A Maroon State in Brazil

8/11/2019 A Maroon State in Brazil

1/23

The Quilombo of Palmares: A New Overview of a Maroon State in Seventeenth-Century BrazilAuthor(s): Robert Nelson AndersonSource: Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3, Brazil: History and Society (Oct.,1996), pp. 545-566Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/157694.

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2/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares:

A

New

Overview

of a Maroon State

in

Seventeenth-Century Brazil*

ROBERT NELSON

ANDERSON

Abstract.

This article offers a new

perspective

on the

history

of the maroon state

of

Palmares

in

Northeastern

Brazil. It adds

information and

interpretation

to

R. K.

Kent's

ground-breaking

article 'Palmares:

An

African State

in Brazil'

published

in

I965.

The

present

essay

gives

an

historical narrative

summary

with

commentary

on the

historiography,

describing

Afro-Brazilian

aspects

of the

history

of

Palmares.

The

purpose

is to review

and

expand upon

the

historical,

linguistic,

and cultural

context

of Palmaresand on the

sources

for the

emerging

epic

material

of

Zumbi

of

Palmares.

A

epopdia negra

hoje

e narrada1

The twentieth of November

1995

marked

the

tercentenary

of the death of

Zumbi,

the last leader of the maroon state

-

or

quilombo

-

of Palmares

in

Northeastern Brazil.

This

date

has

loomed

large

in

the

popular

imagination, since for many Brazilians, especially those of African descent,

Zumbi embodies the

strongest

resistance to the slave-based colonial

regime,

and,

consequently,

the

struggle

for

economic

and

political justice

today.

The

last

leader

of

Palmares has

enjoyed

an

apotheosis

as an ethnic

hero. The term

'apotheosis'

is

not

simply

metaphorical

here.

More than

a

secular

hero,

Zumbi is viewed as

an

ancestor,

antecedent

in

what

the

outsider

might

see as

a

fictive

lineage.

According

to

this

view,

which is

African

in

origin,

his

spirit

is

inherently

divine and

immortal,

and is thus

worthy

of

respect

from those who consider themselves his descendants.

This belief is such that the

tercentenary

celebrated three hundred

years

of

Zumbi's

immortality.2

*

This

work

was made

possible

in

part

by

funds from the Tinker

Foundation,

the Mellon

Foundation,

and

the

US

Department

of

Education

Title

VI,

administered

by

the Duke-

University

of

North Carolina

Program

in Latin

American Studies.

I

am

grateful

to

John

Charles Chasteen and two

anonymous

referees

for their comments on earlier

versions of this article.

1

Xuxu

(Edson Carvalho),

Negros

de

luz',

in

I1e

Aiye

(ed.),

America

negra:

o

sonho

africano'

Salvador, i993),

p.

28.

2

Bujao

(Raimundo

Goncalves

dos

Santos),

personal

communication.

Full

discussion of

the mythificationof Zumbi or its representationn artisticproductionis beyond the

Robert Nelson

Anderson is

Visiting

Assistant Professor

n Romance

Languages

at the

University

of

North

Carolina

at

Chapel

Hill.

J.

Lat. Amer. Stud.

28,

545-566

Copyright

?

I996

Cambridge

University

Press

545

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3/23

546

Robert Nelson Anderson

Since the establishment of

20

November as National

Black Con-

sciousness

Day

in

1978,

popular

discourse has

increasingly

treated Zumbi

not

only

as the

premier

Afro-Brazilian hero but also as the

exemplar

of

antiracist and anticolonial

dogma

and

praxis.3

The

importance

of the

tercentenary

is

widely

recognised

-

seen

in

the

fact

that

Salvador,

the

capital

of

the northeastern

state of

Bahia,

'capital'

of

Afro-Brazil,

and

oreo

enlorged

Recife

OL

0o

o

:

Cuca6u

,

:

P E R-N A M

B U C

O

^9.

*

D5V

- 7 Porto Calvo

A....

;.

,

Macaco

Atlantic Ocean

Maceio

N

Alagoas

km

0 10

20 30

40

50

Map

i. Palmares and

Vicinity

scope

of

this

essay.

See Robert Nelson

Anderson,

'The Muses

of Chaos and

Destruction

of Arena

conta

Zumbi',

Latin

American

Theatre

Review,

vol.

29,

no.

2

(forthcoming 1996); 'O mito de Zumbi: Implicacoes culturais para o Brasil e para a

Diaspora

Africana',

Afro-Asia,

no.

17

(forthcoming

I996).

3

Originally

called Zumbi

Day.

