Maroon Wars

Maroon Wars (1720-38 & 1795-96)



The Maroons continued to inhabit the inland mountains while the British settled in. The Maroons were former African slaves who had escaped the Spanish and held their own during the initial British invasion. Living isolated from the new Jamaica, the Maroons retained their African culture. Developing confidence, their population grew as they added new slave escapees to their communities to the point where they controlled much of the Jamaican interior.

The British fought back en masse on two occasions in what has become known as the 1st and 2nd Maroon Wars. Because the British were unfamiliar with the mountainous interior, they brought in the Mosquito people from Nicaragua and British bloodhounds to compete with the brave Maroons in the first War.

A guerrilla like battle ensued in tough terrain and left the two sides without clear winner. Eventually, Governor Edward Trelawny (of whom the Parish of Trelawny is named) worked out a settlement with the Maroons, which recognized the Maroons as a self sufficient community with rights to their lands.

The war created Jamaican heroes and heroines like Nanny who bravely fought off the British to maintain their autonomy and territory. In reality, this was a huge victory for the Maroons, which still brings assured smiles to the faces of Jamaicans.

The settlement lasted 57 years until 1795, when a Brit violated the agreement by beating a Maroon in Montego Bay. The settlement clearly stated that any Maroon suspected of wrongdoing was to be sent back to his own people for trial, not flogged in British territory.

This led to the 2nd Maroon war, which saw the British reverse their poor fortunes and achieve an efficient victory. Those Maroons who participated in the war were sent off to Nova Scotia in modern day Canada. Eventually, they were sent to Sierra Leone and Ghana, while those Maroons who didn’t participate in the war continued living on their own in the mountains.