Quilombo
Encyclopedia
A quilombo is a Brazil
ian hinterland
settlement
founded by people of African origin
, Quilombola
s, or Maroons
. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos (called quilombola
s) were escaped slaves
and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese
, Brazilian aboriginals
, Jews
and Arabs, and/or other non-black, non-slave Brazilians who experienced oppression during colonization. However, the documentation on runaway slave communities typically uses the term mocambo
to describe the settlements. "Mocambo" is an Ambundu word that means "hideout", and is typically much smaller than a quilombo. Quilombo was not used until the 1670s and then primarily in more southerly parts of Brazil.
A similar settlement exists in other Spanish
-speaking countries of Latin America
, and is called a palenque. Its inhabitants are palenqueros who speak various Spanish
-African
-based creole language
s.
Quilombos are identified as one of three basic forms of active resistance by slaves. The other two are attempts to seize power and armed insurrections for amelioration. Typically, quilombos are a "pre-19th century phenomenon". The prevalence of the last two increased in the first half of 19th century Brazil, which was undergoing both political transition and increased slave trade at the time.
During the sugar boom period (1570–1670), the sugar plantations in Brazil presented hellish conditions, even excluding the personal brutality of certain owners of enslaved human beings. There was high physical exertion on workers, especially during harvest season. In addition, enslaved people were held to near-impossible daily production quotas while having to contend with lack of rest and food. Economically, it was cheaper for owners of enslaved Africans to work them to death and get new replacement enslaved people. Conditions were so bad that even the Crown intervened on at least two occasions, forcing plantations owners to give their enslaved sufficient food.
for a comprehensive narrative of slavery in Brazil
Settlements are formed by enslaved Africans who have successfully run away after many attempts, and after many years of a life of slavery. Some owners of enslaved people, like Friedrich won Weech, regard the first escape attempt as a part of the process of ‘breaking in’ new slaves. The first escape attempt would be punished severely as a deterrent for future escapes. Enslaved Africans who tried to escape a second time would be sent to slave prison, and those who tried a third time would be sold. In general, enslaved Africans who were caught running away were also required to wear an iron collar around their necks at all times, in addition to the punishment they received.
Not all enslaved Africans who ran away formed settlements in Brazil. Escape from a life of slavery is a matter of opportunity. Settlements were formed in areas with dense populations of slaves, like Pernambuco, where the biggest collection of mocambos formed the quilombo that was Palmares. Some, like Mahommah G. Baquaqua, escaped to New York because his multiple attempts at escape and suicide led to him being sold to a ship’s captain.
It is widely believed that the term quilombo establishes a link between settlements and the culture of central West Africa where the majority of enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to Brazil. During the time of slave trafficking, natives in central Angola, called Imbangala
, had created an institution called a kilombo that united various tribes of diverse lineage into a community designed for military resistance.
Many quilombos were near Portuguese plantations and settlements. To keep their freedom, they were active both in defending against capitães do mato and being commissioned to recapture other runaway slaves. At the same time, they facilitated the escape of even more enslaved Africans. For this reason, they were targets of the Dutch
, then Portuguese colonial
authorities and, later, of the Brazilian state and slaveowners.
Despite the atmosphere of cooperation between some quilombos and the surrounding Portuguese settlements, they were almost always eventually destroyed. 7 of 10 major quilombos in colonial Brazil were terminated within two years of formation. Some mocambos that were farther from Portuguese settlements and the later Brazilian cities were tolerated and still exist as town
s today, with their dwellers speaking distinctly African
-Portuguese Creole
languages.
, an independent, self-sustaining republic near Recife
, established in about 1600. Palmares was massive and consisted of several settlements with a combined population of over 30,000 renegades, mostly blacks
.It was the only quilombo to survive almost an entire century, with the second longest-standing quilombo at Mato Grosso lasting only 25 years. Part of the reason for the massive size of the quilombo at Palmares was because of its location in Brazil, which was at the median point between the Atlantic Ocean and Guinea, an important area of the African slave trade
.Quilombo dos Palmares was a self-sustaining republic of escaped slaves from the Portuguese settlements in Brazil, "a region perhaps the size of Portugal in the hinterland of Bahia" (Braudel 1984 p 390).