See

George

Reid

Andrews,

Black

and Whites in

Sao

Paulo,

Brazil,

i888-1988

(Madison, 1991),

pp.

2I6-I8;

Abdias

do Nascimento

and Elisa Larkin

do

Nascimento,

'Pan-Africanism,

Negritude,

and

the African

Experience

in

Brazil',

in

Africans

in

Brazil:

A

Pan-African Perspective

Trenton, N.J.,

1992),

pp.

81-117.



4/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

547

currently

host

to the

world's

largest pre-Lenten

festival

in

terms

of

numbers

of

tourists,

chose Zumbi as the theme for

the

I995

carnaval.In

November

I995

events

were held around

the

country,

including

a

pilgrimage

to the site of Palmares in the state of

Alagoas,

with Brazil's

President

Fernando

Henrique

Cardoso

speaking

in

the

Municipal

Hall in

Uniao

dos

Palmares,

the

Congresso

Continental

dos

Povos

Negros

das

Americas

in

Sao

Paulo,

and the Movimento

Negro

Unificado's march

on

Brasilia. These events

have underscored the

mythic

status of Zumbi of

Palmares. The

significance

of

this

anniversary

has also

captured

the

attention

of

the

national and international

press.4

Scholars

interested

in

Palmares

have, however,

struggled

with a dearth

of

sources,

either

primary

or

secondary.

The

situation

is

acute

for the

English-speaking

public:

of

the

few

primary

and

major

secondary

sources

published

in

Portuguese,

Dutch,

or

Latin,

almost

none have been

translated into

English.5

The

Palmares

Excavation

Project,

led

by

Pedro

Paulo

A. Funari of the State

University

of

Campinas

and Charles E.

Orser,

Jr.,

of Illinois State

University

have

conducted

preliminary

excavations

at

the site of Palmares. This

project

promises

to illuminate our

understanding

of the

quilombo,

nd

presumably

its

findings

will

be

published

in

English.6

However,

since

R. K.

Kent's

1965

article

'Palmares:

An

African State

in

Brazil', no synopsis of what is known of Palmares has been published in

English.7

Kent's article was

groundbreaking

in

that

it

was the first

scholarly

overview of what

was known about Palmares available to the

English-reading

public. Working

from

primary

and

secondary

sources

published

in

Portuguese

or

Dutch,

Kent

summarised

information about

Palmares. His contribution was to

argue,

based

on

historical and

linguistic

evidence,

that Palmares was

a

successful

adaptation

of

several models

of

Central

African statecraft to

the

Brazilian

context. Kent

stated

in

his

conclusion:

[T]he

most

apparent ignificance

of

Palmares o

African

history

is that an

African

political

system

could

be

transferred o a

different

content;

that it could

come

to

4

E.g.:

Vilma

Gryzinski,

'O mais novo her6i do

Brasil', Veja,

22

Nov.

I995,

pp.

64-80;

articles in

Folha

de

Sao

Paulo,

12

Nov.

I995,

sec.

5

['Mais ']; James

Brooke,

'Brazil

Seeks to Return

Ancestral

Lands

to

Descendants

of

Runaway

Slaves,'

New York

Times,

15

Aug.

1993,

sec.

A,

p.

I2;

'From

Brazil's

Misty

Past,

a

Black Hero

Emerges,'

New

York

Times,

23

Nov.

1994,

sec.

A,

p.

4.

5

On Richard M.

Morse's

translations

of

documents about

the destruction of Palmares

see

note

1

below.

6

Ricardo Bonalume Neto, 'O pequeno Brasil de Palmares', Folha de Sao Paulo, 4 June

I995,

sec.

5

['Mais '],

p.

i6.

7

R. K.

Kent,

'Palmares: An

African State

in

Brazil,'

in

Richard

Price

(ed.),

Maroon

Societies: Rebel

Slave

Communities n the

Americas,

ist ed.

(Garden

City,

N.Y.,

1973),

2nd

ed.

(Baltimore,

1979),

pp.

70-90.

Originally published

in

Journal

of African

History,

no.

6

(I965),

pp.

16I-75.



5/23

548

Robert

Nelson

Anderson

govern

not

only

individuals

from a

variety

of

ethnic

groups

from

Africa,

but also

those

born in

Brazil,

pitch

black

or

almost

white,

latinized

or close to Amerindian

roots;

and that

it

could endure

for almost a full

century

against

two

European

powers, Holland and Portugal.8

Kent's article

was and still is

an

important

starting point

for

the

reader

without access

to

the sources

published

in

Portuguese.

