Imaguan Maroons

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Imaguan Maroons

Depiction of a Maroon
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Bahian languages, Western Imaguan Creole, Eastern Imaguan Creole
Religion
Sotirianity
Related ethnic groups
Carucerean Maroons

The Imaguan Maroons (Etrurian: Marroni) were escaped Bahian slaves who freed themselves from slavery in Imagua and established themselves in the Central Highlands of Imagua from the mid-fifteenth century until the abolition of slavery at the end of the eighteenth century. While the term can also be applicable to the Maroons on the smaller Assimas Islands, the Maroon populations were significantly smaller and less documented than the Maroons on the island of Imagua.

Early history

Origins

From the start of Caldish colonisation, escaped slaves on the island of Imagua (at this time Native Imaguans) would flee to areas with low white settlement, with this trend continuing during Blostlandic rule of Imagua, with escaped slaves captured in present-day Eldmark fleeing into the Central Highlands. These escaped slaves would form the basis of the Maroon community, with archaeological evidence suggesting that there were around 28 sites in the Nearon Valley associated with "indigenous Maroons" between 1550 and 1650.

With the seizure of Imagua by Estmere in 1658, Estmerish settlers not only encroached on the Maroon communities in the Glen Valley, but brought Bahian slaves as part of the triangle trade to work on sugar or nutmeg plantations. Due to their short life expectancy and brutal working conditions, many slaves on the island of Imagua would escape to the Central Highlands, where they would intermingle with the indigenous Asterians who fled decades earlier, and create a distinct Maroon society.

Maroons were able to survive by subsistence farming and through raiding nearby plantations. Initially, early Maroon governance bore stark similarities to the village system practiced in Bahia, with direct democracy being practiced by Maroon communities, with a chieftain being in charge of a Maroon community.

Formation of the Westward and Eastward Maroons

Beginning in the 1670s, slave uprisings became more prevalent on the island of Imagua, due to the arrival of members of the warrior caste to Imagua, under the belief that their fitness would make them more likely to survive the harsh conditions of sugar production.

The most notable uprising during this period was in 1681, when the Parlow estate faced an uprising of around 800 slaves, with most of the slaves fleeing to the Central Highlands, where they would establish a town in present-day Lethbridge. There, they coalesced around Chepiri Parlow, who established a Houregic polity around the town. Although Chepiri was killed in battle in 1683, and many of the slaves were recaptured when their settlement was captured, 300 were able to "evade their owners," and formed their own community in the Central Highlands. The Chepiri Maroons would become dominant among many Maroon communities, with Chepiri's successor, Queen Ruwa coalescing most of the Maroon communities on the western slopes of the Glen Valley into what would become the Westward Maroons.

On the eastern slopes of the Glen Valley, 300 slaves escaped from several plantations near Happy Valley into the Central Highlands during a slave revolt in 1689. Unlike the Westward Maroons, which was significantly organised along Houregic lines, the Eastward Maroon communities created as a result of the 1689 slave revolt were decentralised and never coalesced into Hourege-style polities, instead following a model most similar to the village system.

By 1700, it was estimated that there were around a thousand Maroon communities around the Glen Valley, split roughly evenly between the Westward and Eastward Maroons. Furthermore, some evidence emerged of Maroon communities along the northern slopes of Mount Apita, with one community which numbered 60 individuals being completely buried in the 1694 eruption of Mount Apita, as well as some Maroon communities along the southern slopes of Mount Guanara. However, compared to the Maroons around the Glen Valley, these Maroon communities were minor, and never coalesced into a major organisational grouping compared to the Westward and Eastward Maroons.

Heyday of the Maroons

Ten Years' War and Gaullican rule

Painting of a raid during Oparo's Rebellion, 1810

During the Ten Years' War between Gaullica and Estmere, as word spread inland of Gaullica's attack on Estmere, the Westward Maroons led by Queen Ruka, as well as some villages among the Eastward Maroons started to believe that Gaullica would bring them freedom from the "chains of slavery," and that if they fought against the Estmerish, that they would be able to be free.

