| Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples It became larger than any of the North American communities, including over 200 houses, a church, four smithies, a six-foot-wide main street, a large meeting house, cultivated fields, and kingly residences. The cabins that housed enslaved workers were located far from the plantation house, at the edges of the clearing and often immediately next to a forest or swamp. Synonyms: abandon, … 2 capitalized : a fugitive black slave of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries also : a descendant of such a slave. Its most famous and last leader was Zumbi dos Palmares, who was born in freedom in Quilombo dos Palmares. a similar firework used as a danger or warning signal, as by railway brakemen. The Spanish called these free slaves "Maroons," a word derived from "Cimarron," which means "fierce" or "unruly." These people, and their present-day descendants, are known as Maroons. To survive, the American maroons reinvented themselves, defied slave society, enforced their own definition of freedom and dared create their own alternative to what the country had delineated as being black men and women’s proper place. Audacious, self-confident, autonomous, sometimes self-sufficient, always self-governing; their very existence was a repudiation of the basic tenets of slavery. What links here; Related changes; Upload file; Special pages; Permanent link; Page information; Cite this page; Print/export . Mestizo, any person of mixed blood. African Maroon or Black Maroon societies are historically known to have existed throughout the Americas: from the Carolina islands of the U.S. to the Florida peninsula of the United States, to the mountains of Jamaica into the Suriname (fka Dutch Guiana) jungles. Moreover, the history of maroon conflict with the state is a history that is not limited to maroons’ self-defense. Although the Maroons did help others to self-liberate, kept in touch with family members, and traded with the enslaved plantation workers, the Maroons sometimes resorted to raiding the cabins of these workers for food and supplies. This was often for naught because the maroons were led by fearless warriors who would stop at nothing to throw off the insidious chains of chattel slavery. Palmares is thought to have been made up of a core of people from Angola, and they essentially created an African state in the Brazilian hinterland. Maroon societies is a term designating communities of runaway slaves in the Americas, the formation of which constituted a recurrent feature of the history of African slavery over nearly 400 years, from the first importation of African slaves in the early 1500s through the final abolition of slavery in the Western Hemisphere in Brazil in 1888. This book gives a great account of what life was like for maroons and the author debunks many of the myths that surround maroons and slavery. An escaped negro slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of escaped slaves. n. 1. often Maroon a. As early as the 1650s, enslaved Africans escaped into the American wilderness to form their own separate communities -- a New World adaptation of an African form of resistance. Cookies help us deliver our services. As the American anthropologist and historian Richard Price has written, the persistence of Maroon communities for decades or centuries stands out as a "heroic challenge to white authority, and the living proof of the existence of a slave consciousness that refused to be limited" by the dominant white culture. NAmE / / m@"ru:n / / he / she / it maroons. Legally sanctioned or not, the communities were ubiquitous wherever people were enslaved. 2. transitive verb [usu passive] If someone is marooned somewhere, they are left in a place that is difficult for them to escape from. Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who formed settlements away from slavery. In 1763, George Washington, the man who would become the first president of the United States, conducted a survey of the Great Dismal Swamp, intending to drain it and make it suitable for farming. Updates? The Jamaican maroons tend to prefer the monikers “Koromanti,” “Kromanti,” or “Yungkungkung” to denote their culture and history. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Mavis Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655-1796 (Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1990); Edward Long, The History of Jamaica, Volume II (T. Lowndes, Fleet Street, London 1774); Karla Gottlieb, The mother of us all: A history of Queen Nanny, leader of the Windward Jamaican Maroons (Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2000). In addition, some communities built defensive ditches and forts and maintained well-armed, highly drilled and disciplined troops and sentries. The new communities maintained difficult relationships with the enslaved workers left behind on the plantations. The alternative explanation is that the appellation represents the memory of the Koromanti clan, a subgroup of the Asante people of Ghana. … K. Kris Hirst is an archaeologist with 30 years of field experience. What happened to the African slaves in the Americas that managed to escape their masters? n. 3. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership - Now 30% off. They appeared in all colonies where slavery was introduced and the struggle against them has been particularly well chronicled. This inspired the Asante people to take a sacred oath that empowered them to rise up and put down the Koromanti uprising. Definition of maroon_3 verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Learn more. The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789. The existence of maroons and the mere possibility of marronage mark a limit to white supremacist hegemony. To survive, the American maroons reinvented themselves, defied slave society, enforced their own definition of freedom and dared create their own alternative to what the country had delineated as being black men and women's proper place. Pamela D. Reed is an associate professor in the department of Languages and Literature at Virginia State University. Associated with Maroon culture, communities or peoples. What does maroons mean? Many Maroon communities started out as nomadic, moving base often for safety's sake, but as their populations grew, they settled into fortified villages. Faced with monumentally hostile conditions, they tactically established armed settlements because they were in constant danger of being recaptured or killed by European tyrants. Runaway Slaves in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, Palmares lasted a century, and Black Seminole towns—towns built by Maroons who were allied with the Seminoles in Florida—lasted several decades. Evidence of their activities can be found in treaties with Indian nations, official correspondence, petitions, and in innumerable statutes and Acts. At its apex, it was the home and refuge of some 20,000 African men, women, and children who had managed to escape the dreadful experience of plantation life. As early as the 1650s, enslaved Africans escaped into the American wilderness to form their own separate communities -- a New World adaptation of an African form of resistance. The phenomenon is known globally wherever slavery occurs. What happened to the African slaves in the Americas that managed to escape their masters? There are two ways to answer this question. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The intermediate step for many of the freedom seekers was marronage, where they hid relatively locally to their plantation but without the intention of returning. a person who is marooned: Robinson Crusoe lived for years as a maroon. In Jamaica, the Maroons occupied a mountainous region known as the "Cockpit," creating crude fortresses and a culture derived from African and European traditions. Armed maroon, Surinam, 1770s. Maroon refers to an African or Afro-American person who freed themself from enslavement in the Americas and lived in hidden towns outside of the plantations. Many of the groups are found in the Caribbean and, in general, throughout the Americas. 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