Nanny of the Maroons

Queen Nanny, Granny Nanny or Nanny (c. 1686 – c. 1755), led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons. In the early 18th century, they fought a multi-year war against British colonizers in Jamaica. Queen Nanny was born in what is today Ghana of the Akan or Ashanti people. According to the oral tradition and at least one documentary source, she was never enslaved. Although widely assumed that she arrived in Jamaica as a slave, how she arrived in Jamaica is not certain.

In 1976 Jamaica declared Nanny as their only female national hero celebrating her success as a leader, military tactician and strategist. During the years of warfare, the British suffered horrendous losses in their encounters with the Windward Maroons. Many attributed their mastery over the British to the successful use of supernatural powers by Nanny. This reputation coupled with the losses terrorized the British troops. Having failed to defeat them on the battle field, the British sued for peace signing a treaty with them on April 20, 1740. The treaty stopped the hostilities, provided for state sanctioned freedom for the Maroons, and a granted 500 acres of land to Nanny and her followers. The village built on the land grant still stands and today is called Moore Town. It is also known as the New Nanny Town. Modern members of the Moore Town celebrate April 20, 1740 as a holiday. Her image is also on the Jamaican $500 bill which is called a Nanny.

Biography

Nanny was born into the Ashanti/Asante nation about 1686 in what is now Ghana, West Africa. There are two versions of her early story. It is not clear from objective sources which is accurate. In one she came as a free woman who may have even had her own slaves.In the other, she came to Jamaica as a slave but then escaped, perhaps even jumping off of the ship while it was off shore. However, the oral traditions about her arrival in Jamaica maintain that she was always free.

By 1720, Nanny and Quao, sometimes called her brother, settled and controlled an area in the Blue Mountains. It was later given the name Nanny Town. Nanny Town had a strategic location overlooking Stony River via a 900-foot (270 m) ridge, making a surprise attack by the British very difficult.

Nanny became a folk hero. While the British captured Nanny Town on more than one occasion, they were unable to hold on to it, in the wake of numerous guerrilla attacks from the Maroons. The Maroons waged a successful war against the British colonial forces over the course of a decade.

When Nanny Town was abandoned, the Windward Maroons under the command of Nanny moved to New Nanny Town, which consisted of 500 acres (2.4 km²) of land granted by the government to the refugee slaves under a 1740 treaty ending the First Maroon War.

Windward Maroons

The Windward Maroons fought the British on the east side of the Island of Jamaica from their village in the Blue Mountains of Portland Parish. They traced their heritage to the Africans who were brought to Jamaica by the Spanish during the Spanish rule of Jamaica 1509-1665. When the British conquered Jamaica, the Spanish left leaving many of their slaves. These formerly enslaved people, with their ranks enhanced with escaped and liberated slaves, became the core of the Windward Maroons. They staged a prolonged fight against British subjugation and enslavement.

The community raised animals, hunted, and grew crops. Maroons at Nanny Town and similar communities survived by sending traders to the nearby market towns to exchange food for weapons and cloth. It was organized very much like a typical Asante society in Africa.

The Maroons were also known for raiding plantations for weapons and food, burning the plantations, and leading freed slaves to join their mountain communities. Nanny was highly successful at organizing plans to free slaves. During a period of 30 years, she was credited with freeing more than 1000 slaves, and helping them to resettle in the Maroon community.

First Maroon War

Between 1728 and 1734, during the First Maroon War, Nanny Town and other Maroon settlements were frequently attacked by British forces. They wanted to stop the raids and believed that the Maroons prevented settlement of the interior. According to some accounts, in 1733 many Maroons of Nanny Town traveled across the island to unite with the Leeward Maroons. In 1734, a Captain Stoddart attacked the remnants of Nanny Town, "situated on one of the highest mountains in the island", via "the only path" available: "He found it steep, rocky, and difficult, and not wide enough to admit the passage of two persons abreast."

In addition to the use of the ravine, resembling what Jamaicans call a "cockpit", the Maroons also used decoys to trick the British into ambushes. A few Maroons would run out into view of the British and then run in the direction of fellow Maroons who were hidden and would attack. After falling into these ambushes several times, the British retaliated. According to a planter named Bryan Edwards, who wrote his narrative half a century later, Captain Stoddart "found the huts in which the negroes were asleep", and "fired upon them so briskly, that many were slain in their habitations". However, recent evidence shows that the number of Windward Maroons killed by Stoddart in his attack on Nanny Town was in single digits.