It

nevertheless

contains numerous

flaws;

as Stuart

Schwartz

reports,

'his translations

and

ethnographic

discussions

can not

always

be trusted'.9 Schwartz's 'Re-

thinking

Palmares'

offers

new and useful

interpretations, especially

regarding

the

etymology

of

the

term

'quilombo',

tracing

the word and

the

institution back

to

their

Angolan

origins.?1

The

present essay

augments

Kent's article

with further

linguistic,

historical,

and

ethnological

interpretation,

and

corrects

several

faulty

translations. This

article

also

incorporates

Schwartz's

analysis,

adding

to the narrative

history

and

linguistic interpretations.

It

elaborates several issues raised

by

Schwartz,

further

describing

the

Afro-Brazilian character of Palmares.

It

is

hoped

that this new

exposition

will

give

a

firmer

foundation

for

assessing

the

modern

significance

of Palmares.

Most of what we know about

Palmares comes from accounts

of the

Dutch and

Portuguese

campaigns against

the

quilombo, including

those of

Bartholomeus Lintz

(I640)

and Roelox Baro (or Rodolpho Bareo, I643).1

8

Kent, 'Palmares',

p.

188.

9

Stuart

B.

Schwartz, Slaves, Peasants,

and Rebels:

Reconsidering

razilian

Slavery

(Urbana,

Ill.,

1992),

p.

134,

n.

65.

The

English

translation

of

Roger

Bastide's

Les

Religions Afro-

Bresiliennes

ncludes a short section on Palmares.The

historical

summary

uses

the same

sources as

Kent,

and

the text concentrates

on

ethnological interpretation,

much of

which is

interesting.

However,

as with

Kent,

some

of the

linguistic arguments

are

weak. See

Roger

Bastide,

The

African

Religionsof

Bragil:

Towardsa

Sociological

Interpretation

of

Civilizations,

Helen

Sebba

(trans.),

(Baltimore,

1978),

pp.

83-90.

Originally

published

in

Paris

in

1960.

10

In

Schwartz, Slaves,

Peasants,

and

Rebels,

pp.

122-36.

1 Informationfrom the Lintz and Baro expeditionswas compiled by CasparBarlaeus

(Gaspar

Barleus)

and

translated nto

Portuguese

by

Claudio

Brandao as

Historia

dos

feitos

recentemente

raticados

urante

ito

anos

no Brasil

Rio

de

Janeiro,

1940).

Originally

published

as Rerum

er

octenium

n

Brasilia

I647).

The

account of the

Blaer-Reijmbach

expedition

was translated

rom

the Dutch

and

published

by

Alfredo

de Carvalho

under

the title

'Diario

da

viagem

do

Capitao

Joao

Blaer

aos Palmares'

in

the Revista

do

Instituto

Arqueologico

ernambucanond

reprinted

in Edison

Carneiro, O

quilombo

os

Palmares,

I6Jo-I69y,

Ist ed.

(Sao

Paulo,

1947),

pp.

231-9.

Documents

from

the second

Livro de

Vereafoes

a

Camara

de

Alagoas,providing

additional

nformation about

the

Carrilho

campaign

and Zumbi's

revolt,

are

in

Carneiro

under

the title 'Os sucessos

de

I668

a

1680',

pp.

207-30,

originally

published

in Revista

do Instituto

Histdrico

Alagoano

(1875). The 'Relacao das guerrasfeitas aos Palmaresde Pernambucono tempo do

Governador d. Pedro

de

Almeida,

de

I675

a

I678'

is

from the Torre

do Tombo

in

Lisbon,

reprinted

in

Carneiro,

pp.

187-206,

originally

published

in Revista do Instituto

Historico

e

Geogrdfico

Brasileiro,

vol.

22

(I959), pp.

303-29.

The

first edition and

the

second edition

(Sao

Paulo,

I958)

of

O quilombo

os

Palmares

reproduce

the

primary

sources as

an

appendix.

The

third

edition

(Rio

de

Janeiro,

1966)

is

a

version

of the



6/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

5

49

In

I645

Captain

Johan

(or

Joao)

Blaer led an

expedition

against

the

quilombo,

chronicled

by

his Lieutenent

Jiirgens Reijmbach,

who

took over

the

expedition

when Blaer became

ill. The

Fernao Carrilho

expeditions

of

1676-77

and

contemporary

events

generated

documents from the town

council of

Alagoas

and the

captaincy

government.

The

final

campaigns

against

Palmares,

including

those of

Domingos Jorge

Velho

(I692-94),

have

also

provided

information.

