History: The Maroons of Dahomey (Suriname) The Great Dismal Swamp (United States)

[simplesimon]

The Maroons of Dahomey (Suriname)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surinamese_Maroons

Descendants of enslaved Africans that escaped from the plantations and settled in the inland of Suriname. The Surinamese Maroon culture is one of the best-preserved pieces of cultural heritage outside of Africa. Colonial warfare, land grabs, natural disasters and migration have marked Maroon history. In Suriname six Maroon groups — or tribes — can be distinguished from each other. The traditional Surinamese Maroon religion is called Winti. It is a synchretization of different African religious beliefs and practices brought in mainly by the Akan and Fon enslaved peoples. Winti is typical for Suriname, where it originated. They do not allow whites in their villages.

[simplesimon]

Great Dismal Swamp Maroons of the United States



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_..._Swamp_maroons

Over 2,000 descendants of West African and Angolan people who were brought by the British as slaves, but escaped or got freedom. They often lived alongside and had children with local Native American tribes and European indentured servants who also escaped. At the beginning of the 18th century, maroons came to live in the Great Dismal Swamp. They left during the civil war that ended slavery. Most settled on mesic islands, the high and dry parts of the swamp. Inhabitants included people who had purchased their freedom as well as those who had escaped. Other people used the swamp as a route on the Underground Railroad as they made their way further north. Maroonage, self-liberated Africans in isolated or hidden settlements, existed in all the Southern states,and swamp-based maroon communities existed in the Deep South, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Maroonage in the Upper South was largely limited to Virginia and the Great Dismal Swamp.