ABSTRACT
The first shipload of enslaved Africans to the Americas landed in Hispaniola in 1502. Some of the Africans immediately escaped into the hills and became Maroons. They were never caught. The English term Maroon and the French marron are said to have been derived from the Spanish “cimarrón,” denoting formerly domesticated cattle after escape into the wild. The term was applied in Hispaniola to the indigenous Maroons who preceded the Africans. With the rapid extermination of the indigenes the term quickly became associated exclusively with Africans. The term marronage (used in both French and English, but occasionally rendered “maroonage” in English) denoted the state of being a Maroon.
