Quilombo dos Palmares - Brazil's Independent African Kingdom, its Leader Zumbi and the Help of African Muslims
The Africans established political power in Palmares and managed to remain an independent nation (quilombo) in Brazil for almost one hundred years until 1695, when their inspirational leader and African warrior chief, Zumbi of Palmares, was captured and executed.
The independent society was organised similarly to an African kingdom with a King of Assembly. The King was chosen from the best warriors; Zumbi was chosen this way and, under his leadership, the Palmares fought bravely for sixty-five years against the colonialists from Portugal and Holland, before it was finally destroyed in 1695.
African Muslims were involved in its formation. Documents had registered the role of Muslims (Muҫulmanos) in the structuring of the quilombos, among them a certain Karin ibn ‘Alī Saifudin, considered a builder of its fortified structures. Another document referred to a "Moor" who was most likely a dark-skin Arab or Berber Muslim from North Africa, teaching the heroic leader, Zumbi, military warfare tactics. Little is known of this man, except that he helped Zumbi and was distinguished from other Africans, briefly noting that he had fled Palmares and designed a fort at the Palmarian citdel of Macaco.
Quilombo dos Palmares (literally, in an Angolan Bantu language, the 'warrior town' of Palmares) is fast becoming a politically potent symbol of black consciousness within modern day Brazil.
The Africans established political power in Palmares and managed to remain an independent nation (quilombo) in Brazil for almost one hundred years until 1695, when their inspirational leader and African warrior chief, Zumbi of Palmares, was captured and executed.
The independent society was organised similarly to an African kingdom with a King of Assembly. The King was chosen from the best warriors; Zumbi was chosen this way and, under his leadership, the Palmares fought bravely for sixty-five years against the colonialists from Portugal and Holland, before it was finally destroyed in 1695.
African Muslims were involved in its formation. Documents had registered the role of Muslims (Muҫulmanos) in the structuring of the quilombos, among them a certain Karin ibn ‘Alī Saifudin, considered a builder of its fortified structures. Another document referred to a "Moor" who was most likely a dark-skin Arab or Berber Muslim from North Africa, teaching the heroic leader, Zumbi, military warfare tactics. Little is known of this man, except that he helped Zumbi and was distinguished from other Africans, briefly noting that he had fled Palmares and designed a fort at the Palmarian citdel of Macaco.
Quilombo dos Palmares (literally, in an Angolan Bantu language, the 'warrior town' of Palmares) is fast becoming a politically potent symbol of black consciousness within modern day Brazil.
Palmares in 16th and 17th Century Brazil was one of the most impressive independent Africans state. Brazilian professor and historian, Abdias do Nascimento narrates that:
"In early 1595, some of the enslaved Africans in Brazil broke the shackles of slavery and fled to the jungle between the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas. Intially it was a small band of escapees. But this group grew little by little until it became a community of nearly thirty thousand “rebel” Africans. They established the first government of free Africans in the New World, indisputably a true African State, known as the Republic of Palmares." says in Brazil. Mixture or Massacre?: Essays in the Genocide of a Black People, 1989, page 28
Historian Robin Walker says, “Palmares, under King Zumbi, could mobilise a royal guard of 5,000 men. The capital, Macaco, had a reputation for invincibility. Zumbi had the palace, guards, official, and ceremonies, typically associates with an important ruler."
Do Nascimento continues:
"The Republic Palmares, with its immense population by the standards of the epoch, dominated a territorial area more or less one third the size of Portugal. The land was the property of all. The fruits of collective labor were the property of all. The free Africans planted and harvested a wide variety of products and bartered with their white and indigenous Brazilian neighbors. They were very effectively organized, both socially and politically, in their African manner and tradition, and were highly skilled in the art of war. Palmares put into question the entire colonial structure: the army, the land tenure system of the Portuguese patriarchs – the ."latifundio – and the Catholic Church. It withstood some twenty-seven wars of destruction, waged by both the Portuguese and the Dutch colonial military structures established in Pernambuco. Palmares resisted for more than half a century from 1634 to 1694."
"In early 1595, some of the enslaved Africans in Brazil broke the shackles of slavery and fled to the jungle between the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas. Intially it was a small band of escapees. But this group grew little by little until it became a community of nearly thirty thousand “rebel” Africans. They established the first government of free Africans in the New World, indisputably a true African State, known as the Republic of Palmares." says in Brazil. Mixture or Massacre?: Essays in the Genocide of a Black People, 1989, page 28
Historian Robin Walker says, “Palmares, under King Zumbi, could mobilise a royal guard of 5,000 men. The capital, Macaco, had a reputation for invincibility. Zumbi had the palace, guards, official, and ceremonies, typically associates with an important ruler."
Do Nascimento continues:
"The Republic Palmares, with its immense population by the standards of the epoch, dominated a territorial area more or less one third the size of Portugal. The land was the property of all. The fruits of collective labor were the property of all. The free Africans planted and harvested a wide variety of products and bartered with their white and indigenous Brazilian neighbors. They were very effectively organized, both socially and politically, in their African manner and tradition, and were highly skilled in the art of war. Palmares put into question the entire colonial structure: the army, the land tenure system of the Portuguese patriarchs – the ."latifundio – and the Catholic Church. It withstood some twenty-seven wars of destruction, waged by both the Portuguese and the Dutch colonial military structures established in Pernambuco. Palmares resisted for more than half a century from 1634 to 1694."