Queen Nanny – Leader and founder of the Maroons
Born in Ghana to the Ashanti tribe, Nanny was brought to Jamaica as a slave and ended up being a Maroon leader in Jamaica during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Along with her four brothers who she had reunited with in the Caribbean, she escaped from the plantations into the mountains and jungles of Jamaica and eventually founded a village in the Blue Mountains, on the Eastern side of Jamaica, which became known as Nanny Town. During a period of 30 years, she contributed towards the escape of more than 1,000 slaves and helped them resettle in the Maroon community. As the Maroons grew in their numbers, the British colonial administration became threatened and upon further calls by plantation owners who were losing slaves and crops, the British forces attacked Queen Nanny’s settlement. In 1733, during one of the bloody battles, Nanny was killed. The war still went on until Cudjoe, a maroon leader and brother of Nanny, signed a peace treaty with the British in 1739.
