Nanny of the Maroons (c. 1686 – c. 1755)
Quick Summary
Nanny of the Maroons (c. 1686 – c. 1755) was a maroon leader and major figure in history. Born in Likely Gold Coast (modern Ghana) or Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica, Nanny of the Maroons left a lasting impact through Organized Nanny Town as an eastern Maroon stronghold.
Birth
1686 Likely Gold Coast (modern Ghana) or Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica
Death
1755 Blue Mountains, Portland Parish, Jamaica
Nationality
Jamaican Maroon
Occupations
Complete Biography
Origins And Childhood
Written records on Nanny are scarce and largely filtered through hostile British colonial accounts. Moore Town oral historians relate that she was born on the Gold Coast to an Akan (likely Asante) lineage in the late seventeenth century. Captured amid regional wars or slave-raiding networks, she was shipped to Jamaica during the Atlantic slave trade. Once in the sugar estates of Saint Thomas Parish, she is said to have escaped with her brothers Accompong, Cudjoe, Johnny, and Quao, joining Maroon fugitives in the Blue Mountains. This early flight honed her mastery of the rainforest, medicinal plants, and steep trails that became natural defensive lines.
Historical Context
Early eighteenth-century Jamaica was a key British sugar colony reliant on enslaved African labor and a small planter elite. Since England seized the island in 1655, Maroon communities of runaways had waged guerrilla war from remote mountains. These settlements blended Akan political structures, matrilineal inheritance, warrior rites, and alliances with surviving Taínos. British authorities launched punitive expeditions throughout the 1690s and 1700s to crush them. Nanny's leadership emerged within this long, asymmetric conflict between plantation power and forest-based autonomy.
Public Ministry
By about 1720, Nanny stood as the acknowledged leader of the Windward Maroons—centered at Nanny Town on a John Crow Mountain ridge. The fortified town featured wooden houses, terraced provision grounds, pit traps, and lookout posts. Nanny coordinated patrols, food distribution, and weapons drills, relying on guerrilla tactics: ambushes, abeng horn signals, drum communications, and intimate use of terrain. Her authority was rooted in a mixed council where women directed logistics, healing, and spiritual knowledge. Nanny preserved Akan culture—songs, dances, proverbs—to cement identity. She authorized raids to free captives, seize arms, and sabotage plantation infrastructure while avoiding pitched battles with British regiments.
Teachings And Message
Oral tradition portrays Nanny's teachings as a charter for collective liberty, restorative justice, and interclan solidarity. Freedom, she insisted, required recognition of African lineages and Maroon sovereignty. Warfare and spirituality were inseparable: each campaign opened with Obeah ceremonies, libations, and ancestor consultations for guidance and protection. She also integrated newcomers through initiation rites that secured loyalty and shared agricultural knowledge. This pedagogy fused Akan practices (adesua) with Caribbean innovations, ensuring cultural vitality under clandestine conditions.
Activity In Galilee
The Blue Mountains were Nanny's theater of operations. She directed scouts along the Stony River and Rio Grande valleys, concealed provision grounds, and established signal fires on ridge tops. The natural fortifications—sheer cliffs, waterfalls, caves—shielded Nanny Town during British assaults in 1724, 1728, and 1734. In these campaigns, she orchestrated feints that lured troops into ravines where archers and musket men launched crossfire before melting back into foliage. She supervised powder caches and food stores that sustained the town through extended sieges.
Journey To Jerusalem
In 1734 Governor Edward Trelawny mounted the harshest offensive against Nanny Town, deploying hundreds of regular soldiers, militia, and slave catchers. Nanny coordinated the defense, yet superior artillery forced an evacuation. Survivors regrouped at New Nanny Town (later Moore Town) and resumed mobile warfare. Negotiations led by Quao and other Maroon captains followed. Though absent from the written treaty of 23 March 1739, oral accounts credit Nanny with drafting core demands: recognition of Maroon towns, land restitution, tax exemption, and hunting rights. Official records name her as Cudjoe's sister and spiritual head. Post-treaty, she focused on consolidating Maroon governance and safeguarding secret paths used to aid fugitives.
