60199616-flight-to-freedom-african-runaways-and-maroons-in-the-americas

The Imperative of Freedom
97
role as Maroon hunters in Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela,
Colombia and Peru, and the “gifts” (which some writers view as a form of
tribute) that the authoritarian states paid them for scouting the land in search
of fugitives and for their larger military contributions in the hinterland of
these countries. 6
What is less known is that there were numerous instances of cooperation
between Indians and Africans, and that some Maroon settlements comprised
members of both groups (see chapter 2). Pinto Vallejos (1998, 184), for
instance, states that the Indians in Brazil who mounted a sustained resistance
to European aggression often found useful allies in the African runaways.
Schwartz (1979, 214) points out that numerous instances are recorded of
Indian villages incorporating Africans and Afro-Brazilians into their ranks,
causing much concern to the Portuguese colonial authorities. The Indians
revolted everywhere against European atrocities, especially in the Portuguese,
Spanish and British/United States zones. They fled to remote areas; established
Maroon settlements; carried away food, other goods and occasionally
women (including White women); and in numerous other ways proved to be
a thorn in the sides of their oppressors, forcing the latter to send out large
expeditions against them (Pérez de la Riva 1979, 51; Sharp 1976, 158; Esteban
Deive 1989, 29). The following brief sketch of what happened in the
Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia and Cuba gives an idea of the kinds
of Maroon activities in which the Indians engaged.
Maroons in the Dominican Republic founded the first settlements in the
Bahoruco Mountains in the early sixteenth century. They were divided into
several groups, joining forces temporarily as the exigencies of the situation
demanded, and returning to rebuild after periodic expeditions laid waste their
settlements (Esteban Deive 1989, 37, 74). Perhaps more expeditions were dispatched
against this group of Maroons than any other in that country. In 1519
Enriquillo, the famous Indian Maroon leader, and his followers were located
there. He attracted numerous Blacks to his palenque and, according to
Esteban Deive (1989, 29), for the next fourteen years the Dominican Republic
was in a state of turmoil. In 1523 the authoritarian state was forced to declare
war officially on the Maroons and sent a military detachment against them,
the cost of whose rations was to be borne by a special tax on the neighbouring
White settlers. Neither this expedition nor succeeding ones managed to
dislodge the Maroons permanently from their strongholds, although soldiers
reported killing several and wounding others; but the Spanish also sustained