At its height, Palmares had a population of over 30,000. Forced to defend against repeated attacks by Portuguese colonists, the warriors of Palmares were experts in capoeira
, a dance and martial art form.
Ganga Zumba
and Zumbi
are the two most well known warrior-leaders of Palmares which, after a history of conflict with, first, Dutch
and then Portuguese
colonial
authorities, finally fell to a Portuguese artillery assault in 1694.Portuguese soldiers sometimes stated it took more than one dragoon to capture a quilombo warrior, since they would defend themselves with a strangely moving fighting technique. The governor from that province declared "it is harder to defeat a quilombo than the dutch invaders".
In Brazil, both men are now honored as heroes and symbols of black pride, freedom and democracy
. Zumbi's execution date (as his birthday is unknown), November 20, is observed as Dia da Consciência Negra or "Black Awareness Day" in the states of Rio de Janeiro
and São Paulo
, and his image has appeared on postage stamp
s, banknote
s and coin
s.
dialect of the River Plate
, the word quilombo has come to mean brothel
, and later big mess. In Venezuela
n Spanish, it means boondocks.
depicts the rise and fall of Palmares. Directed by Carlos Diegues
, Quilombo is a mystical, yet mostly accurate, historical epic that chronicles the lives of Ganga Zumba and Zumbi.
granted the remaining quilombos the collective ownership of the lands they have occupied since colonial times, thus recognizing their distinct identity at the same level of the Indigenous peoples of Brazil.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian hinterland
Hinterland
The hinterland is the land or district behind a coast or the shoreline of a river. Specifically, by the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for...
settlement
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
founded by people of African origin
Afro-Brazilian
In Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...
, Quilombola
Quilombola
A Quilombola is a resident of a Quilombo in Brazil. They are the descendents of slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888. The most famous Quilombola was Zumbi and the most famous Quilombo was Palmares....
s, or Maroons
Maroon (people)
Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...
. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos (called quilombola
Quilombola
A Quilombola is a resident of a Quilombo in Brazil. They are the descendents of slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888. The most famous Quilombola was Zumbi and the most famous Quilombo was Palmares....
s) were escaped slaves
Slavery in Brazil
Slavery in Brazil shaped the country's social structure and ethnic landscape. During the colonial epoch and for over six decades after the 1822 independence, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining, cotton, and sugar cane production.Brazil obtained an estimated 35% of...
and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Brazilian aboriginals
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and Arabs, and/or other non-black, non-slave Brazilians who experienced oppression during colonization. However, the documentation on runaway slave communities typically uses the term mocambo
Mocambos
The mocambos were village-sized communities mainly of runaway slaves in colonial Brazil, during the Portuguese rule....
to describe the settlements. "Mocambo" is an Ambundu word that means "hideout", and is typically much smaller than a quilombo. Quilombo was not used until the 1670s and then primarily in more southerly parts of Brazil.
A similar settlement exists in other Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-speaking countries of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and is called a palenque. Its inhabitants are palenqueros who speak various Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-African
African languages
There are over 2100 and by some counts over 3000 languages spoken natively in Africa in several major language families:*Afro-Asiatic spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel...
-based creole language
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
s.
Quilombos are identified as one of three basic forms of active resistance by slaves. The other two are attempts to seize power and armed insurrections for amelioration. Typically, quilombos are a "pre-19th century phenomenon". The prevalence of the last two increased in the first half of 19th century Brazil, which was undergoing both political transition and increased slave trade at the time.
Life of Enslaved Human Beings
Legal slavery was present in Brazil for approximately four centuries, with the earliest known landing of enslaved Africans taking place 52 years after Portuguese discovery of Brazil in 1500. The demand for enslaved Africans continued to increase through the 18th century, even as the Brazilian sugar economy ceased to dominate the world economy. In its place, crops such as tobacco increased in prominence.During the sugar boom period (1570–1670), the sugar plantations in Brazil presented hellish conditions, even excluding the personal brutality of certain owners of enslaved human beings. There was high physical exertion on workers, especially during harvest season. In addition, enslaved people were held to near-impossible daily production quotas while having to contend with lack of rest and food. Economically, it was cheaper for owners of enslaved Africans to work them to death and get new replacement enslaved people. Conditions were so bad that even the Crown intervened on at least two occasions, forcing plantations owners to give their enslaved sufficient food.