One

or

other combination

of these official documents

and

eyewitness

accounts

by

would-be invaders are

the

basis

for

subsequent

Brazilian

historiography

and

ethnography,

each

in turn

informed

by

the

ideology

and intellectual biases of

its time.12

It

is worth

noting

that,

in

a tentative

way,

Zumbi has become

a

national

hero.

While

primary

sources

by

colonial officials

and

secondary

sources

from

Rocha Pitta

to

the

present

day

have tended

to see Palmares as a threat to

Portuguese

colonial

sovereignty,

and

the

quilombo's

defeat

as

basically

a

patriotic

victory,

even

white commentators

have

lionised

the Afro-Brazilian

state

on occasion.

The

colonial

Rocha Pitta himself refers

to Palmares

as

'a

rustic

republic,

in

its

way,

well-ordered',

drawing

classical

parallels

and

speaking

of

the

edition

in

Spanish,

Guerra

de los

Palmares

(Mexico, 946),

neither

of which

includes the

appendix.

All

citations

from Carneiro are from the first

edition,

including

references to

the

documents

published

therein. Ernesto Ennes

published

documents

spanning

I684

to

1697,

dealing

with

Zumbi's rebellion

against Ganga-Zumba

and

the

Portuguese

Governor,

the destruction

of Palmares

by

Domingos Jorge

Velho,

and

the

death of

Zumbi in

Asguerras

nos

Palmares:

Subs'diospara

a sua

historia,

vol.

i,

DomingosJorge

Velho

e

a

'Trdia

negra,'

i687-I7oo

(Sao

Paulo,

1938).

On

the verso of the

title

page

of

this

edition

a

second

volume

is

promised,

titled 'Os

primeiros

quilombos';

to

my

knowledge

it was

never

published.

Five of

the

documents

in

the Ennes collection

appear

in

English

translation under the title 'The

Conquest

of

Palmares',

in Richard

M.

Morse

(ed.),

The

Bandeirantes: The Historical Role

of

the

Brazilian Pathfinders

New

York,

I965),

pp.

14-26.

In

citing

these and all other

sources,

the

orthography

of the

published source is maintained.

12

Notable

among

these

secondary

sources are Sebastiao

da

Rocha

Pitta,

Historia da

America

Portuguega

desdeo annode mil e

quinhentos

o seu

descobrimentote

o de mil e setecentos

e vinte e

quatro,

2nd

ed.

(Lisbon,

i88o),

originally published

in

Lisbon

(I730),

book

8,

paragraphs

25-40;

Joaquim

Pedro de Oliveira

Martins,

O

Brazil

e as colonias

portugue.as,

3rd

ed

(Lisbon, 1920),

originally

published

in Lisbon

(1880),

pp.

63-6;

Raimundo Nina

Rodrigues,

Os

africanos

no

Brasil,

2nd

ed.

(Sao

Paulo,

I93 5),

pp.

1

5-50;

Ernesto

Ennes,

'As

guerras

nos

Palmares',

the introduction to his collection of

documents;

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares;

C16vis

Moura,

Rebelioes

da

senzala:

Quilombos,

insurreifoese

guerrilhas

Rio

de

Janeiro,

I972),

pp.

I79-90;

Joel

Rufino dos

Santos,

Zumbi

(Sao

Paulo,

I985);

Decio

Freitas,

Palmares: a

guerra

dos

escravos,

5th

ed.

(Rio

de

Janeiro, i982);

Benjamin Peret, O Quilombo de Palmares: Cronica da 'Reptblica dos Escravos', Brasil,

I640-s69 (Lisbon,

1988),

originally published

as 'O

que

foi

o

Quilombo

de Palmares?'

in

Anhembi

(April

and

May

1956).

Forthcoming

are

Joao Jose

Reis and Flavio

dos

Santos Gomes

(eds.),

Historia

do

quilombo

o

Brasil,

as well

as

Gomes's new

documentary

history

of Palmares. Both

Freitas and Gomes have used archival material from

the

Torre do

Tombo,

bringing

this

primary

material to a wider

public.



7/23

55o

Robert

Nelson

Anderson

election of

its

'prince',

Zumbi.l3

Taking

his

cue

from

Rocha

Pitta,

Oliveira Martins waxed

poetic

with

republican

fervour,

expanding

the

classical

analogies,

as in

the

following passage:

'Of all

of

the

historical

examples

of slave

protest,

Palmares is the most

beautiful,

the most heroic.

