Maroon Society in Latin America

Introduction

Prior to the 19th-century abolition of slavery in the Americas, enslaved Africans were offered few avenues to achieving individual freedom in Latin America. Some methods, such as self-purchase, or individual manumission, were recognized in law. Others, such as marooning, or marronage, involved running off and repudiating the legal regime of enslavement. Invariably, runaways used many strategies to attain and maintain their freedom. Among these the creation of independent Maroon communities has received much scholarly attention for a number of reasons. One obvious reason is that black escapees succeeded in forming bands, or communities, in every slaveholding region of the Americas and they did so in spite of daunting obstacles. Another reason is that state authorities often involved themselves in conflicts and interactions with Maroons. In a number of instances authorities legitimized Maroons, deputizing them for regional defense and the capture of future escapees. Thus, Maroon activities produced a wealth of official letters, reports, and legal cases that forms the documentary basis for an extensive scholarship. Still, as a subfield of Latin American history and Africana studies, the study of Maroons (or Cimarrones) is relatively recent. Scholarship before c. 1940 tended to see rebels and Maroons as little more than a detriment to colonial development. Like other fields closely tied to the post-war struggle for civil rights, Maroon studies sprouted with the rise of New Social History. Early works focused on maroons’ courageous rejection of slave society and laid the groundwork for refuting the myth of African slave docility. Later, Maroon studies blossomed as scholars sought to understand the internal dynamics of Maroon societies, oftentimes linking these communities to African cultural origins. In addition, as scholarship on the African experience in Latin America emerged, runaway slave communities (quilombos, palenques, cumbes, mocambos) formed a standard topic within general studies. Most of the resources in this bibliography, however, explore marronage exclusively. This resource is divided by national boundaries because scholars have generally stuck to them as a framework for research. Importantly, scholarship has not always followed colonial boundaries or indicated the relative weight of individual territories under colonial rule. Most countries have been grouped in geographic clusters, such as Venezuela and Surinam: Others represent earlier administrative or political ties, such as Colombia and Panama and Mexico and Central America. Because of its size (in terms of African arrivals) and extensive scholarship on Maroons, Brazil stands alone. Subject-based sections have been created as well: Foundational Works and General Studies and special Themes. A constant question for the Afro-Latin-Americanist researcher is to what extent to incorporate the non-Spanish, non-Portuguese speaking colonies. In the case of Haiti, the answer has moved more and more toward inclusion. However, English, Dutch, and other colonies remain somewhat marginalized. Indeed, the vagaries of historiography are such that the African experience in British North America is largely (and artificially) decoupled from the English colonies of the Caribbean and Central America. Fortunately, in studies of marronage, such separations have not fully crystalized. In part, this is due to the cross-border movement of Maroons (think Haiti to Santo Domingo, North Carolina to Spanish Florida). And, in part it is because any general discussion of marronage appears incomplete without Jamaica and Surinam. Finally, the widely accepted perception among scholars of Maroon studies as a broadly comparative field is one of the key accomplishments of Price, in his introduction to Maroon Societies (Price 1996, cited under Foundational Works and General Studies). This framework has been further enhanced by the emergence of Atlantic history and the “circum-Caribbean” as frameworks for historical analysis.

Foundational Works and General Studies

In some fields a single foundational work opens the way for scholars in many areas—both intellectually and geographically. Such is the case with the seminal work Price 1996 first published in 1973. With twenty-one chapters of essays and primary sources, this volume remains a starting point for the study of Maroons in Latin America. Eight chapters, with essays published between 1952 and 1970, cover Spanish America and Brazil. Price’s introduction, along with the preface added in 1996, remain essential to the field. An earlier breakthrough monograph, written in Spanish and covering Spanish America and Brazil, is Guillot 1961. In the aftermath of these two very different types of volumes emerged a small flood of scholarship, most of it nationally based. As a consequence, a discernible typology of Maroon studies quickly came about during the 1970s and 1980s. One group of studies was grounded ethnographically, whereas another followed the principles of historical study. More often, these two were combined to produce many shades of ethnohistorical methodology. Finally, a tendency arose among some anthropology-based studies to focus on contemporary Maroon-descended communities, sometimes working backward to a group or community’s origin in the colonial period (see Friedemann and Patiño Rosselli 1983, cited under Colombia and Panama). A prime (and perhaps unduplicated) example is Price 1983 (cited under Venezuela and Surinam). It is worth noting, as well, that an important area of scholarship is dedicated principally to the contemporary anthropological study of communities descended from Maroon societies. Rodriguez 1979 presents a very good overview of early Maroon societies in Spanish America. Heuman 1986 is perhaps the next-most-important edited volume covering Latin America and the Caribbean after Price 1996. Lucena Salmoral 2005 is an essential collection of Spanish American slave laws, many of which pertain to runaway slaves, the punishments for escape, and the penalty for abetting or sheltering Maroons. McKnight and Garofalo 2009 combines primary sources (both a transcribed and a translated version) with innovative analysis in two chapters examining marronage in Ecuador and Colombia. Likewise, essays in Serna Herrera 2011 look at marronage within the broader context of blacks in Ibero-America. Thompson 2006 is a grand synthesis that, in some sections, demonstrates the difficulty of dealing with Maroons in all places and periods, yet it provides an excellent analysis of key topics.

