ABSTRACT
In the first of two chapters which discusses Maroon and Creek interaction with white settlers, Chapter 5 analyses the land disputes both communities were plagued by. On a basic level, I demonstrate how land disputes occurred frequently in both cases. However, it is the differences in this chapter which are notable. Land disputes suffered by the Creeks were characterised with often extreme violence. Conversely, Maroon land disputes never broke out into open hostility. This is largely accounted for by the fact that the colonial government, in its view at least, controlled the vast majority of land in Jamaica whilst the reality was that Maroons still roamed the internal mountains of the island in much the same way as they had for generations. When their lands were pushed to breaking point, Maroons settled elsewhere, often being granted additional lands by the colonial government. Those colonists who lost out on the lands, after they were transferred to the Maroons, were placated by compensation and the availability of lands elsewhere. Other colonists recognised that the usefulness of the Maroons as security against internal and external threats outweighed the possibility of a few extra acres being gained in the high mountains of Jamaica. On the other hand, the Creek Nation had possessed their land for centuries and saw no expansion after the American Revolution, whilst suffering continually from settler incursions and land cessions. Their hunting grounds were decimated, leading them to rely on American traders and trading stores for their goods, traders who were all too happy to encourage getting into debt, knowing they could then request lands as a payment for that debt. Creeks were increasingly pushed to react violently to these incursions, and those very reactions were used to strip even more land from them.