Thus, in 1711, Queen Ruwa launched Queen Ruwa's Rebellion against the Estmerish. While Queen Ruwa died in 1713, she was succeeded by King Conlan, who develops tactics to "wear and tire" the Estmerish forces defending the island, allowing the Westward Maroons to raid and burn several settlements, most notably Altaithe in 1716, while liberating slaves from plantations and incorporating them into the Maroon community.

Following the cession of Imagua to Gaullica in 1721, King Conlan would negotiate a treaty with the Gaullicans in 1723 where the Westward Maroons were granted some land, comprised of seven towns, including Chepiri Town, in exchange for the Westward Maroons no longer admitting any new Maroons into their communities, and cooperating with the Gaullican authorities to crush slave revolts.

However, among the Eastward Maroons, while some were willing to cooperate with the Gaullicans, many Eastward Maroon villages were less willing to cooperate with the Gaullicans. Thus, when a slave revolt broke out in 1734 at the Fanshaw estate, many Eastward Maroons cooperated with the slaves, while the Westward Maroons under King Conlan were sent to crush the slave revolt, doing so successfully, although 41 slaves would avoid capture by the Westward Maroons and Gaullican militiamen.

In 1742, King Conlan died, and the Westward Maroons split in two, with Conlan's son, Acon Conlan, remaining loyal to Gaullica, and Conlan's first cousin once removed, Oparo Smith, who was more sympathetic to the Estmerish and with the Eastern Maroons. Thus, in 1744, Oparo Smith launched Oparo's Rebellion, rebelling against Gaullican rule. Oparo made some gains early on, to the point of taking over Chepiri Town by 1746, but the combined support of Gaullican soldiers, forces loyal to Acon Conlan, and the Gaullican-aligned villages among the Eastern Maroons meant that by 1749, Oparo was killed in battle, and Oparo's Rebellion came to an end.

However, in response to Oparo's Rebellion, the rights of the Westward Maroons were reduced, with Ruwa Town (near Ballavagg), where Oparo lived, being depopulated, and its inhabitants sold back into slavery. Furthermore, Gaullican officials were sent to live in the remaining six towns of the Westward Maroons, in an effort to "quell any signs of rebellion" before they occur, which eroded the autonomy of the Westward Maroons.

By 1752, Gaullican officials recorded that 3,219 Maroons lived in the six towns governed by Acon Conlan. At the same time, it is estimated that of the 80-90 communities among the Eastward Maroons, around two thousand Maroons inhabited these communities, although poor documentation of the Eastward Maroons, and the lack of treaties between the Gaullican authorities and Eastward Maroons meant that it is difficult to gather numbers.

During the 1750s, the Eastward Maroons, realising that their divisions would allow Gaullicans and the Westward Maroons to exploit them for their own gain, began to coalesce into a unified entity. Unlike the Westward Maroons, who adopted a Houregic system, the Eastward Maroons would have each of their villages elect a delegate to serve on a council, who would elect a headman to assert the rights of the Eastward Maroons. This position was held by Gideon Bohannon.

In 1762, Gideon Bohannon would launch Gideon's Rebellion, with Gideon Bohannon seeking to either create "an independent state" or acquiring concessions from the Gaullicans. Improving on the tactics used by King Conlan and Oparo Smith, Gideon Bohannon was able to carve out an area where the Eastward Maroons could govern themselves, while liberating slaves. The Westward Maroons, who were sent to crush the rebellion, were unable to effectively quell the rebellion, and by 1764, with the outbreak of the Asterian War of Secession, and Gideon's success on the battlefield, the Gaullicans were forced to give the Eastward Maroons the same privileges that they gave the Westward Evaedees, with the Eastward Maroons being granted twelve towns in their territory to govern autonomously, in exchange for no longer allowing new Maroons to join, and allowing Gaullican officials to base themselves in the towns.

During the Asterian War of Seccession, both the Westward and Eastward Maroons fought alongside the Gaullicans to defend Imagua from Estmere, as both feared that the Estmerish would take away their rights and privileges. In 1768, Acon Conlan died, and was succeeded by Isay Conlan as leader of the Westward Maroons.