Guillot, Carlos Federico. Negros rebeldes y negros cimarrones: Perfil afroamericano en la historia del Nuevo Mundo durante el siglo XVI. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Librería y Editorial “El Ateneo,” 1961.
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The first monograph to provide a survey of marronage across Latin America. Outlines a broad variety of cases, including the Caribbean, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru. Incisive and literary in tone. Extremely useful for understanding African resistance in the age of conquest.
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Heuman, Gad, ed. Out of the House of Bondage: Runaways, Resistance and Marronage in Africa and the New World. London: Cass, 1986.
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A well-formed volume of essays covering all the Americas. Unique in containing essays on runaway slaves in Africa. This fine collection of dedicated essays treats the Caribbean, Africa, and mainland Latin America.
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Lucena Salmoral, Manuel. Regulación de la esclavitud negra en las colonias de América Española, 1503–1886: Documentos para su estudio. Universidad de Alcalá de Henares monografías. Madrid: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 2005.
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An essential resource for the study of slavery and laws created to curb marronage in Spanish America. Contains provisions and laws promulgated by the Crown and individual colonies. Particularly strong on laws against aiding runaway slaves and penalties, especially for the 16th century. Documentation remains useful and relevant through 1886. Excellent for graduate and scholarly research.
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McKnight, Kathryn Joy, and Leo J. Garofalo, eds. Afro-Latino Voices: Narratives from the Early Modern Ibero-Atlantic World, 1550–1812. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 2009.
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A well-thought-out bilingual collection of sources, with commentary, on the Afro-Latin-American experience. Chapters include excellent introductory essays. Two chapters examine marronage in colonial Colombia and Ecuador.
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Price, Richard, ed. Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas. 3d ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
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Originally published in 1973. This is the first major collection of Maroon essays from across the Americas and remains the single most referenced work on the subject. Some contributions may appear dated, yet most still form an excellent starting point for the study of Maroons in specific countries. Many have become foundational essays (see chapters by José L. Franco, Gabriel Debien, and R. K. Kent). Price’s preface and bibliography, added in 1996, provide an excellent update.
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Rodriguez, Frederick. “Cimarrón Revolts and Pacification in New Spain, the Isthmus of Panama, and Colonial Colombia, 1503–1800.” PhD diss., Loyola University of Chicago, 1979.
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Modest in its title, this dissertation studies marronage from its beginnings in Hispaniola and forefronts African and Native American relations and interactions in the early formation of Maroon societies. Explores the extent of anti-Maroon campaigns and how Spanish authorities used writs of concession to legitimize indomitable Maroon communities.
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Serna Herrera, Juan Manuel de la, ed. Vicisitudes negro africanas en Iberoamérica: Experiencias de investigación. Colección historia de América Latina y el Caribe. Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2011.
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An excellent volume that contains two worthwhile essays on marronage. María Cristina Navarrete details Maroon power and violence in the Cartagena region (Palenque de Limón). Mónica Velasco Molina looks at forms of African resistance in Brazil, focusing on various types of activities, including the role of the capitães-do-mato (slave catchers) in the cycle of resistance.
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Thompson, Alvin O.Flight to Freedom: African Runaways and Maroons in the Americas. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 2006.
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Well-thought-out and thematically based survey of key areas of Maroons’ political, social, economic life, and survival. Covers all regions of the Americas, including the United States and Latin America. Draws on cases and gives thoughtful comparative analysis across four centuries.
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Themes

Exploring specific themes and applying them across colonial and national boundaries is an occupation most often taken up by the authors of broad-based studies. However, there are a number of excellent articles (and at least one book) devoted to the use of a comparative framework under the rubric of one topic and its related questions. Often, these works are circumscribed by a specified time frame or set of colonies, but they offer some of the more interesting insights into Maroon modalities and aims and the circumstances of marronage. A chapter in Landers 2004 looks at women and their various roles and appearances in the largely male-dominated Maroon world. Another, Landers 2006, pursues a most original hypothesis: that escaped slaves’ communities, in their dealings with Spanish authorities, may have constituted an understudied “República de Negros” in Spanish America. Bateman 1995 compares African and native intermixture resulting from marronage. Hall 1985 brilliantly analyzes a phenomenon often mentioned, but rarely isolated, in earlier literature, “maritime marronage,” thus opening a new category especially relevant to the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles. Parris 1981 contrasts Maroon allegiances and their role in colonial conquests and developments, whereas Genovese 1979 examines one of the recurrent chestnuts in Maroon studies: the roles escaped slaves played in peacetime, (often in uneasy service as allies and slave catchers) and during revolutions. The author’s examination points to the tensions inherent in Maroons’ relations with slave societies and in their quest for self-preservation under colonial authority.

