The Maroons of Jamaica: Freedom Fighters in the Mountains
The story of the Jamaican Maroons begins in the mountains, where freedom was carved from resistance. The Maroons were Africans who escaped slavery and established independent communities in Jamaica’s rugged interior. Their roots trace back to the island’s earliest colonial period, when Spain controlled Jamaica from 1493 to 1655. Enslaved Africans brought by the Spanish often fled to the hills, forming some of the first “refugee” communities of free blacks.