It is a

black

Troy,

and its

story

is an

Iliad.'14

Thus,

a

revisionist view

crept

into

the elite

discourse,

culminating

with

Freitas,

as

suggested by

this

quote

from his conclusion:

'These rustic

black

republics

reveal

the

dream

of a

social order founded on

fraternal

equality,

and for this

reason are

incorporated

into the

revolutionary

tradition

of the Brazilian

people.'15

As for

the other commentators on

Palmares,

one

may

refer to Afonso

de

Escragnolle

Taunay's

Preface to

Ennes:

If one were to collect all that our

historiographers,

ancient, modern and

contemporary,

have written

about

Palmares,

there would be

material

comparable

in

volume to an

encyclopedia

of

exceeding

dimensions. But the

vast

majority

of

these

very

copious pages

is no more than

repetition,

often most

inelegant,

on the

part

of the

authors,

professionals

at

taking

advantage

of the work

of others or

mere candidates for remuneration of

so much

per page.16

Carneiro,

nine

years

later,

put

it more

succinctly:

'Historians in

general...

have limited themselves to

repeating

the errors

of Sebastiao da

Rocha Pitta.'17 It is safe to

say

that,

aside

from the

contributions of the

authors mentioned

above,

very

little new has been said about the

history

of

Palmares since the middle of the twentieth

century.

While

seeking

to

avoid the faults identified

by Taunay

and

Carneiro,

the

synopsis

that

follows

brings

some of

this

material

together.

From the earliest time

in

which

Africans were

brought

forcibly

to the

New

World

they

resisted

bondage

by

flight,

or

marronage.1l

It

seems

that

from

the earliest arrival of Africans in

the

captaincies

of

Alagoas

and

13

Rocha

Pitta,

Historia da America

PortugueZa,

aragraphs

28-9.

All translations

are

mine.

The original text follows: 'uma repdblica ristica, a sua maneira, bem ordenada'.

14

Oliveira

Martins,

O

Brazil

e as

colonias

portuguegas;

p.

64.

'[D]e

todos os

exemplos

hist6ricos do

protesto

de

escravo,

Palmares

e o

mais

bello,

o

mais heroico.

B

uma

Troya

negra,

e

a

sua hist6ria

e

uma Illiada.'

15

Freitas, Palmares,

p.

z2o.

'Estas

rusticas

repiiblicas

negras

desvendam o sonho

de uma

ordem social

alicercada

na

igualdade

fraternal e estao

por

isso

incorporadas

a

tradicao

revolucionaria

do

povo

brasileiro.'

16

Taunay,

Preface,

in

Ennes,

As

guerras

nos

Palmares,

pp.

I-2.

'Se se coletasse tudo

que

os nossos

histori6grafos antigos,

modernos e

contemporaneos

escreveram

sobre

Palmares haveria material

comparavel, pelo

volume,

a uma

enciclop6dia

de

avantajadas

dimens6es. Mas e

que

a imensa maioria dessas

paginas copiosissimas

nao

passa

de

repetiico, frequentemente a mais deselegante, por parte de seus autores, profissionais

do

aproveitamento

de

alheio

esf6rgo

ou meros candidatos

a

remuneragao

a

tanto

por

pagina.'

17

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

I82.

'Os historiadores

em

geral...se

limitaram

a

repetir

os errores

de

Sebastiao

da Rocha Pita.'

18

Price, Introduction,

in

Maroon

Societies,

p.

i.



8/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

551

Pernambuco

in

Portuguese

America slaves had fled to the interior.19

Towards the end of the sixteenth

century,

according

to

Freitas,

but no

later

than

I606,

according

to

Kent,

a trickle

of

runaway

slaves

had made

their

way

to the interior and there established a

mocambo,

or maroon

settlement,

of

some

reputation.20

The

area

of settlement

straddled

a

mountainous

area of the coastal forest zone some

30

to

90

kilometres from

the

coast

of

present-day

northern

Alagoas

and southern Pernambuco. The

region

came

to

be

known as

'Palmares' due

to

the

preponderance

of wild

palms

there.21

In

the

I63os

the

Palmares

region

received

a

greater

number

of

fugitive

slaves

thanks in

part

to the Dutch invasion of northeastern

Brazil.22

During

the Dutch dominion and after

the

Portuguese reconquest

of

Pernambuco,

completed

in

I654,

there were

occasional

incursions into

Palmares,

without

great

success.

Of

special

interest

are

the

expeditions

that

generated

the documents mentioned

above.