Bateman, Rebecca B. “Africans and Indians: A Comparative Study of the Black Carib and Black Seminole.” In Slavery and Beyond: The African Impact on Latin America and the Caribbean. Edited by Darién J. Davis, 29–54. Jaguar Books on Latin America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1995.
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This excellent article provides a close comparison of Maroon communities that grew out of Africans’ intermingling with native peoples. Deals with topics such as the degree of African–native intermixture and Maroons’ relations and conflicts with colonial authorities.
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Genovese, Eugene D.From Rebellion to Revolution: Afro-American Slave Revolts in the Making of the Modern World. Louisiana State University Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979.
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Examines marronage as a form of anticapitalist resistance before the mid-18th century. Not specific to Latin America, but derives many examples from Brazil and Spanish America. Although controversial, this work is, nonetheless, one of the very few to systematically frame marronage within the broader sweep of slave revolts and revolutions in the Americas.
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Hall, N. A. T. “Maritime Maroons: Grand Marronage from the Danish West Indies.” William and Mary Quarterly 3d ser. 42.4 (1985): 476–498.
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This trailblazing article studies the smaller Caribbean islands of Saint Croix, Saint Thomas, and Saint John to draw a big conclusion: that the sea, under certain circumstances, became an effective medium of escape and that on small, intensively cultivated islands, grand marronage tended to mean maritime marronage. Demonstrates Maroon ingenuity and interisland linkages in the Caribbean. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Landers, Jane. “Maroon Women in Colonial Spanish America: Case Studies in the Circum-Caribbean from the Sixteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries.” In Beyond Bondage: Free Women of Color in the Americas. Edited by David Barry Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine, 3–18. New Black Studies. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
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Contends that women have remained largely invisible in Maroon literature. Chronicles the variety of roles women played within Maroon societies. One of the few essays to look at Maroon women in early Spanish America in a systematic way. Attention to Maroon women’s experience in Florida, the Caribbean, and Mexico.
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Landers, Jane. “Cimarrón and Citizen: African Ethnicity, Corporate Identity, and the Evolution of Free Black Towns in the Spanish Circum-Caribbean.” In Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America. Edited by Jane G. Landers and Barry M. Robinson, 111–145. Diálogos. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006.
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Focusing on Mexico, with analysis of the Spanish Caribbean and colonial Florida, explores the transition from rebel Maroon society to legitimized Maroon town in the 17th-century—the privileges acquired by Maroons and obligations incurred. Asserts that such free black towns “represented themselves as a republic analogous to that of Spaniards and Indios” (p. 112). But, by the 18th-century these towns began to disintegrate as residents left due to economic insecurity.
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Parris, Scott V. “Alliance and Competition: Four Case Studies of Maroon–European Relations.” New West Indian Guide/Nieuwe West Indische Gids 55.1 (1981): 174–224.
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Assesses and amplifies the roles of Maroons in early colonial societies. Especially relevant to understanding the role of Maroons in early English–Spanish competition. Analyzes the roles played by Maroons in local conflicts and argues for their relevance to broader historical trends.
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Brazil

Summarizing a field as extensive as the study of marronage in Brazil is a challenge. A library of high-quality work has been in development since the early part of the 20th century, though the lion’s share was produced after World War II. Much of the early work on marronage in Brazil (1905–1940s) centers on the region of Palmares. Indeed, the word quilombo (specific to Palmares) has since become a generic in Brazil to describe runaway slave communities and their residents (quilombolas), although additional terms, such as mocambos and ladeiras, remain in use. Early works, some notable for their adherence to scientific racism and eugenic theory, begin with Nina Rodrigues 2010 (completed in 1905). Of more recent studies, a general essay by R. K. Kent on Palmares can be found in Price 1996 (cited under Foundational Works and General Studies). Schwartz 1996 proposes key insights into the African origins of the quilombo and its social structure. And, while the study of Palmares continues apace, Maroon research in Brazil has expanded across every major region of the country. Carvalho 1996 explores religion and community history in Bahia, whereas essays in Reis and Gomes 1996 examine numerous regions, such as Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Goiás. Silva 2003 deals with the deep interior of Goias and Mato Grosso. Also, fundamental revision in the role of Maroons in Brazilian society has been underway (Gomes 2005). Notably, since the 1990s there has been an increase in studies of 19th-century marronage, such as Gomes 2006, and a linking of historical studies to modern-day Maroons’ descendants, typified by Carvalho 1996 and Silva 2003. In addition, Gomes 2010 is an excellent primary resource on Palmares, with essays.

Carvalho, José Jorge de, ed. O quilombo do Rio das Rãs: Histórias, tradições, lutas. Papers presented at the Seminário das Comunidades Negras do Sertão da Bahia, Centro de Estudos Afro-Orientais, December 1993. Salvador, Brazil: Editora da Universidade Federal da Bahia, 1996.
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Explores a Maroon community in 19th-century Bahian interior. Ethnographic analysis focusing on religion and community myths. Carries the analysis to juridical procedures affecting Maroon descendants.
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Gomes, Flávio dos Santos. Palmares: Escravidão e liberdade no Atlântico Sul. São Paulo, Brazil: Contexto, 2005.
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Argues that the literature on Maroons in Brazil has tended to see them as nonintegrated elements in slave society. By presenting cases of petit marronage and court records, this study proposes that the causes, forms, and conditions of marronage are reflective of slave society throughout the 19th-century.
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Gomes, Flávio dos Santos. Histórias de quilombolas: Mocambos e comunidades de senzalas no Rio de Janeiro, século XIX. São Paulo, Brazil: Companhia das Letras, 2006.
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Studies the proliferation and roles of Maroons in 19th-century Rio and surrounding areas. Compares patterns of 19th-century slaveholding and how Maroons related across sectors, from the plantation to the local free population. Emphasizes the role of Maroons as Brazil moved through stages of gradual abolition.
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Gomes, Flávio dos Santos, ed. Mocambos de Palmares: Histórias e fontes, séculos XVI–XIX. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 7Letras, 2010.
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With more than two hundred primary sources (many republished) and nine essays by experts in the field (such as Luiz Felipe Alencastro, Silvia Hunold, Rômulo Luiz Xavier do Nascimento, Alida Metcalf, John K. Thornton), this is an indispensable resource for scholars of Palmares and Brazilian Maroon societies. Particularly strong on late-17th-century documents. Gomes’s historiographic introductory essay is especially useful.
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Nina Rodrigues, Raymundo. Os africanos no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Biblioteca Virtual de Ciências Humanas do Centro Edelstein de Pesquisas Sociais, 2010.
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Completed in 1905, this general study of Africans in Brazil includes a chapter on Palmares. Although infused with 19th-century scientific racism, Nina Rodrigues provides insights into the diversity of cultural experience, religion, and types of resistance to slavery.
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Reis, João José, and Flávio dos Santos Gomes, eds. Liberdade por um fio: História dos quilombos no Brasil. São Paulo, Brazil: Companhia das Letras, 1996.
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This excellent collection of interdisciplinary essays examines Brazilian marronage in light of more recent interpretive currents. Various regions are covered, including Maranhão, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul, Goiás, and Amazonas, with a number of essays solely on Palmares. Notable for its scholarly range, regionally and thematically, and contributions of well-known scholars.
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Schwartz, Stuart B.Slaves, Peasants, and Rebels: Reconsidering Brazilian Slavery. Blacks in the New World. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
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The fourth essay in this collection, “Rethinking Palmares: Slave Resistance in Colonial Brazil,” offers original insights into and analysis on Brazilian marronage in three key regions: Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Palmares (Alagoas). Considered are reasons for and frequency of escape, methods of slave control and recapture, community size, and relations with outsiders as well as the transplanting of African cultural structures and forms.
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Silva, Martiniano J.Quilombos do Brazil central: Violência e resistência escrava, 1719–1888. Brazil: Goiâna, 2003.
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Unique in its focus on interior states, this study principally covers 19th- and 20th-century Goiás, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, and western Minas Gerais. Strong interest in quilombos as locations of ethnic and racial mixing. Author links the survival of quilombos to that of contemporary Maroon-descended communities.
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Colombia and Panama

