Palmares (quilombo)

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Palmares, or Quilombo dos Palmares, was a quilombo, a settlement of runaway and free-born African slaves, founded around 1600 in the Serra da Barriga hills of northeastern Brazil. It was legendary for its size and power. An independent, self-sustaining republic, Palmares was vast and at its height hosted a population of over 30,000 free African men, women and children. There were over 200 buildings in the community, a church, four smithies, and a council house.

The first leader of Palmares was Ganga Zumba, who escaped bondage on a sugar plantation and traveled to Palmares.

Capoeira or the Dance of War by Johann Moritz Rugendas, 1835

Palmares successfully defended itself militarily against several attempts by Dutch and, later, Portuguese colonial powers to destroy it and kill or capture its citizens. The cafuzos, or Maroons, of Brazil were fierce and cunning fighters trained in a martial arts form called capoeira, developed in Brazil by African slaves in the 1500s. This acrobatic fighting style made the renegades of Palmares virtually invincible in hand-to-hand combat against the Portuguese. There were at least twenty such incursions between 1654 and 1678.

In 1655, an African known only as Zumbi was born in Palmares. He was captured by the Portuguese as a young child, but escaped and returned to Palmares in 1670. The Palmarinos, under Zumbi's leadership retaliated to the frequent invasions by engaging in reprisal raids on the Portuguese plantations and villages, freeing slaves, and thus swelling their own numbers. Ten years later, Zumbi, now a skilled warrior and military strategist, succeeded Ganga Zumba as leader of Palmares. It was Zumbi who valiantly led the army of Palmares against the artillery of Portuguese military commanders Domingos Jorge Velho and Vieira de Mello. The final assault against Palmares occurred in 1694. Cerca do Macaco, the main settlement, fell; and Zumbi was wounded. He eluded the Portuguese, but was betrayed, finally captured, and beheaded in 1695.

Palmares (quilombo)

See also