Rt. Excellent Nanny of the Maroons-gctid30695

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

           
Jamaica's National Hero

   
Rt. Excellent Nanny of the Maroons



        Nanny of the Maroons stands out in history as     the only female among Jamaica's
     national heroes. She possessed that fierce     fighting spirit generally associated with the
     courage of men.
     In fact, Nanny is described as a fearless Asante     warrior who used militarist techniques
           to fool and beguile the English.              
     Nanny was a leader of the Maroons at the beginning of the 18th.     Century. She was
     known by both the Maroons and the British settlers as an outstanding     military leader
     who became, in her lifetime and after, a symbol of unity and     strength for her people
     during times of crisis.
     She was particularly important to them in the fierce fight with the     British during the
     First Maroon War from 1720 to 1739. Although she has been     immortalized in songs
     and legends, certain facts about Nanny (or "Granny Nanny",     as she was affectionately
     known) have also been documented.
     Both legends and documents refer to her as having exceptional     leadership qualities.
     She was a small wiry woman with piercing eyes. Her influence over     the Maroons was
     so strong that it seemed to be supernatural and was said to be     connected to her powers
     of obeah. She was particularly skilled in organising the guerrilla     warfare carried out by
     the Eastern Maroons to keep away the British troops who attempted to     penetrate the
     mountains to overpower them.
     Her cleverness in planning guerrilla warfare confused the British     and their accounts of
     the fights reflect the surprise and fears which the Maroon traps     caused among them.
     Beside inspiring her people to ward off troops, Nanny was also a     type of chieftainess
     or wise woman of the village, who passed down legends and encouraged     the
     continuation of customs, music and songs that had come with the     people from Kmt,
     and that instilled in them confidence and pride.
     Her spirit of freedom was so great that in 1739, when Quao signed     the second Treaty
     (The first was signed by Cudjoe for the Leeward Maroons a few months     earlier) with
     the British, it is reported that Nanny was very angry and in     disagreement with the
     principle of peace with the British which she knew meant another     form of subjugation.
     There are many legends about Nanny among the Maroons. Some even     claim that
     there were several women who were leaders of the Maroons during this     period of
     history. But all the legends and documents refer to Nanny of the     First Maroon War as
     the most outstanding of them all, leading her people with courage     and inspiring them to
     struggle to maintain that spirit of freedom, that life of     independence, which was their
     rightful inheritance.
     Like the heroes of the pre Independence era,     Nanny too met her untimely death at the
     instigation of the English sometime around 1734.    
     Yet, the spirit of Nanny of the Maroons remains     today as a symbol of that indomitable
     desire that will never yield to captivity.