Both Cartagena de Indias and the Isthmus of Panama formed vital links in Spain’s transatlantic slave traffic. The Isthmus served as the critical overland link for Africans brought to Peru (and silver destined for Spain). Cartagena, meanwhile, was the main port of call for arriving Africans and a distribution point for African slaves throughout Spanish South America. As such, each region also maintained sizable slave populations. In Panama, enslavement often meant toiling on the transisthmian mule trails that ferried goods between the ports of Nombre de Dios or Portobelo and Panama City. Over the course of the 16th-century, many Africans escaped to the interior, forming communities that would use the overland route to their advantage, relieving Spanish travelers of their wealth and more. Mena García 1984, Pike 2007, and Tardieu 2009 each use different frames of analysis to examine the development of Maroon societies, their leadership, and Spanish attempts to control Maroon activities. All look at the alliances made between some of the Panama Maroons and Francis Drake in 1572. This union proved to be one of the most threatening to Spanish colonizers and authorities. Jopling 1994 provides a good number of the key sources for the study of marronage in this period. By contrast, runaway slaves in Colombia emerged from gang labor conditions—gold mining and agriculture. Several societies were formed in the Cartagena region, Chocó, and Popayán. An excellent essay by Anthony MacFarlane can be found in Heuman 1986 (cited under Foundational Works and General Studies). Navarrete 2003 offers a more comprehensive survey. Friedemann and Patiño Rosselli 1983 study the well-known community of San Basilio, bridging the Maroon past with its derived 20th-century black township. Finally, McKnight 2004 uses a more diasporic methodology in treating ritual execution and reciprocity in Maroons’ relations with Spanish authorities.

Friedemann, Nina S. de, and Patiño Rosselli, Carlos. Lengua y sociedad en el Palenque de San Basilio. Publicaciones del Instituto Caro y Cuervo. Bogotá, Colombia: Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 1983.
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Studies history as well as contemporary language and culture among the inhabitants of Palenque de San Basilio, one of the larger Maroon communities to survive into the 20th century. Part 1 describes the rise of communities under leaders such as Domingo Bioho (16th century) and the late-17th-century formation of Palenque de San Basilio. Also discussed are the African cultural retentions. The second half is largely a detailed linguistic study.
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Jopling, Carol F., ed. Indios y negros en Panamá en los siglos XVI y XVII: Selecciones de los documentos del Archivo General de Indias. Serie monográfica: Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica. South Woodstock, VT: Plumsock Mesoamerican Studies, 1994.
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A rich collection of sources, selected and transcribed from various sections of the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies), in Seville. The documents examine African and native marronage in Panama, from the early 16th century through the 17th century, and colonizer responses to Maroons and their activities. Excellent for graduate students and scholarly research.
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McKnight, Kathryn Joy. “Confronted Rituals: Spanish Colonial and Angolan ‘Maroon’ Executions in Cartagena de Indias, 1634.” In Special Issue: Slaving and Colonialism. Edited by Kathryn Joy McKnight. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 5.3 (2004): 1–23.
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Analyzes the significance of Maroon and Spanish ritual executions. Considers how executions express competitive dynamics between Africans, native peoples, and Spanish authority. Excellent for seminars.
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Mena García, María del Carmen. La sociedad de Panamá en el siglo XVI. Publicaciones de la Excelentísima Diputación Provincial de Sevilla: Sección historia; Centenario del descubrimiento de América. Seville, Spain: Excelentísima, Diputación Provincial de Sevilla, 1984.
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A thorough examination of early colonial society in Panama and its principle activity within the Spanish Empire: to provide the overland trade routes linking Spain to the wealth and colonists of Peru. This work gives a comprehensive overview of the waves of marronage and wars fought with mixed success to repress them within the broader context of Panama’s development as the Spanish Empire’s interoceanic link.
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Navarrete, María Cristina. Cimarrones y palenques en el siglo XVII. Cali, Colombia: Universidad del Valle, 2003.
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Concentrating on the northern, or Atlantic coast, region of colonial Colombia, this comprehensive study covers various aspects of Maroon communities, including locations, leadership, wars against Maroons, and internal social relations.
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Pike, Ruth. “Black Rebels: The Cimarrons of Sixteenth-Century Panama.” The Americas 64.2 (2007): 243–266.
DOI: 10.1353/tam.2007.0161Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A well-written and detailed exploration of the successive Maroon societies to emerge in early colonial Panama, the Spanish expeditions sent to crush them, and their alliances with the French and well-known English privateers, such as Francis Drake and John Oxenham. Available online by subscription.
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Tardieu, Jean-Pierre. Cimarrones de Panamá: La forja de una identidad afroamericana en el siglo XVI. Tiempo emulado: Historia de América y España. Frankfurt: Vervuet, 2009.
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Tardieu sees the Maroons as critically linked to African New World identity, just as Panama critically linked portions of Spanish America. This study intensely investigates the powerful Maroon leaders Felipillo and el Rey Bayano, the complex societies they forged, and their coming to terms with colonial authorities.
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Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Spanish Florida