At

the time of the Lintz

expedition,

there were two

large

mocambosand

any

number

of smaller

ones.23

By

the time of the

Blaer-Reijmbach

expedition

of

I645

there was

at

least

one

large

mocambo;

another

large

mocambohad been abandoned

three

years

earlier. The

diary

of the

expedition

describes the

large

'Palmares':

It

was

surrounded

by

a

double

palisade

with

a

spike-lined

trough inside. This 'Palmares' was half a mile long, its street six feet wide.

There

was a

swamp

on the

north side and

large

felled trees on the south.

There were

220

buildings

in

the

middle

of which

stood

a

church,

four

smithies,

and

a

council house.24 From

captives,

they

learned

something

of

the

ruler

of that

place:

Their

king

ruled

them with severe

justice,

not

permitting

sorcerers

among

his

people,

and

when some blacks would

flee,

he

would send natives

[native blacks]

on

their

trail,

and

when

they

were

caught, they

would be

killed,

such that fear

19 Carneiro, O quilombodos Palmares,

p.

188.

20

Freitas, Palmares,

p.

5;

Kent, 'Palmares',

p.

175.

On

mocambo s.

quilombo,

ee

below.

21

Carneiro,

0

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

i88. Palmar

means

'palm grove'

in

Portuguese;

plural palmares.

22

Ibid.,

pp.

33-4.

23

Kent,

'Palmares',

p.

177.

Notwithstanding

the

etymology

of Palmares

given

above,

the

early

chronicles

appear

to

use

the

term

'palmar(es)'

to

signify

'mocambo'.It

is

intriguing

to

speculate

how

this

usage

came

to

be,

given

that 'Palmares' in the

early

literature

also

refers to the

palm-covered region.

In

fact,

Nieuhof states that there were two

forests,

one called 'Palmares

pequenos,'

with some

6,ooo

black

inhabitants,

and

the

other,

'Palmares

grandes',

with

some

5,000

scattered black inhabitants.

Johan

Nieuhof,

Memordvel

Viagem

maritima

e

terrestre ao

Brasil,

Moacir N.

Vasconcelos

(trans.), Jose

Hon6rio Rogrigues (ed.) (Sao Paulo,

1942),

pp.

I8-19.

Translated from the English

and

reconciled

with

the

original

Dutch

Gedenkweerdige

rasiliaense Zee- en

Lant-Reize

(Amsterdam,

I682).

24

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

pp.

235-6.

Kent's translation

(p.

177)

neglects

to

mention that the

trees to the south

were

felled,

suggesting

clearing

for

cultivation

or

defence.



9/23

55

2


reigned among

them,

especially

the blacks from

Angola.

The

king

also has

a

house two miles

away,

with a

very

abundant arm. He had this house built

upon

learning

of our

coming....

We

asked the blacks how

many

of

their

people

were

there, to which they responded that there were 50o men, in addition to the

women and children.

We

presume

that there are some

1,5oo

inhabitants,

according

to what we heard from them.25

The narrative also includes

description

of

farms and

foodstuffs,

uses

made of the

palm,

and crafts such as work

in

straw,

gourds,

and ceramic.

As was so often the case

in

the

long

history

of wars

against

Palmares,

the

soldiers found the settlement

virtually

abandoned when

they

arrived;

the

Palmarinos

would receive advance word of

expeditions

from their

spies

in

the colonial towns

and

sugar plantations,

or

engenhos.26

The external

history

of Palmares from the

expulsion

of the Dutch in

I654

to

the destruction of

Palmares

in

1694

is one of

frequent Portuguese

incursions

-

sometimes more

than

one

a

year

-

and Palmarino

reprisals

and raids.

Although

the 'Relacao

das

guerras

feitas aos

Palmares',

from

the term of Governor d. Pedro de

Almeida,

is a troublesome

document,

as Carneiro

states,

it

is clear

from it that in the

period

I654

to

I678

there

were

at

least

20

expeditions against

Palmares

-

hardly

the

'twenty-seven

years

of relative

peace'

referred to

by

Kent.27

In

the internecine

peace,

Palmarinos traded

with their

Portuguese neighbours, exchanging

food-

stuffs

and crafts for

arms,

munitions,

and salt.28 The trade

with Palmares

was

such

that

many

colonials

opposed

war with the

Palmarinos,

and

in

the

I67os

there was

widespread opinion

that

establishing peace

with Palmares

was the best

way

to achieve

stability

in

the

colony.29

Nevertheless,

many

local

planters

feared the

predatory

raids

by

Palmarinos,

real or

potential.

They

also wished to eliminate

the lure of

escape

that Palmares

constantly

represented

to the

plantation

slaves.

In

spite

of much

vacillation,

colonial

25

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

236.

