Marroon [Maroon] Slaves

Historical Context Essay

Christine Pagnoulle (Université de Liège)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 4.1.3: Hispanic Writing and Culture of Central America and the Caribbean.
Vol. editors: Ben Bollig (University of Oxford), Ceire Broderick (University College Cork), Nuala Finnegan (University College Cork), Anna Forné (Gothenburg University), Cara Levey (University College Cork), Lori Oxford (Western Carolina University), Ailsa Peate (University of Westminster)

Domains

Race

Dates

Date of occurrence 1655

Places

Cuba (Location)
French Guyana (Guiana) (Location)
Guadeloupe (Location)
Jamaica (Location)
Martinique (Location)
Suriname (Location)
Trinidad & Tobago, Trinidad (Location)
United States (Location)

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The word “maroon” is derived from Spanish

cimarron

meaning “wild”. It was often applied to cattle that had left a domesticated state to live in the wild, but came to be used to refer to runaway slaves. Maroonage occurred from the Amazon basin in the South to Carolina in the North. The very existence of maroon communities and the number of maroons involved in any one territory of the Americas and the Caribbean depended on geographical features, and to a certain extent historical events. These included the Spanish decision to let their slaves loose in the hills of Jamaica in 1655 once they realised that the English were set to take over the island. Larger islands or territories opening out into extensive hinterlands such as Guyana were particularly favourable to lasting maroon…

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400 words

Citation: Pagnoulle, Christine. "Marroon [Maroon] Slaves". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1520, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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Marroon [Maroon] Slaves

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