Valued more for their strategic importance than for their economic value during the early and midcolonial periods, Cuba and Puerto Rico began to see an upsurge in their African slave populations by the mid-18th century. Spain’s new trade policies, Great Britain’s growing imperial power, and the heating up of the sugar industry conspired to create slave societies of areas that had been largely “societies with slaves” previously. La Rosa Corzo 2003 is a landmark study (translated into English) on Maroon activities in eastern Cuba, whereas Barcia 2008 provides an examination of resistance in the 19th-century western half of Cuba. Barnet 1994 is one of the most compelling works on the life of a Maroon and his times. Stark 2007 discusses the formation of San Mateo de Cangrejos by some of the maritime Maroons described in Hall 1985 (cited under Themes). Chinea 1997 charts Maroon numbers and changing policies toward foreign Maroons as Puerto Rico transitioned into a plantation society. Nistal-Moret 1984 reproduces letters and notices of escaped slaves during the plantation heyday. Landers 1999 represents a foundational study for the history of Africans in Spanish Florida, a marginalized colony with a notable history of marronage linked to competition with England’s colonies to the north.

Barcia, Manuel. Seeds of Insurrection: Domination and Resistance on Western Cuban Plantations, 1808–1848. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008.
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Argues for the proclivity toward day-to-day resistance and petite marronage while examining rejection of slavery, its conditions, and its forms in western Cuba. A well-organized and well-theorized study. Excellent for graduate students.
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Barnet, Miguel, ed. Biography of a Runaway Slave/Esteban Montejo. Rev. ed. Translated by W. Nick Hill. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone, 1994.
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The only known biography of a Latin American Maroon. Deals with slave folklore and beliefs, ill treatment, and methods of escape. Covers a critical period (1860–1905) that includes the last era of slave importations to Cuba, emancipation, and Cuba’s subjugation to the US military. Although problematic, owing to the author/intermediary’s role, this remains a rich and unique work in Ibero-American literature.
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Chinea, Jorge L. “A Quest for Freedom: The Immigration of Maritime Maroons into Puerto Rico, 1656–1800.” Journal of Caribbean History 31.1–2 (1997): 51–87.
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Charts the integration of Maroons, from competitor colonies into Puerto Rico, and changes in Maroon policy with the 18th-century development of plantation economics. Asserts that Maroons were probably undercounted in Puerto Rico throughout much of the colonial period.
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Landers, Jane. Black Society in Spanish Florida. Blacks in the New World. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999.
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An innovative and complete study of black life, largely 18th century. Much of the work focuses on the runaway slaves from English colonies who found sanctuary within a complex, frontier-like society.
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La Rosa Corzo, Gabino. Runaway Slave Settlements in Cuba: Resistance and Repression. Translated by Mary Todd. Envisioning Cuba. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
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Thorough and comprehensive analysis of 19th-century marronage in eastern Cuba. Explores the strategies employed for capturing Maroons and suppressing their communities. Advocates adoption of a uniform methodology for comparing Maroon activities.
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Nistal-Moret, Benjamin. Esclavos, prófugos y cimarrones: Puerto Rico, 1770–1870. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1984.
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Primary source reader derived from the Archivo General de Puerto Rico (General Archive of Puerto Rico), containing many records of the Spanish governors. Covers mostly 1820s–1860. Appropriate for undergraduates.
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Stark, David M. “Rescued from Their Invisibility: The Afro-Puerto Ricans of Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century San Mateo de Cangrejos, Puerto Rico.” The Americas 63.4 (2007): 551–586.
DOI: 10.1353/tam.2007.0091Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Case study of fugitive slaves, from various parts of the Caribbean to Puerto Rico, and their fate. Discusses the community of Cangrejos (in what is now Santurce), founded by maritime Maroons from the Dutch West Indies. Demonstrates how this community occupied a central role in colonial Puerto Rican history. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Jamaica and the Circum-Caribbean

As the crown jewel of Great Britain’s Caribbean colonies, Jamaica was a key center of sugar production throughout the 18th century. Jamaica’s rugged terrain and mountainous interior also made it inviting for the formation of Maroon communities. Dallas 1968 provides a chronicle of late-18th-century Maroon wars, whereas Campbell 1988 is perhaps the best general study of marronage in Jamaica. Finally, an examination with greater ethnographic detail and interest is Zips 1999. Although the larger islands, such as Jamaica, saw some of the more spectacular elaborations of marronage, the Lesser Antilles, though less accommodating, saw notable Maroon activity nonetheless. Marshall 2008 demonstrates that if the geography was conducive, even small islands could harbor successful Maroon societies. Similarly, Rupert 2009, at the southern end of the Antilles chain, charts maritime marronage on islands off the coast of Venezuela.

