Quilombos- The First Line of Resistance in Brazil

Quilombo, a Bantu word, describes what in English is called a Maroon Community. Escaped slaves ran to these communities to return to familiar African life, including languages, foods, music, religion and family forms. Like in the United States and the Caribbean Islands, Africans from all over the continent were brought across the Atlantic Ocean in chains during what would become known as The Middle Passage. What we do know about Brazil is that among the first enslaved Africans were Bantu people and other people of Southern Africa, especially from what is now known as Angola. These Southern Africans had been living in peaceful, agrarian village-kingdoms and when trouble arose, they would just move. The Bantus didn't really know trouble until 1652 and the Bantu wars didn't start until 1779. We can assume from the word Quilombo itself, that running was the earliest form of resistance to slavery in the New World.



Today, several hundred Quilombos have survived over the centuries. Many are involved in land rights disputes with the Brazilian government. In truth, we don't really know how many Quilombos remain in existence. Quilombos then and now are closed communities. Outsiders are not welcomed and strict traditions still dictate daily life.
The most famous of these pockets of resistance was Palmares. Palmares represents 100 years of active resistance to both the Portuguese and the Brazilians. Founded in 1603, it became home to 30,000 African and Brazilian born refugees. At it's height, it was fully fortified and kept stockpiles of foodstuffs to last 10 years. This was a community that not only survived, it thrived. Trade was active with nearby indigenous nations and with poor white immigrant communities as well.


Zumbi dos Palmares was the mythical, mystical King and Great Warrior who trained and led the defense armies that repelled the Brazilians in two wars, finally succumbing to the Portuguese in 1695. Popular history tells that the Portuguese were distracted by the Dutch invasion of the Northeastern region and did not turn their attention to squashing rebellious slaves until after the Dutch were expelled in 1654. Popular history tells that treachery and betrayal of his own people lead to the capture of the great Zumbi, subsequently beheaded and put on display in the main square of Recife for all to see.

But there is an untold story. An African story.

Many believe that the Gods foresaw the destruction of The Continent, and not able to stop it, dispatched Orishas to Earth to seek out a place where Old Africa would survive. Brazil was that place. And Zumbi, one of those Orishas. The following story of Zumbi dos Palmares is told from the perspective of the main character, Bambuza. At just 14 years old, our young hero decided to run away from the sugar plantation of Pedro Silva to seek his freedom in Palmares. Nothing from his slave life has prepared him for the sights he will see, the lessons he will learn and the adventures he will live at the side of his fellow Quilombolas. Trained as a warrior, he fights under Zumbi's command, both battles to free hundreds from plantation life and battles against the bands of vigilantes and the legions of armies sent to crush them. -Sadakne Baroudi, Rio de Janeiro, 2009