Final years of slavery

Following the return of the Colony of Imagua to Estmere in 1771, the agreements between the colonial government and the Westward and Eastward Maroons were abrogated the following year, as the colonial government saw these Maroon governments as being "imposed by the Gaullicans." This meant that overnight, the Maroons' ability to govern their own communities were taken away from them, while their legal status became unclear.

Some Maroon communities would flee deeper into the Central Highlands, in an effort to avoid slave catchers. Others began engaging in active resistance against the Estmerish colonial government, culminating in the 1774 Isay Rebellion, led by Isay Conlan. Unlike past rebellions, the Isay Rebellion involved both the Westward and Eastward Maroons, with Isay Conlan developing an alliance with Gideon Bohannon. Isay Conlan primarily served as the political leader, while Gideon Bohannon served as the military leader of the Isay Rebellion.

At its height in 1775, the Isay Rebellion controlled much of the Central Highlands and the Upper Glen Valley, but after the defeat of Isay rebels at the Battle of New Burdale in late 1775, in part due to increased reinforcements by Estmere, Isay Conlan and Gideon Bohannon's forces saw mounting losses until they were forced to surrender in 1777.

Both Isay Conlan and Gideon Bohannon were executed for treason in 1778, but with the rising abolitionist tide, there was pressure to settle the status of the Maroons. Thus, in 1780, the colonial government declared that all "escaped slaves currently in the Central Highlands" were freemen "with all rights thereof." However, this only covered the existing Maroon communities, and did not affect those who escaped into the highlands after that date.

Some Maroons were critical of that decision, as it did not restore their autonomy that they had under the Gaullicans, while a few communities committed mass suicide out of fear that Estmerish officials sent to inform the Maroons of that decision were actually slave catchers trying to bring them back into slavery. However, most Maroons would leave the Central Highlands after the 1780 decree, and would eventually assimilate into the Bahio-Imaguan community after a few generations. Thus, of the eighteen Maroon towns that existed in 1780, only two remained by the time slavery was abolished: Chepiri Town, belonging to the Westward Maroons, and Bohannon Town (in present-day TBD), belonging to the Eastward Maroons.

Decline and demise

Post-slavery and decline

By the time slavery was abolished in 1795, it was estimated that there were around one to three thousand Maroons remaining in the Central Highlands, roughly evenly split between the Westward and Eastward Maroons, with Estmerish officials sent to inform the Maroons that slavery was abolished in its entirety recording thirty-nine villages inhabited by Maroons, with a population of "no more than one thousand."

With the abolition of slavery, Maroons no longer needed to hide in the Central Highlands in order to escape slavery. This led to a substantial decline of the Maroon population residing in the Central Highlands, and the abandonment of most of the Maroon villages: by 1811, Wyatt Millard only recorded two Eastward Maroon villages "high on the eastern slopes of the Glen Valley," with one having a population of 19 people, and the other with a population of 11 people. Millard subsequently recorded six Westward Maroon villages in 1813, "each with a population of around 50 people." In both of these expeditions, Millard noted that the Maroon populations were declining, with those staying "generally being older people who knew little about modern life."

During the early nineteenth century, the Maroon populations remaining in the Central Highlands were generally left alone by the colonial government, due to financial considerations, although Millard advocated for relocating the Maroons remaining in the Central Highlands to Lethbridge to "integrate them into Imaguan society." This policy of neglect saw the remaining Maroon villages slowly decline: by 1850, only four Maroon villages remained, all of them concentrated on the western slopes of the Glen Valley, and by 1870, only two Maroon villages remained, with both villages reporting to "have the same governance that the Eastward Maroons had a mere century ago."

Demise

Timothy Parlow, the last Maroon, c. 1940

In 1871, Richard Sweet visited the two remaining Maroon villages in order to gather demographic data for the 1871 census. Sweet found that the population of what he called "North Village" was at 13 people, and the population at what he called "South Village" was at 11 people, and noted that the average age of the population in both Maroon villages was around 51 years, "and increasing as the average villager dies out." Sweet also observed that "in the North Village, there were only three children, and in the South Village, there was only one child," and that "based on the continued demographic trends, it is unlikely that these villages will survive the next century."