Campbell, Mavis C.The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655–1796: A History of Resistance, Collaboration and Betrayal. Granby, MA: Bergin and Garvey, 1988.
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A careful study of nearly a century and a half of Maroon activity and Maroon wars. This work looks at the African roots of Jamaica’s Maroon societies, especially in religious terms. Shows the ambiguities and difficulties placed on Maroons as they tried to maintain their independence with respect to the authority of Great Britain and its hierarchical social structure, which included slaveholding.
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Dallas, R. C.The History of the Maroons, from Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone, Including the Expedition to Cuba for the Purpose of Procuring Spanish Chasseurs and the State of the Island of Jamaica for the Last Ten Years with a Succinct History of the Island Previous to That Period. 2 vols. London: Cass, 1968.
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Originally published in 1803. Both a history and primary source, this text covers the history of Jamaica, from its earlier Spanish settlements to the author’s own times. Deals with Maroons in different parts of the island, including the Windward Maroons and those of Trelawney Town. Details the Maroon wars of the late 18th century, largely from a British imperial perspective.
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Marshall, Bernard A. “Maronnage in Slave Plantation Societies: A Case Study of Dominica, 1785–1815.” In Special Issue: The 60th Anniversary Edition: West Indian History. Caribbean Quarterly 54.4 (2008): 103–110.
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Offers the interesting case of runaway communities formed in response to the British takeover of French Dominica in 1763. Describes the fierce competition between English forces and Maroons and demonstrates why Maroons engaged in fierce aggressions against colonists and why the Maroons’ activities ceased after 1814.
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Rupert, Linda M. “Marronage, Manumission and Maritime Trade in the Early Modern Caribbean.” Slavery and Abolition 30.3 (2009): 361–382.
DOI: 10.1080/01440390903098003Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Charts extensive maritime marronage between the Dutch Islands, predominantly Curaçao, proximate to Venezuela. Proposes that slaves who escaped to Spanish America often succeeded when they fled to relatively marginal areas. Considers the links and connections made between “interimperial” arrivals and Maroons in Venezuela. Covers how Spanish Maroon policies shifted with trade, treaties, and wars throughout the 18th-century. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Zips, Werner. Black Rebels: African-Caribbean Freedom Fighters in Jamaica. Translated by Shelley L. Frisch. Princeton, NJ: Marcus Wiener, 1999.
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Links the Maroon past and present. Zips presents a useful history of the 18th century, but, more importantly a field-researched guide to Maroon rituals and lifeways and their connection to Jamaican 20th-century politics and culture.
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Mexico and Central America

The history of slave resistance in Mexico is well documented, especially in the key regions where Maroons established treaties with colonial authorities. It may well be that further study of temporary, or urban, marronage will expand this picture. Proctor 2010 provides insights into petite marronage and desertion for the purpose of legal redress. A good overview of marronage in Mexico is offered by Chávez-Hita 2001 and Proctor 2009. Carroll 1977 is a useful examination of the 18th-century community of Amapá. David M. Davidson’s essay in Price 1996 (cited under Foundational Works and General Studies) gives us an overview of Maroon activities, from the Spanish conquest to 1650, as does Palmer 1976, though situated in a broader study of slave life in Mexico. The excellent primary sources Laurencio 1974 and Winfield Capitaine 1992 cover the two key communities of San Lorenzo and Amapá, respectively. The story of Maroons in Central America is of fairly recent discovery; Bateman 1995 (cited under Themes) comparatively analyzes the Black Caribs, who would settle along much of the Caribbean Central American coast, and the Black Seminoles of Spanish Florida and later Texas and Mexico. Lokken 2004 looks at two of the more notable cases of Maroon community formation in Guatemala.

Carroll, Patrick J. “Mandinga: The Evolution of a Mexican Runaway Slave Community, 1735–1827.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 19.4 (1977): 488–505.
DOI: 10.1017/S0010417500012032Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses Spanish attempts to reduce the group of 18th-century Maroon communities formed in the region of Amapá. Notes Maroon integration within the local economy and their ability to work as local mercenaries, a niche that enabled them to petition for freedom in exchange for military service. Proposes that social integration made the Maroons like any other community of the region. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Chávez-Hita, Adriana Naveda, “De San Lorenzo de los negros a los Morenos de Amapa: Cimarrones veracruzanos, 1609–1735.” In Rutas de la esclavitud en África y América Latina. Edited by Rina Cáceres, 157–174. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 2001.
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A useful and well researched overview of Maroon societies formed in the state of Veracruz during the 16th and 17th centuries: highlights colonial authorities’ policies and ambivalence to Maroon activities.
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Laurencio, Juan. Campaña contra Yanga en 1608. Colección Suma veracruzana: Serie historiografía. Mexico City: Editorial Citlaltepetl, 1974.
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Penned by a Jesuit, this is a detailed narrative of the interactions between the Maroon leader Yanga and expeditionaries sent to destroy his community. Notably, the descriptions of Yanga’s village make clear that this was a society that fused African and local native cultures and people (especially women). Yanga successfully operated for decades against Spanish authority and eventually was legitimized and founded a town bearing his name in the early 17th century.
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Lokken, Paul. “A Maroon Moment: Rebel Slaves in Early Seventeenth-Century Guatemala.” Slavery and Abolition 25.3 (2004): 44–58.
DOI: 10.1080/0144039042000302232Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Unearths the history of two significant Maroon sites: the Golfo Dulce region, on the Caribbean coast, and Tulate, near the Pacific coast. Demonstrates that even in regions where overall slave numbers were low, Maroons played key roles in subverting the colonial order. Argues that the decline of African arrivals after 1640 was the main factor in reducing Maroon activities. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Palmer, Colin A.Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570–1650. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976.
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Within a broader study of African slave life, examines the incidence of marronage as one important form of slave resistance.
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Proctor, Frank T., III. “Slave Rebellion and Liberty in Colonial Mexico.” In Black Mexico: Race and Society from Colonial to Modern Times. Edited by Ben Vinson III and Matthew Restall, 21–50. Diálogos. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2009.
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Offers an excellent and succinct overview of key Maroon communities during the colonial period. Considers the underlying causes and aims of Maroon resistance.
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Proctor, Frank T., III.Damned Notions of Liberty: Slavery, Culture, and Power in Colonial Mexico, 1640–1769. Diálogos. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2010.
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Takes a topical approach to African slavery that explores labor, religion, and various forms of resistance. Chapter 5, in particular, deals with a number of cases of flight and rebellion. Important work for its inclusion of cases of petite marronage. Excellent for undergraduates and seminars.
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Winfield Capitaine, Fernando, ed. Los cimarrones de Mazateopan. Xalapa, Mexico: Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz-Llave, 1992.
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Collection of documents on the legitimation and founding of Guadalupe de Amapá, a town established by runaway slaves in the region of Oaxaca. Covers the years 1767–1770. Excellent for researchers.
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Peru and Ecuador

