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Palmares Quilombo

Type Object Region Brazil Time c. 1605–1694

Palmares was the largest runaway-slave settlement (quilombo) in the Pernambuco interior of Portuguese Brazil in the 17th century, a multi-village all…

Timeline

  1. 1654–1670Serra da Barriga interior · Serra da BarrigaAfter Portugal recovered Dutch-occupied Pernambuco in 1654, slave flight from coastal sugar plantations intensified; the mocambos of Palmares formed a larger alliance in the Serra da Barriga, clearing irrigated farmland and fortifying themselves, becoming the largest maroon community in Portuguese America.
  2. 1678–1680Macaco stronghold, Serra da Barriga · Serra da BarrigaIn 1678 the leader Ganga Zumba made peace with the Pernambuco authorities, and some residents were permitted to move to a designated settlement; Zumbi refused the terms requiring reintegration into the colonial order and around 1680 replaced him, turning Palmares toward prolonged armed resistance.
  3. 1694Macaco stronghold (Cerca do Macaco) · Serra da BarrigaThe Pernambuco authorities assembled the bandeirante leader Domingos Jorge Velho and others, besieging the fortified main stronghold of Macaco with artillery. The stronghold fell in early 1694 and the settlement disintegrated; Zumbi broke out but was killed in 1695, ending the Americas' largest quilombo as an independent polity.

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