Sweet's report aroused the interest of the colonial government, and in 1873, Sweet was sent back to persuade the remaining Maroons to abandon their villages and move to Lethbridge where they could be "properly acclimated into modern civilisation." Although Sweet attempted to persuade the Maroons by promising them land near Chepiri Town (Lethbridge), where they could continue to live together "in a village-like setting," both villages rejected Sweet's proposal, with the chief of North Village reporting that he was "unwilling to give up [the Maroon's] safety, [their] freedom, and [their] culture"

Sweet would publish a report in 1875 detailing his efforts to try and persuade the remaining Maroons to abandon their villages, and documenting some of the cultural customs of the remaining Maroons, with Sweet observing that "both the North and South villages observe broadly similar customs that are rooted in Bahian culture," although the isolation of the two villages meant that "some of the customs, such as feasts and holidays, have different foods and different traditions." Sweet noted that since his initial visit in 1871, the populations of North Village and South Village fell to eleven and seven people respectively. Sweet concluded his report by saying that "it would be unnecessarily cruel to uproot the old men and women, who have spent their whole lives in their villages," but added that "for the three Maroon children, it is a necessity to send them to school down in Lethbridge so they may learn the skills needed to live outside the village."

Sweet's 1875 report was favourably received by the colonial government, and in 1876, the Imaguan Constabulary went to the villages to force the children in the villages to go to school in Lethbridge. This was met with significant resistance by those in the North Village, leading to a fight that injured two constables, and to the death of two Maroon men. The end result was that the remaining three men were taken from the village along with the two children, with the men being charged with assault and murder, and the children being sent to Bellmare in order to "prevent the Maroons from returning to their villages." The three Maroons who were arrested would be sentenced to death in 1878, and executed in 1880.

By 1881, the population of North Village was measured to be at two people, all women, while the population of South Village was measured to be at five people, with "near-equal numbers of men and women," including a child. In 1883, Sweet would once again visit the villages to try and persuade both villages to move to Lethbridge. North Village refused, "despite its long-term unsustainability" because of what "the Constabulary did to the village," and South Village refused the offer because they feared they would not be able to "function in lowland society."

Throughout the 1880s, the three children kidnapped in 1876 would graduate from the Bellmare Boarding School: one would choose to remain in Bellmare, and the two from the North Village wanted to return to the North Village, but were told that the inhabitants of North Village had moved to Lethbridge. In 1885, the "last Maroon child," Molly Parlow, was taken to Bellmare.

By 1891, the census showed that North Village's population fell to one person, and the South Village's population was at three people. During the 1890s, the colonial government largely neglected the Maroons, with a bureaucrat seeing them as "a dying breed" as the remaining Maroon population died from old age. However, the strike on Chief Minister Harmon Lambourne's plantation in 1898 led to fears of "yellow Maroons" fleeing from the plantations and into the interior.

This led to Harmon Lambourne establishing a nature reserve that covered Mount Morete in 1899, which would encompass both the North and South Villages, with one of the aims being to "deprive the gowsas of a space place to hide" in the mountains. Thus, in 1900, the Imaguan Constabulary would go to the North and South Villages to evict the population and transport them to Lethbridge, with the Constabulary reporting that "both people in the South Village willingly left South Village behind," but discovered that "North Village was completely abandoned," with evidence suggesting that the last inhabitant of North Village having died in her own home. The three surviving Maroons still living in the villages were taken to Lethbridge, and both villages were "razed to the ground" so that they would "never serve as shelter for any would-be runaways."

Following the destruction of the last Maroon villages, the Maroon community would become assimilated into the general Bahio-Imaguan population: the last person to live most of his life in a Maroon village, Benjamin Freeman, died in 1918 at the age of 67, with Freeman in his later years documenting as much as he could remember of life in the South Village, and the last Maroon to be born in a Maroon village, Timothy Parlow, from the North Village, died in 1942, a month from his 71st birthday.

In 1966, President Eric Fleming would apologise for the Imaguan government's role "in the destruction of the Maroon culture," but did not provide compensation to the descendants of Maroons.