The study of Maroon societies in Peru is a relatively recent literature. Bowser 1974, a general study of Africans in Peru up to 1650, examines a number of cases. Aguirre 1993 contains very good studies on the late colonial and early republican period, and new contributions seem to be on the horizon. The study of marronage in Ecuador has concentrated on the region of Esmeraldas, the location of a 16th–17th century Maroon society that had extensive interactions with royal authorities. Although there are some earlier works, they tend to focus more on the aspirations of quiteños than on those of the runaway slaves. Works that have used Spanish and other sources in an attempt to understand the dynamics of marronage in Esmeraldas include Lane 2002, Rueda Novoa 2001, Beatty-Medina 2006, and Beatty-Medina 2010. These works look at various aspects of the Maroons’ roles in colonizing projects, distribution of labor, and missionary activity in the region. In addition, an essential source document is published by Alcina Franch 2001. Another useful source on Esmeraldas is found (with English translation) in McKnight and Garofalo 2009 (cited under Foundational Works and General Studies).

Aguirre, Carlos. Agentes de su propia libertad: Los esclavos de Lima y la desintegración de la esclavitud, 1821–1854. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1993.
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An excellent social history of the demise of African slavery in Peru. Devotes an important chapter to the contribution of runaways (and banditry) to the abolitionist cause.
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Alcina Franch, José, ed. Descripción de la Provincia de Esmeraldas/Miguel Cabello Balboa. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2001.
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An updated transcription of Miguel Cabello Balboa’s Verdaderadescripción de la Provincia de Esmeraldas. The source describes Cabello’s diplomatic expedition to meet with and legitimize the Esmeraldas Maroons. Includes extensive notes and an excellent introduction charting Spanish interactions and relations with the blacks and Indians of the region. An essential source for understanding the pre-1577 history of the region. Excellent for graduate students and researchers.
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Beatty-Medina, Charles. “Caught between Rivals: The Spanish-African Maroon Competition for Captive Indian Labor in the Region of Esmeraldas during the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries.” In Special Issue: The African Diaspora in the Colonial Andes. Edited by Ben Vinson III.The Americas 63.1 (2006): 113–136.
DOI: 10.1353/tam.2006.0122Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Deals with the African and mixed-race Maroons of Esmeraldas, their captive labor practices, and how these activities shaped their interactions with Spanish authorities. Considers the connection between Maroon agency and Spanish colonization. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Beatty-Medina, Charles. “Alonso de Illescas (1530s-1590s) African, Ladino, and Maroon Leader in Colonial Ecuador.” In The Human Tradition in the Black Atlantic, 1500-2000. Edited by Beatriz G. Mamigonian and Karen Racine, 9–22. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010.
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This biography of a sixteenth-century maroon leader provides insights into the background of transatlantic Africans and the cultural capital they could accumulate from the Atlantic islands, Iberia, and the Americas.
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Bowser, Frederick P.The African Slave in Colonial Peru, 1524–1650. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1974.
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As part of a general examination of African slavery, chapter 8 charts the forms and prevalence of marronage around Lima and coastal Peru. Notes that geography worked against the formation of long-term Maroon communities. As such, most Maroon groupings were viewed as bands, or gangs. Notably, offers a thorough exploration of official attempts at Maroon suppression and of the politics of the Santa Hermandad, charged with maintaining safety and the capture of fugitive slaves.
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Lane, Kris. Quito, 1599: City and Colony in Transition. Diálogos. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.
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Looks at the roles played by the Esmeraldas Maroons in various chapters of this study, which concentrates on how the colonial world of Quito formed as the result of the Spanish conquest. An excellent book for undergraduates.
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Rueda Novoa, Rocío. Zambaje y autonomía: Historia de la gente negra de la Provincia de Esmeraldas, siglos XVI–XVIII. Colección marejada: Serie verde; Prosa. Quito, Ecuador: Taller de Estudios Históricos, 2001.
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Well researched and comprehensive, considers the role played by mixed-race zambo Maroon communities in coastal Esmeraldas. Covers a broader chronology than most studies, providing continuity through the 18th century, as mining brought new African arrivals, including many Maroons, to the region.
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Santo Domingo and Haiti

In addition to being the first Spanish colony, Hispaniola was the first region in the Americas where Native Americans and Africans sought to escape the onus of colonial captivity and physical exploitation. Indeed, it has been argued that the term cimarrón, the Spanish root of the word maroon, is derived from a Taino/Spanish neologism first coined in Hispaniola. The French version of the term, marronage, may also have early roots in the French half of Hispaniola. Study of 16th-century marronage in Santo Domingo and Haiti covers various parts of the island. Deive 1989 provides an excellent source on Maroons in Santo Domingo. Fouchard 1981 gives the most complete treatment of marronage and its role in the Haitian revolution. This is a point also explored in depth by Genovese 1979 (cited under Themes). Geggus 1985 offers an excellent examination of Fouchard 1981 within a broader argument on Maroons and Haitian independence.

