In the 1700s and 1800s, maroon communities formed as bands of runaway slaves in the Americas. These communities provided refuge for escaped slaves and allowed them to develop their own cultures and languages. However, the colonial powers sought to destroy these communities, attacking them militarily and cutting off their resources. While some maroon communities survived long-term, most slaves who escaped only did so temporarily due to the threat of recapture by colonial forces.

1. In the 1900s, British and Spanish colonists began to settle in the New World.
While they were successful at establishing colonial rule in North America, they were
greatly impacted by their lack of resources. The colonists lacked labor and turned to
slavery to help them adjust. As slavery began to benefit and enhance the success of the
colonial powers, slaves were mistreated and tortured. Some slaves attempted to free
themselves at any cost, and often turned to Maroon communities for comfort. These
maroon communities werebands of runaway slaves who challenged the strength of the
colonial governments. Although the colonial powers successfully prevented some slaves
from freedom, the maroon communities were an effective means of resisting slavery for
other slaves, as they provided freedom and culture for the slaves.
While maroon communities did provide refuge for some slaves, others were often
recaptured, returned or faced with great obstacles by the colonies. Slaves often escaped
enslavement by running away. For some, this was an act of petty resistance, as they were
only able to escape for a short period time. For others, their escape lasted much longer
and slaves were able to successfully run away throughout the Americas (Newsinger).
Most of the slaves who ran away more than once were never recaptured, especially if
they were far from their initial colonial settlements (Kolhoff). Men who recaptured slaves
were offered “a bounty on the heads of maroons” as motivation (Kolfhoff). For slaves,
especially in the south, the threat of re-enslavement was very real, causing slaves to flee
to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, where they would be accepted (Lockley). Maroons
who escaped enslavement lived in small communities that were often attacked by
colonial powers (Kolhoff). Leaders of colonies often cut down trees and burnt large
sections of the swamps that the slaves lived in, making survival more challenging than it
already was (Kolhoff). Despite the strategic location of their camps, raiding expeditions
raised visibility of the maroons(Lockley). Maroons continued to find sites where “they
could not easily be surprised by soldiers or slave capturers”, but the colonies often
surrounded the swamp areas, making it difficult for maroons to expand their territory
(“Maroon Slave Society”, Lockley).
The maroon communities provided opportunities for slaves to escape
enslavement. The maroon communities provided a place for runaway slaves to live.
These ideal locations were swamps, forests and mountains where they could not be found

2. easily (Lockley). The maroons could run to these places where slave owners had
difficulty finding slaves as the thick cypress trees disabled people from travelling on
horseback, and the swamps were unappealing to explorers due to the large number of
alligators and rattlesnakes (Lockey). Slaves who lived in maroon communities “actually
rebelled against the white colonists” by working slowly, pretending not to understand,
and refusing to do what their master’s desired (Worth, Asher 26). Their violent resistance
of enslavement challenged the colonial powers(“Creativity and Resistance”). After
escaping, maroon communities offered escaped slaves the comfort of disappearing into
their dense forests (Lockey). Other fugitive slaves found freedom in Native American
communities, as they both had a common enemy, the colonial governments and the slave
masters on plantation (“Creativity and Resistance”). Maroons also escaped enslavement
by living on “free land” that was disputed on; this neutral zone attracted those less fond
of the government (“Creativity and Resistance”).
The slaves who escaped to the maroon communities had the opportunity to create
a culture with the other outcasts of the colonial communities. The slaves develop their
own culture by forming maroon communities, in which they managed to create their own
religion and language even though they still faced the great danger of being re-enslaved
(Worth, Asher 26). Maroons also develop a hybrid society by joining the Native
American tribes and intermarrying with them (“Black Indians”). Maroon communities
continued to expand much faster, as they no longer depended on African imports to
naturalize their population, but on reproducing instead (Lockley). Some maroon
communities were more stable than others, allowing maroons to sustain themselves.
These maroons develop trade with outsides and planted crops in more permanent
settlements, as opposed to raiding colonies and hiding together in the more unstable
settlements (Lockley). Despite this, no community could live completely independent
from the outside world. Even in the most stable communities, maroons depended on the
outside world for things such as metal goods, to obtain knives and other hunting
equipment used as means of protection. Cautious maroons obtained these items by
“trading with slaves from nearby plantations”. They avoided using force as raiding made
it more likely for them to face military attack. The most stable societies were of cautious
maroons who kept to themselves. These communities created opportunity for newer

3. generations, generations of children who “grew up never having known the terrors of
slavery or the wrath of masters” (Lockley).
Maroon communities had little impact on some slaves, and a great impact on
others. Slaves found comfort in bands of runaway slaves, where they attempted to sustain
themselves by avoiding the colonial powers. Despite this, colonial powers were of great
numbers, and were often inevitable in order for runaway slaves to sustain successfully.