How did the Maroons survive in the mountains?

How did the Maroons survive in the mountains?

The other Maroon groups remained independent in the mountainous interior of Jamaica, surviving by subsistence farming and periodic raids of plantations. Over time, runaway slaves increased the Maroon population, which eventually came to control large areas of the Jamaican mountainous interior.

What was Nanny de Maroon famous for?

Nanny was a leader of the Maroons at the beginning of the 18th century. She was known by both the Maroons and the British settlers as an outstanding military leader who became, in her lifetime and after, a symbol of unity and strength for her people during times of crisis.

Why did the Maroons choose to live in the mountains?

The Maroons were escaped slaves. The word maroon comes from the Spanish word ‘cimarrones’, which meant ‘mountaineers’. They fled to the mountainous areas of Jamaica, where it was difficult for their owners to follow and catch them, and formed independent communities as free men and women.

How did the Maroons defeat the British?

The occupation of Nanny Town was expensive, and Hunter eventually recalled the militia, allowing the Maroons to re-take their town without a fight. The next year, Hunter sent a party of British seamen against the Windward Maroons, but the Maroons crushed them in an ambush, inflicting significant losses.

How were the Maroons marginalized?

While the Maroons’ large acreages of land were ideal to fight guerilla or bush warfare, when hostilities ceased and the economic race for sugar production and sale began, the Maroons discovered they could not compete; therefore, they became permanently and acutely marginalised.

Which national hero was a free colored land owner?

George William Gordon

The Right Excellent George William Gordon
George William Gordon
Born	1820,
Died	Executed,23 October 1865 Morant Bay, Jamaica
Nationality	Jamaican

What does Maroon mean in history?

1 : a person who is marooned. 2 capitalized : a Black person of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries who escaped slavery also : a descendant of such a person.

What did the Maroons achieve?

On the larger islands, however, the maroons were able to hunt, grow crops, and, in a word, thrive. As increasing numbers of Africans escaped and joined their ranks, they took guerrilla warfare to new heights, burning and raiding plantations as well as poisoning slavers.

What was the outcome of the Maroon wars?

Hunter died in 1734, and within five years the British decided that the conflict would have to be resolved through negotiation. The Leeward and Windward Treaties of 1739 ended the Maroon-British wars.

How did the Maroons communicate?

This is very important when speaking of the Maroons, because many of the slaves did not speak the same language as other slaves that joined them throughout the years. Instead, they often used body language to communicate; in particular hand gestures and various physical actions.

How did the Maroons adapt to the New World?

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. These maroons (or outlyers, as they were often called in North America) set up small communities in swamps or other areas where they were not likely to be discovered.

What did the Maroons do when they escaped slavery?

Enslaved Africans who fled to remote mountainous areas were called marron (French) or mawon (Haitian Creole), meaning ‘escaped slave’. The maroons formed close-knit communities that practised small-scale agriculture and hunting. They were known to return to plantations to free family members and friends.

What can we learn from one another to survive?

There are many skills we can learn from one another. Nothing will help people survive more than a tight knit community that cares for its members. In this community, you will find different skills, access to different resources, and a psychological morale improvement.

Where did the Maroons live in the south?

The lower South, however, provided ample territory for sanctuary. Newly imported African slaves fled South Carolina to establish maroon communities in Florida in the late 1600s, a tradition that was continued by American-born fugitives from South Carolina and Georgia well into the nineteenth century.