Deive, Carlos Esteban. Los guerrilleros negros: Esclavos fugitivos y cimarrones en Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1989.
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A comprehensive study of three centuries of marronage in Hispaniola. Very good coverage and interesting analysis is provided on cross-border Maroons from French Saint Domingue. Has a useful focus on Spanish authorities’ strategies for dealing with Maroon “threats” and runaway communities.
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Fouchard, Jean. The Haitian Maroons: Liberty or Death. Translated by A. Faulkner Watts. New York: Blyden, 1981.
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English translation of Les marrons de la liberté, originally published in 1972 (Paris: Éditions de l’École). A groundbreaking study in its day, this text argues for strong causal links between runaway activities and the struggle for Haitian independence. Although revised and revisited since publication of this translation, the work continues to influence the key debates. It offers a detailed look at the causes and effects of marronage at the structural level. Topics such as the frequency of marronage and slave life are carefully considered.
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Geggus, David. “On the Eve of Haitian Revolution: Slave Runaways in Saint Domingue in the Year 1790.” In Special Issue: Out of the House of Bondage: Runaways, Resistance and Marronage in Africa and the New World. Edited by Gad Heuman. Slavery and Abolition 6.3 (1985): 112–128.
DOI: 10.1080/01440398508574896Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Critiques existing arguments on the importance and role of marronage in colonial Saint Domingue, especially part of the quantitative analysis in Fouchard 1981. In contrast to that work and Genovese 1979 (cited under Themes), Geggus questions the links between the extensive Maroon communities and the Haitian revolution. Using newspaper sources, the author explores categories of runaways, by sex, experience, origin, and location. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Venezuela and Surinam

An early work, Acosta Saignes 1967 considers marronage in Venezuela within the broader context of slavery. Much subsequent work has focused on key areas of Maroon activities, such as Guerra Cedeño 1984, a study of Barlovento. Pérez 2000 more recently covered the Maroons’ intermingling with native society in more frontier-like areas. Although making up a relatively small portion of Latin America lying outside the “Latin-speaking” zone, the Dutch colonies have provided a wealth of information and study on Maroon societies (see Hall 1985, cited under Themes). Among numerous studies, two groundbreaking works deserve special consideration within an extensive, highly regarded, ethnographic historiography. Both Price 1983 and Price 1990 use a method of interwoven voices, juxtaposing historical actors, modern-day Maroons, and the author’s voice, thus offering a more layered approach to history. Stedman 1988 may be considered an entirely new version of this text, as it is the first taken from the original of 1790.

Acosta Saignes, Miguel. Vida de los esclavos negros en Venezuela. Caracas, Venezuela: Hespérides, 1967.
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Gives a good overview of slavery in Venezuela, with introductory coverage of marronage and slave rebellions for the 16th–18th centuries. Includes a useful map of “cumbe” locations.
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Guerra Cedeño, Franklin. Esclavos negros, cimarroneras y cumbes de Barlovento. Cuadernos Lagoven. Caracas, Venezuela: Lagoven, 1984.
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A brief but important work on the formation of runaway communities in 18th-century eastern Venezuela. Looks at the slave trade to Venezuela, runaway slaves, and slave revolts. Emphasis on efforts used to capture Maroons and punishments meted out to runaways.
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Pérez, Berta E. “The Journey to Freedom: Maroon Forebears in Southern Venezuela.” Ethnohistory 47.3–4 (2000): 611–634.
DOI: 10.1215/00141801-47-3-4-611Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the Aripaeño mixed-race Maroon community of southern Venezuela and historical memory. Stresses how escaped slaves moved and situated themselves in an indigenous world and foreign ecological environment. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Price, Richard. First-Time: The Historical Vision of an Afro-American People. Johns Hopkins Studies in Atlantic History and Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.
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A seminal study that examines the Saramaka Maroons’ history, using the Maroons’ own perspective. This work integrates primary source documents, contemporary oral testimony, and the scholar’s observations. The work combines fine-textured ethnography with archival narrative, a blended study unique in the field. Excellent for undergraduate students and graduate courses.
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Price, Richard. Alabi’s World. Johns Hopkins Studies in Atlantic History and Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
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Described as a multivocal study, this work expertly interweaves the author’s analysis with the voices of Dutch officials, German missionaries, and the descendants of the Saramaka Maroons. Excellent for undergraduate adoption.
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Stedman, John Gabriel. Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam: Transcribed for the First Time from the Original 1790 Manuscript. Edited by Richard Price and Sally Price. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
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Stedman vibrantly narrates life on the plantations and in the Surinam outback between 1773 and 1777. An extensive source exploring plantation life, native communities, colonial society, and natural history. Focus on the strategies and reasons for marooning as well as methods and brutality of warfare against the Maroons. Also available in an abridged version titled Stedman’s Surinam: Life in Eighteenth-Century Slave Society (Baltimore: John’s Hopkins University, 1992). Excellent for undergraduate and graduate course use.
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