Africans in Brazil: Zumbi dos Palmares

Zumbi dos Palmares

(born: 1655 - died: 1694)

Zumbi dos Palmares was born free in the Palmares region of Brazil in the year 1655, the last of the military leaders of the Quilombo (Kimbundu word: "kilombo," of the North Mbundu Bantu language in Angola, meaning "warrior village or settlement") of Palmares. The Quilombo dos Palmares were a free society (free born, maroons, or refugee slave), an old South American republic, which included the present day Brazilian coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. Today, Zumbi is known as one of the great historic leaders of Brazil.

 

Brazilian Coastal State of Alagoas

At approximately 6 years old, Zumbi was captured from the Palmares region by the Portuguese and given as a slave to a Portuguese priest, António Melo. Baptized Francisco, Zumbi was taught Latin, the Portuguese religion and language, and assigned to serve the Catholic mass. In 1670, at 15 years old, Zumbi escaped and returned to his birthplace where he soon became known as a Capoërae / Capoiera master in the roda (wheel or circle) of Palmares' practioners of this African martial art. By his early twenties, he became a respected military strategist.

Quilombo dos Palmares Republic

Quilombo dos Palmares was a self-sustaining republic of maroons located in "a region perhaps the size of Portugal in the hinterland of Bahia" (Braudel 1984). The Bahia - Alagoas region of Brazil is where this free African settlement was located. At its height in the early 1600s, Palmares had a population of over 30,000. By 1630, it was described by the commentators as "the Promised Land" for escaped African slaves. King Ganga Zumba of Palmares offered emancipation for slaves entering its territories.

In 1644, the Dutch invaded the northeastern region but, as the Portuguese had failed before, the European  insurrections failed to penetrate Palmares.

Quilombos of Palmares

By 1654, the Portuguese expelled the Dutch from the region, many of whom relocated to Suriname. The Palmares military were expert in the Capoeira self defense, often described as the art of escape. They were forced to defend against repeated attacks by Portuguese colonizers seeking free labor for growing sugar plantations. Many of the escaping Africans from the Portuguese colony originated from the Angolan region in south-central Africa, then under Portuguese colonization.

"Jogar Capoërae - Danse de la guerre (Playing Capoiera - Dance of war)"

was painted by German painter Johann Moritz Rugendas in 1835.

A 21st Century painting of Brazilian Capoeira

By 1678, Pedro Almeida, the weary governor of Pernambuco approached the Palmares leader King Ganga Zumba for negotiations. Almeida agreed to concede all runaway slaves residing in the Palmares regions if Palmares would submit to Portuguese rule. King Ganga Zumba favored the compromise but Zumbi did not because the Portuguese would not agree to free all the human slaves in the Portuguese colonial region.

Before King Ganga Zumba's death, Zumbi commanded the leadership of the independent Quilombos dos Palmares, becoming the commander-in-chief of its resistence. Fifteen years after Zumbi assumed military leadership of Palmares, Portuguese colonial military commanders from the São Paulo region -- Domingos Jorge Velho and Bernardo Vieira de Melo -- mounted a military assault against Palmares. By 1680, Zumbi of Palmares reigned against the Portuguese.

Quilombo de San Gonçalo 1769 (National Library of Brazil).

The Quilombo settlements were designed within a circle, as was

the dance/martial-art of Capoiera.

The Capoiera circle is called the Roda.

Zumbi Leads the Quilombo Resistance

Zumbi eluded the Portuguese and continued the Quilombo resistance. Commentators have written that he was betrayed by a captured Quilombo who led the Portugese of São Paulo (Paulistas) to Zumbi's hideout. In any case, led by Domingos Jorge Velho and Vieira de Mello, on February 6, 1694, after 67 years military conflict with Palmares, the Portuguese eventually destroyed the Palmares compound Cerca do Macaco ("monkey enclosure"). While the Quilombo remained in the Palmares region, Zumbi was captured and killed on November 20, 1695. His head is said to have been shipped to Recife, Brazil where it was displayed in the central praça as proof that Zumbi was not immortal and as a warning to other African resistance fighters.

November 20 has been celebrated in Brazil as Black Awareness Day (or Black Conscious Day, portuegese: Dia Nacional da Consciência Negra) since the 1960s. The day has special meaning in honor of Zumbi -- a black hero and freedom fighter. Additionally, May 13 is the national holiday in Brazil in honor of the Abolition of Slavery in Brazil in 1850. 

Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport in Maceió, Alagoas, Brasil

Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport (IATA: MCZ, ICAO: SBMO)

is an international airport serving Maceió in Brazil. This modern airport

connects Maceió with various Brazilian cities and also operates international flights.

Beaches of Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil

Further research: A 1984 film directed by Carlos Diegues tells the story of Quilombo dos Palmares. Its star actors are Antonio Pomeu, Zezé Motta, Tony Tornado, and Vera Fischer.