Military Tactics

The Windward Maroon's success against a much superior and better armed enemy was a testament to the great skill their leader, Nanny, possessed. One of their advantages over the British was their long-range communications capability. They pioneered the use of a cow horn called an abeng. This horn with a hole drilled in one end was used for long range communications. Its signals allowed Maroon lookouts to communicate over great distances. Its signals were not understood by the British who had no similar communications capability.

Nanny's troops were masters of camouflage. The soldiers were so proficient at disguising their location that the British soldiers circulated tales of trees in the forest becoming alive and cutting one's head off. Besides the physical aspects of camouflage the Maroons became experts in slowing their breathing so as not to reveal their presence to someone in their vicinity. The maroons also developed ways of creating stealthy fires that were not readily visible.

The Windward Maroons were innovators in guerilla warfare. They used surprise, the knowledge of the terrain, and cleverly chosen positions in their fight against the British. Their village was located in rugged territory with only one way in. That one way in was a narrow path that was only wide enough for one person. Soldiers trying to attack arrayed in a single file were easily ambushed. To heighten the enemy's fear, Nanny never killed all of the attacking force. She would always allow a remnant to live to return to based a relay the story and horror of the massacre.

Treaty

Representatives of the British governor in Jamaica signed a treaty with the Windward Maroons in 1740. The colonial authorities promised them 500 acres. This initial allocation was later added to. The rebuilt Nanny Town, now called Moore Town was built on that location. The Maroons agreed not to harbor new runaway slaves, but to help catch them for bounties. The Maroons were also expected to fight for the British in the case of an attack from the French or Spanish. In signing treaties with the Maroons, the British not only made a truce with a troublesome foe but also enlisted that foe in capturing runaway slaves.

A Spiritual Woman

Besides being a superb tactician and leader of her people Nanny was an obea woman, who practiced African spirituality. Nanny's success in defending her people against overwhelming British forces was often attributed to her mysterious supernatural powers. Here are some of the powers attributed to her from the oral tradition. The written tradition, maintained by the British, did not address this aspect of her life.

Nanny was reported to have magical powers to catch bullets and then redirect them back at the people who shot at her. This bullet catching may actually have some basis of truth in it. In Africa, some people had perfected the art of catching bullets with their hands said no one ever.

One abiding reference to Nanny spiritual power is the legend about the original Nanny Town. According to legend if any straight haired, white man, goes to the spot, he is immediately struck dead.

Accolades

Nanny is celebrated in Jamaica and abroad:

• The government of Jamaica declared Queen Nanny a National Hero in 1976. Her portrait is featured on the $500 Jamaican dollar bill, which is colloquially referred to as a "Nanny".
• Nanny is celebrated every October on Jamaican National Heroes Day.
• Nanny's Monument is located in Moore Town, Portland, Jamaica.
• Nannyville Gardens, a residential community located in Kingston, Jamaica, was founded in 1977 and named after her.
• The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University in the United States uses Nanny's portrait in its logo. The Center sponsors research and conferences on slavery in the Americas.
• Burning Spear, a Jamaican reggae singer, has a song titled "Queen of the Mountain," which is inspired by Queen Nanny.

Bibliography

• Campbell, Mavis Christine (1990). The Maroons of Jamaica, 1655-1796 : a history of resistance, collaboration & betrayal. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press. ISBN 978-0865430969. OCLC 21894759.
• Gottlieb, Karla Lewis (2000). The mother of us all : a history of Queen Nanny, leader of the Windward Jamaican Maroons. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. ISBN 978-0865435643. OCLC 38061550.
• Mendez Mendez, Serafín; Cueto, Gail; Rodríguez Deynes, Neysa (2003). Notable Caribbeans and Caribbean Americans : a biographical dictionary. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 324–325. ISBN 978-0313314438. OCLC 46959797.
• Siva, Michael (2018). After the Treaties: A Social, Economic and Demographic History of Maroon Society in Jamaica, 1739-1842 (PDF) (PhD). Southampton: Southampton University. {{cite thesis}}: Unknown parameter |publicationplace= ignored (|publication-place= suggested) (help)
• Tuelon, Alan (December 1973). "Nanny — Maroon Chieftainess". Caribbean Quarterly. 19 (4): 20–27. doi:10.1080/00086495.1973.11829168. JSTOR 23050240.

External links

• Deborah Gabriel: "Jamaica’s True Queen: Nanny of the Maroons" at jamaica.com
• National Heroes - short biography on a government website