History
See Atlantic Slave TradeAtlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
for a comprehensive narrative of slavery in Brazil
Settlements are formed by enslaved Africans who have successfully run away after many attempts, and after many years of a life of slavery. Some owners of enslaved people, like Friedrich won Weech, regard the first escape attempt as a part of the process of ‘breaking in’ new slaves. The first escape attempt would be punished severely as a deterrent for future escapes. Enslaved Africans who tried to escape a second time would be sent to slave prison, and those who tried a third time would be sold. In general, enslaved Africans who were caught running away were also required to wear an iron collar around their necks at all times, in addition to the punishment they received.
Not all enslaved Africans who ran away formed settlements in Brazil. Escape from a life of slavery is a matter of opportunity. Settlements were formed in areas with dense populations of slaves, like Pernambuco, where the biggest collection of mocambos formed the quilombo that was Palmares. Some, like Mahommah G. Baquaqua, escaped to New York because his multiple attempts at escape and suicide led to him being sold to a ship’s captain.
It is widely believed that the term quilombo establishes a link between settlements and the culture of central West Africa where the majority of enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to Brazil. During the time of slave trafficking, natives in central Angola, called Imbangala
Imbangala
The Imbangala or Mbangala were 17th century groups of Angolan warriors and marauders who founded the kingdom of Kasanje.-Origins of the Imbangala:...
, had created an institution called a kilombo that united various tribes of diverse lineage into a community designed for military resistance.
Many quilombos were near Portuguese plantations and settlements. To keep their freedom, they were active both in defending against capitães do mato and being commissioned to recapture other runaway slaves. At the same time, they facilitated the escape of even more enslaved Africans. For this reason, they were targets of the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, then Portuguese colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
authorities and, later, of the Brazilian state and slaveowners.
Despite the atmosphere of cooperation between some quilombos and the surrounding Portuguese settlements, they were almost always eventually destroyed. 7 of 10 major quilombos in colonial Brazil were terminated within two years of formation. Some mocambos that were farther from Portuguese settlements and the later Brazilian cities were tolerated and still exist as town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
s today, with their dwellers speaking distinctly African
African languages
There are over 2100 and by some counts over 3000 languages spoken natively in Africa in several major language families:*Afro-Asiatic spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel...
-Portuguese Creole
Portuguese Creole
Portuguese creoles are creole languages which have been significantly influenced by Portuguese.- Origins :Portuguese overseas exploration in the 15th and 16th century's led to the establishment of a Portuguese Empire with trading posts, forts and colonies in the Americas, Asia and Africa...
languages.
Palmares
The most famous quilombo was PalmaresPalmares (quilombo)
Palmares, or Quilombo dos Palmares, was a fugitive community of escaped slaves and others in colonial Brazil that developed from 1605 until its suppression in 1694. It was located in what is today the Brazilian state of Alagoas.-Quilombos or mocambos:...
, an independent, self-sustaining republic near Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
, established in about 1600. Palmares was massive and consisted of several settlements with a combined population of over 30,000 renegades, mostly blacks
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
.It was the only quilombo to survive almost an entire century, with the second longest-standing quilombo at Mato Grosso lasting only 25 years. Part of the reason for the massive size of the quilombo at Palmares was because of its location in Brazil, which was at the median point between the Atlantic Ocean and Guinea, an important area of the African slave trade
African slave trade
Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...
.Quilombo dos Palmares was a self-sustaining republic of escaped slaves from the Portuguese settlements in Brazil, "a region perhaps the size of Portugal in the hinterland of Bahia" (Braudel 1984 p 390).
At its height, Palmares had a population of over 30,000. Forced to defend against repeated attacks by Portuguese colonists, the warriors of Palmares were experts in capoeira
Capoeira
Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 16th century...
, a dance and martial art form.
