppressing any sort of slave revolt, as well as suppressing and capturing runaway slaves. Overall, the treaty was a British victory for the future of Jamaica.5 The Maroons proved that fighting the British is the best way to secure freedom. Although the Maroons never defeated the british on the battlefield, they were never defeated themselves; essentially fighting the British to a stalemate. So future slaves can capture the ideal of not having to defeat the British in battle, but by being able to escape and disrupt the economy can prove 4 Moore, “Maroon Societies,” 35, and Satchell, “Jamaica.” 5 Jonathan Brooks, “From Freedom to Bondage: The Jamaican Maroons, 1655-1770,” University of North Carolina Wilmington and Satchell “Jamaica.” 5 quite disastrous to the British.
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