Maroon Town, Jamaica

Maroon Town is a settlement in Jamaica. It has a population of 3122 as of 2009.[1] It is nestled in the conical Cockpit Country that spans parts of the parishes of St. James, St. Elizabeth and Trelawny. Located in St James, the community sits approximately 29 kilometers, southwest of Montego Bay, the parish capital.

Maroon Town
Location of Maroon Town in Jamaica

It is a former home of runaway slaves who became Jamaican Maroons and fought two guerrilla wars against the colonial authorities, the First Maroon War of the 1730s and the Second Maroon War of 1795–6. When it was a home to these escaped slaves, it was called Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town). Once the governor, Edward Trelawny, authorised the signing of a treaty with Cudjoe in 1739, Cudjoe's Town became known as Trelawny Town.[2]

After the Second Maroon War, the colonial authorities deported the Maroons of Trelawny Town to Nova Scotia and then Sierra Leone. They then renamed the settlement Maroon Town, and since then it has been a place of archaeological research.

When scores of Trelawny Maroons returned to Jamaica following the abolition of slavery in the 1830s, many of them settled in the nearby village of Flagstaff.

This former Maroon settlement boasts a rich show of Jamaica's flora and fauna. Farmers in this area heavily invest in ground provisions (including yam) and other staples, but especially bananas. Bananas have over the years done very well as a profit making venture in this community and are also a regular staple on the plate of locals. The nationally famous Maroons Pride Banana Chips originated in this community.

References
  1. "Jamaica: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  2. Mavis Campbell, The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796: a History of Resistance, Collaboration & Betrayal (Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey, 1988).

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