Ganga Zumba
Ganga Zumba
Ganga Zumba was the first of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares, or Angola Janga, in the present-day state of Alagoas, Brazil. Zumba was a slave who escaped bondage on a sugar plantation and assumed his destiny as heir to the kingdom of Palmares and the title Ganga Zumba...
and Zumbi
Zumbi
Zumbi , also known as Zumbi dos Palmares, was the last of the leaders of the Quilombo dos Palmares, in the present-day state of Alagoas, Brazil.-Quilombos:...
are the two most well known warrior-leaders of Palmares which, after a history of conflict with, first, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and then Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
authorities, finally fell to a Portuguese artillery assault in 1694.Portuguese soldiers sometimes stated it took more than one dragoon to capture a quilombo warrior, since they would defend themselves with a strangely moving fighting technique. The governor from that province declared "it is harder to defeat a quilombo than the dutch invaders".
In Brazil, both men are now honored as heroes and symbols of black pride, freedom and democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. Zumbi's execution date (as his birthday is unknown), November 20, is observed as Dia da Consciência Negra or "Black Awareness Day" in the states of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
and São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, and his image has appeared on postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s, banknote
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
s and coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s.
Terminology
In the SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
dialect of the River Plate
Rioplatense Spanish
Rioplatense Spanish or River Plate Spanish is a dialectal variant of the Spanish language spoken mainly in the areas in and around the Río de la Plata basin of Argentina and Uruguay, and also in Rio Grande do Sul, although features of the dialect are shared with the varieties of Spanish spoken...
, the word quilombo has come to mean brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, and later big mess. In Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n Spanish, it means boondocks.
Movie
A 1984 film titled QuilomboQuilombo (film)
Quilombo is a 1984 Brazilian drama film directed by Carlos Diegues. It was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Zezé Motta - Dandara* João Nogueira - Rufino* Grande Otelo - Baba* Antônio Pitanga - Acaiuba* Antônio Pompêo - Zumbi...
depicts the rise and fall of Palmares. Directed by Carlos Diegues
Carlos Diegues
Carlos Diegues, also known as Cacá Diegues, is a Brazilian film director. He is best known as a member of the Cinema Novo movement.-Filmography:* 2010 O Grande Circo Místico...
, Quilombo is a mystical, yet mostly accurate, historical epic that chronicles the lives of Ganga Zumba and Zumbi.
Brazilian Constitution
The 1988 Constitution of BrazilConstitution of Brazil
During its independent political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. The most recent was ratified on October 5, 1988.-Imperial Constitution :Background...
granted the remaining quilombos the collective ownership of the lands they have occupied since colonial times, thus recognizing their distinct identity at the same level of the Indigenous peoples of Brazil.
See also
- Atlantic slave tradeAtlantic slave tradeThe Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
- San Basilio de PalenqueSan Basilio de PalenqueSan Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio is a Palenque village and corregimiento in the Municipality of Mahates, Bolivar in northern Colombia. In 2005 the village was declared Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO...
- Cafuzo
- CapoeiraCapoeiraCapoeira is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 16th century...
- Garifuna people
- MaroonMaroon (people)Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...
- Palenque (village) - the equivalent settlements in Spanish America
- Slave Revolts in Brazil prior to 1835
- SlaverySlaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
- Slavery in BrazilSlavery in BrazilSlavery in Brazil shaped the country's social structure and ethnic landscape. During the colonial epoch and for over six decades after the 1822 independence, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining, cotton, and sugar cane production.Brazil obtained an estimated 35% of...
- Triangular tradeTriangular tradeTriangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...
- ZamboZamboZambo or Cafuzo are racial terms used in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires and occasionally today to identify individuals in the Americas who are of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry...
- MocambosMocambosThe mocambos were village-sized communities mainly of runaway slaves in colonial Brazil, during the Portuguese rule....
External links
- The Quilombo of Palmares: A New Overview of a Maroon State in Seventeenth-Century Brazil (scholarly article)
- Fugitive Slaves and Free Society: The Case of Brazil (scholarly article)
- Buried Alive: Imagining Africa in the Brazilian Northeast (scholarly article)
- Oppression & Rebellion: The Quilombo at Palmares (scholarly article)
- Articles and sources for quilombos in Brazil
- Maroon community in Colombia