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Outside Magazine February 2003

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The Hard Way
Up the Creek (Cont.)

OUTSIDE OF TOTAL insurrection, marronage was what most frightened planters. They called it "the chronic plague." Runaway slaves threatened the very structure of the New World economy during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Without slave labor, the sugarcane, tobacco, and cotton industries would collapse and rich, aristocratic planters would become paupers. Thus, the most demonic punishments were reserved for recaptured runaway slaves. According to Suriname criminal court records from 1730, "the Negro Joosie shall be hanged from the gibbet by an Iron Hook through his ribs, until dead; his head shall then be severed and displayed on a stake by the riverbank, remaining to be picked over by birds of prey. As for the Negroes Wierrie and Manbote, they shall be bound to a stake and roasted alive over a slow fire, while being tortured with glowing Tongs. The Negro girls, Lucreita, Ambira, Aga, Gomba, Marie and Victoria will be tied to a Cross, to be broken alive, and then their heads severed to be exposed by the riverbank on stakes...."

Maroon outposts were fortresses in the wild. Paths leading to a village were concealed and booby-trapped with sharpened stakes.

Maroon outposts were fortresses in the wild, located in the most inhospitable terrain. Paths leading to a village were concealed and booby-trapped with pits of sharpened stakes. The only way into or out of some villages was either through an underwater tunnel or by passing through a narrow defile; most communities were surrounded by wooden palisades.

To feed, clothe, and defend themselves, maroons became masters of outdoor survival, domesticating jungle plants, concocting medicines, fishing, hunting, carving wood, and weaving.

Always outnumbered and outgunned, maroons also developed guerrilla warfare tactics. Using ambushes, night maneuvers, and hit-and-run attacks, maroons sometimes managed to vanquish European mercenaries trained in regimented fighting. The most powerful maroon societies regularly raided plantations—stealing slaves into freedom—which eventually forced their former masters and colonial governments to sign accords granting them not only their freedom but also land ownership and trade opportunities.

Peace treaties with nascent maroon governments were inked in Hispaniola, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador in the 1500s, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil in the 1600s, and Jamaica and Suriname in the 1700s. Despite these treaties, most maroon communities were eventually destroyed by colonial troops. And yet some—through a combination of intelligent diplomacy, fierce courage, and wilderness resourcefulness—survived. The Saramaka were one such group.

In 1762, they signed an agreement with the Dutch colonial administration granting them land rights along the Suriname River from 50 miles inland south to the headwaters. Remarkably, for the next two centuries this treaty was largely respected. During those many generations, the Saramaka built a world from the rainforest, creating their own language, their own animist religion, their own architecture, and their own cuisine.

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