'[S]eu

rei os

governava

com

severa

justiSa

nao

permitindo

feiticeiros entre a sua

gente

e,

quando

alguns

negros fugiam,

mandava-

Ihes creoulos no encal(o

e,

uma vez

pegados,

eram

mortos,

de sorte

que

entre

eles

reinava o

temor,

principalmente

os

negros

de

Angola;

o rei

tambem

ter

uma

casa

distante dali duas

milhas,

com

uma rosa muito

abundante,

casa

que

fez construir ao

saber da nossa

vinda....

[P]erguntamos

aos

negros qual

o

numero

da sua

gente,

ao

que

nos

responderam

haver

5oo

homens,

alem

das mulheres

e

crianSas;

presumimos

que

uns

pelos

outros hia

.500

habitantes,

segundo

deles

ouvimos.'

For reasons

that are not

clear,

Kent leaves

many

words

untranslated

and

unglossed,

not

to

mention

mistranscribed. Some of

these,

such as

grandes

[sic]

(p.

I78)

would be

evident to

the

general

reader,

but others

(feticeiros

[sic],

crioulos

[sic],

ibid.)

would

not.

Carvalho

probably

followed

colonial

usage

in

using

'creoulo'/'crioulo'

to

refer

broadly

to

'native', and more narrowly to 'Brazilian-born black'. Without the Dutch original it

is

impossible

to determine the exact sense

in the context

of

Palmares.

Kent's

translation

also errs

in

not

stating

that the Palmarinos

reported

their number

to be

500

men,

not

including

children

and

women.

26

Ibid.,

p.

236

27

Ibid.,

pp. 81-93;

Kent,

p.

I78.

28

Freitas,

Palmares,

p.

73.

29

Ibid.,

pp.

73-5;

I05-6.



10/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

55

3

leaders

opted again

for the destruction

of the

quilombo

and

sent militia

captain

Fernao Carrilho

against

them.

Carrilho's

campaign

of

1676-7

was

not

only

one

of the more

devastating,

but

it

also

gave

us

the most

substantial

descriptions

of Palmares.

The

'Relacao'

reported

that

campaign,

mentioning

several

mocambos

that constituted

Palmares:

Zambi,

Acotirene or

Arotirene, Tabocas,

Dambrabanga,

Subupira,

the

royal

compound

of

Macaco,

Osenga,

Amaro,

and

Andalaquituche.30

The

Portuguese,

as

was their

wont,

named

at least

some of these

towns for the title-holders

living

there: Zambi

(probably

Zumbi),

Andalaquituche,

brother

of

'Zambi',

and

Aqualtune,

the mother

of the

king.31 Subupira

was

the

mocambo

of

Gana-Zona,

brother

of the

king,

a 'valorous black

man,

recognised

among

those

brutes

as

king

as

well'.32

Part

of

the

description

is worth

citing

extensively:

They

acknowledge

themselves

to

be obedient

to one called

Ganga-Zumba,

which

means Great Lord. This one is

held

to

be

king

and

master

by

all

of the

rest,

both

natives of Palmares

as

well

as those who come from the outside. He has

a

palace,

houses

for his

family,

and is

attended

by guards

and officials

that

royal

houses

usually

have. He is treated

with all of the

respect

of

a

king

and

with all

of the honours

of a lord. Those

that

come

into

his

presence put

their knees to the

ground

and

clap

their hands as a

sign

of

recognition

and

protestation

of his

excellence.

They

address him as

Majesty

and

obey

him out of admiration. He

dwells

in his

royal

town,

which

they

call Macaco

['Monkey'],

a name derived

from

the death dealt to one of these animals

in

that

place.

This is the

principal

town

among

the

remaining

towns

and

settlements.

It is

wholly

fortified

by

a

palisade

with

embrasures

from

which

they

could

safely

attack combatants.

All

around

the outside was sewn with iron

caltrops

and

such

cunning

pitfalls

that it

had

imperilled

our

greatest vigilance.

This town

occupies

a

broad

area;

it

is

made

up

of more than

,

5

oo

houses. There

is

among

them

a

Minister

of

Justice

for the

necessary

actions,

and

all of

the

trapping

of

any

republic

is found

among

them.

And

although

these barbarians have so

forgotten

subjugation,

they

have

not

wholly lost recognition of the Church. In this town they have a chapel to which

they

resort in their

need,

and statues

to

whom

they

commend their

petitions.

When

this

chapel

was

entered,

there was found a

quite

well-made statue

of the

infant

Jesus,

another

of Our

Lady

of the

Conception,

and

another of Saint Blaise.

