Maroons

Africans in the Americas and islands of the Indian Ocean who escaped from slavery, through flight or manumission, and lived in independent settlements, were referred to as maroons in English, and as cimarrones in Spanish America. The English word "maroon" likely derives from the Spanish word "cimarron". Maroon communities were threatened by plantation societies. They hid in remote environments, deep bush and caves, because colonial authorities tried to eradicate them. Maroons frequently used guerrilla warfare tactics to defend their settlements. This created constant conflict with authorities, where Maroons would sometimes ally with enemies attacking a colony. Sometimes, Maroons would also function as trading partners with remote settlers or Natives. Maroon settlements often created unique cultures, separate from colonial society. Communities sometimes developed Creole languages by mixing European tongues with African languages, creating languages like Saramaccan in Suriname. On other occasions, Maroons would adopt creolized variations of a local European language as a common tongue. Sometimes Maroons mixed with Indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as peoples like the Garifuna and the Mascogos.