Cimarrón

Cimarrón (Plural Cimarrones) designates a wild animal or a run away domestic animal in the Latin American Spanish (also as adjective common). In connection with the slavery this term was applied however also to run away negro slaves, who were legally directly posed to the domestic animals. The equivalent English word maroon is derived from the Spanish.

Around the Cimarrones in the sense of run away negro slaves climb on Cuba and in the remaining Karibik many myths and legends, which are effective into the today's time. The reason for it lies in the few information, which there are over it. The escape of slaves was occupied with dreadful punishments, in the instance of repetition usually with public execution by torture for deterrence for the other slaves. Particularly trained search troops with trained dogs pursued the Cimarrones and received in case of success high rewards, which exceeded the “material value” of the slaves by far. It particularly concerned to the slaves owners of sugar plan day holding of the Industriellen revolution to demonstrate the hopelessness of each escape attempt.

Also surviving after successful escape was not secured at all. Cimarrones had to keep themselves far by each settlement, since on their seizure high rewards were suspended. They could dahinvegetieren only in the close jungles more than living. Despite the associated risk they had to dare themselves nevertheless again and again into the proximity of settlements, in order to steal vitally necessary. For the white population of Cuba were Cimarrones “darken” danger, with which ungehorsame children were frightened. For the black population they symbolized hope to be able to escape but still the lot of the slavery so that the Cimarrón plays an important role also in the synkretistischen religion of the Santería.

After the excessive quantity 1502 an African slave, who by the people dealer Nicolás de Ovando was kidnapped briefly before into the new world , fled in the interior and became so the first Cimarrón. Later there were already seventy years according to Spanish estimations 7000 Cimarrónes, which wandered in the forests of South America and later even own villages created. Standing in the constant conflict with their former gentlemen, they formed a sworn in community, which was subject to strict laws. In individual cases Cimarrónes attacked also Spanish settlements or left themselves from expeditions of other European nations, which were with Spain in the state of war, enlist, so for example with the plundering of Spanish silver caravans by Francis Drake in the year 1573.

see also to Maroons

literature

• Miguel Barnet. The Cimarrón. The life history escaped negro slaves from Cuba, of it tells. Frankfurt/M. 1969
• R.C. Dallas. Historia de loosely Cimarrones. Havanna 1980