Sources And Attestations
British colonial archives—campaign journals of Captains Stoddart and Guthrie, Governor Trelawny's dispatches, bounty notices in the Jamaica Gazette—document clashes with Nanny but reflect planter perspectives. Maroon narratives survive in kromanti songs and Moore Town festivals, recounting episodes such as bullets caught in Nanny's skirts, her prophecy of a treaty, and the nighttime march of forty-four warriors sent to free captives. Ethnographers Martha Beckwith (1920s) and Kenneth Bilby (1990s) transcribed these traditions, providing an Afro-Caribbean counter-history.
Historical Interpretations
Modern scholarship—by Mavis Campbell, Karla Gottlieb, Maureen Warner-Lewis, among others—interprets Nanny as a politico-religious leader who fused armed resistance, diplomacy, and cultural preservation. Feminist historians emphasize her role in sustaining matrilineal authority and validating women warriors in Maroon society. Pan-African thinkers from Marcus Garvey to Rex Nettleford hail her as a forerunner of Black nationalism rooted in communal autonomy. Current debates probe the 1739 treaty's meaning: was it co-optation by the British Empire or a strategic compromise that ensured Maroon survival while preserving solidarity with runaways?
Legacy
Designated a National Heroine in 1976, Nanny is honored every Heroes Day with parades, reenactments, and ancestral rites at Moore Town. Her portrait appears on the Jamaican $500 note and public monuments. Her influence extends globally: Afro-diasporic movements cite her as a symbol of women's resistance to slavery; writers (Mutabaruka, Lorna Goodison), archaeologists, and educators draw on her story to valorize Maroon heritage. Moore Town descendants preserve her governance model (elected colonel, council of elders) and petition to protect ancestral lands from mining or tourism encroachment.
Achievements and Legacy
Major Achievements
- Organized Nanny Town as an eastern Maroon stronghold
- Won multiple guerrilla victories over British expeditions
- Shaped negotiations for the 1739 treaty with colonial Jamaica
- Preserved Obeah and Akan traditions within Maroon society
Historical Legacy
As Jamaica's first female National Hero, Nanny symbolizes Afro-Caribbean resistance, communal sovereignty, and the survival of African heritage in the diaspora.
Detailed Timeline
Major Events
Probable birth
Oral tradition places her birth on the Gold Coast among Akan peoples
Arrival in Jamaica
Likely transported via the Atlantic slave trade and escaped into the mountains
Leadership at Nanny Town
Assumed command of the eastern Maroon community
Fall of Nanny Town
British assault forced evacuation to New Nanny Town
Treaty signed
Agreement between Maroons and the colony securing autonomy
Probable death
Believed to have died at Moore Town; honored by descendants
Geographic Timeline
Famous Quotes
"Better to die a warrior than live enslaved."
"Our ancestors walk with us through the forest."
"As long as the hills stand, freedom has a refuge."
External Links
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Nanny of the Maroons?
An eighteenth-century Maroon general and spiritual leader who led eastern Jamaica's guerrilla war against British troops and secured the 1739 autonomy treaty.
Where did Nanny come from?
Oral traditions place her origins on the Gold Coast among Akan peoples before enslavement and transport to Jamaica.
How did Obeah inform her leadership?
Obeah rituals blessed fighters, conveyed coded messages, and anchored communal discipline, reinforcing Maroon morale under Nanny's guidance.
What was the outcome of the First Maroon War?
The 1739 treaty granted Maroon autonomy, land rights, and obligations to help police future slave uprisings.
Why is Nanny a national symbol?
Her tactical brilliance, spiritual authority, and defense of freedom enshrine her among Jamaica's seven National Heroes and on the $500 note.
Sources and Bibliography
Primary Sources
- Journals of the Assembly of Jamaica, 1730–1740
- Treaty with the Maroons, 23 March 1739
Secondary Sources
- Mavis C. Campbell — The Maroons of Jamaica ISBN: 9780870234675
- Karla Lewis Gottlieb — The Mother of Us All: Queen Nanny of the Maroons ISBN: 9780786410752
- Maureen Warner-Lewis — Central Africa in the Caribbean ISBN: 9781558762738
- Kenneth Bilby — True-Born Maroons ISBN: 9780812215387
- Martha Warren Beckwith — Black Roadways: A Study of Jamaican Folk Life ISBN: 9780837123794
- National Library of Jamaica — Queen Nanny Biography
External References
See Also
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