Queen Nanny or Nanny Jamaican National Hero was a well-known, 18th-century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. Much of what is known about her comes from oral history, as little textual evidence exists. She was born into the Asante people in what is today Ghana, and escaped from slavery after being transported to Jamaica.
Background
It is believed Nanny was born in Ghana in Africa in the second half of the seventeenth century during the 1680s. Historians have concluded that she voyaged to Jamaica as a free person who owned slaves herself. An Akan ethnic, Nanny's name derived from "nana," a title of respect given to chiefs, spiritual leaders, and elderly women ("ni" meaning first mother). Based on information garnered from written land grants and treaties of that tune, Nanny was middle-aged when she led the Windward Maroons.
Education
As a child, Nanny was influenced by other slave leaders and maroons. She and her "brothers", Accompong, Cudjoe and Quao, ran away from their plantation and hid in the Blue Mountains area of northern Saint Thomas Parish. While in hiding, they split up to organize more Maroon communities across Jamaica: Cudjoe went to Saint James Parish and organized a village, which was later named Cudjoe Town; Accompong settled in Saint Elizabeth Parish, in a community that came to be known as Accompong Town; and Nanny and Quao founded communities in Portland Parish.
Career
Under Spanish rule, African slaves in Jamaica were sent out to the countryside to herd wild cattle and to hunt boar. As a result, they developed knowledge of the country's terrain, data that would serve them well during the war. In 1655 Britain invaded and successfully took control of Jamaica, making it a British colony. During this time of upheaval, many slaves equipped with knowledge of the terrain escaped to the eastern part of the country and organized into what would later be known as the Windward Maroons. It is believed that the word "maroon" came from the Spanish cimarrón meaning wild or fugitive; thus, escaped animals or slaves were referred to in Spanish Jamaica as cimarrones, which eventually gave way to the anglicized "maroons" when the island became a British colony.
The years 1728 to 1740 represent Queen Nanny's reign as leader of the maroons. The roles this revolutionary woman played in the struggle against the British included warrior, general, and spiritual leader. As a priestess, or obeah woman, she was considered to have spiritual and supernatural powers and the capacity to perform miracles. As a military strategist she was one of the greatest planners of successful maroon raids, ambushes and counterattacks. Under her leadership, the maroons used the abeng to create an effective system of communication over vast areas of the terrain. The African term abeng means conch shell, but for the maroons, abeng was a cow horn with a hole drilled on one end allowing it to produce many sounds. The use of the abeng horn put the British at a great disadvantage because they had no way to communicate over long distances. The maroons had very few guns, and the weapons they did manage to obtain were from dead soldiers. Fighting from the maroon perspective depended very much on guerrilla tactics. As an obeah priestess, Queen Nanny led the maroons in the practice of traditional African religion that believed that spiritual or supernatural abilities are powers inherited from one's ancestors. The practice, itself known as "obi," includes rituals and magic. As "cheftainess" she encouraged the maintenance of customs, music, songs, and legends that had come with the people from Africa, believing that this strengthened and instilled their pride and confidence.
Even though the maroons were at times outnumbered ten to one by the better-armed British, Queen Nanny was able to lead them to victory from their base in the rugged Blue Mountains area of Jamaica. Eventually, the maroons were able to hold off countless British incursions, swooping down on plantations and freeing slaves to continue inciting rebellion. The Maroon Wars that started in 1663 finally ended under a 1739 treaty and land grant that included Nanny's name but not her signature and guaranteed autonomy and freedom for the maroons, including the Leeward Maroons who settled in the west naming their area Accompong. Nanny was skeptical about Britain's ability to keep its side of the agreement and after the treaty did not actively participate in maroon political affairs. It is said that she was killed by a "quashee," a slave faithful to his white master, but this is not corroborated by evidence.