They

choose one of their most ladinoswhom

they

venerate as

pastor,

who

baptises

30

Carneiro, O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

pp.

88.

'Subupira'

and

'Macaco',

not

'Subupuira'

and

'Macoco',

as in

Kent, 'Palmares',

p.

178.

Kent

attempts

to

construct

etymologies

for these

place

names,

seeking

Bantu and

indigenous

American

roots

for them

(pp.

80-8

i).

His

etymologies,

though,

are unscientific and

uncorroborated,

and in the cases

of

Macaco

(in

fact,

Portuguese

for

'monkey')

and Amaro

(the

name of the mocambo's

chief), clearly wrong. Such

a

task is difficult at best, and should not lead to hasty

conclusions. Yeda Pessoa

de

Castro affirms that some Palmarino

place

names,

including

Osenga,

are of Bantu

origin.

Castro,

'Dimensao

dos

aportes

africanos

no

Brasil',

Afro-

Asia,

no.

I6

(1995),

p.

28.

I

have not

yet

seen the

sources

in

which she

explains

their

etymologies.

31

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

I97.

32

Ibid.,

p.

202.

'[N]egro

valoroso,

e reconhecido

daqueles

brutos

como rei tambem.'



11/23

5 54


them and marries them. The

baptism,

however,

is without the form

prescribed

by

the

Church,

and their

weddings

are

without the

particulars required by

natural

law. Their

appetite

is the rule of

their choice.

Each one has the wives he wants.

They are taught some Christian prayers, and the precepts of the faith are observed

which are within their

capacity.

The

king

who resided

in

this town was

living

with three

wives,

one mulatto and

two

native

[black]

women.

By

the first he had

many

children,

by

the

others none. The

way

of dress

among

them is the same as

is observed

among

us

-

more or

less clothed as the

possibilities

allow.

This is the main town of

Palmares. This

is the

king

who rules them. The other

towns are in the

charge

of

potentates

and

chiefs who

govern

and reside in

them.... The second town is called

Subupira.

In this one

governs

the

king's

brother,

who is called Zona. It is all

fortified

with wood and

stones

[and]

comprises

more

than 8oo

houses. It

occupies

an area of

nearly

one

league

in

length.

It is well-watered because the

Cachingy

River flows

through

it. This was

the

place

where the blacks

prepared

for the combat

against

our

assaults.

It

was

wholly

circled with

pitfalls

and to block

(in

the

way

of) our

thrusts,

it was sewn

with

caltrops.33

33

Ibid.,

pp.

i89-90.

'[R]econhecem-se

todos obedientesa um

que

se chama o

Ganga-

Zumba,

que quer

dizer Senhor

Grande;

a

este tem

por

seu rei e senhor todos

os

mais,

assim naturaisdos

Palmares,

como vindos de

f6ra;

tern

palacio,

casas da sua

familia,

e assistido

de

guardas

e oficiais

que

costumam ter

as casas

reais.

E

tratado corn

todos

os

respeitos

de rei

e

corntodas as honrasde senhor.

Os

que

chegam

a sua

presencap6em

os

joelhos

no

chao

e batem

as

palmas

das maos

em

sinal

de

reconhecimento

e

protesta9ao

de sua

excelencia;

falam-lhe

por

Majestade,

obedecem-lhe

por

admiracao.

Habita

a

sua cidade

real,

que

chamamo

Macaco,

nome sortido da morte

que

naquele

lugar

se

deu a um animaldestes. Estae a

metr6pole

entre

as

mais cidades

e

povoac6es;

esti

fortificada

oda em uma cerca de

pau

a

pique

com treneiras

[sic]

abertas

para

ofenderem

a

seu salvo

os

combatentes;

e

pela

parte

de f6ra toda se

semea

de

estrepes

de ferroe de

fojos

tao cavilosos

que

perigara

neles

a

maior

vigilancia;ocupa

esta cidade

dilatado

espaco,

f6rma-sede mais de

1.5

00 casas.

Ha

entre eles Ministros

de

Justicapara

as execu6ces necessarias

e

todos

os arrem&dos e

qualquer

Republica

se acham entre

eles.

E

corn seremestes barbaros ao

esquecidos

de toda

sujeitao,

nao

perderam

de todo o

reconhecimentoda

Igreja.

Nesta cidade tem

capela

a

que

recorremnos seus

apertos

e

imagens

a

quem

recomendamsuas tenyoes.

Quando

se

entrou nesta

capela

achou-se

umaimagemdo Menino Jesus muito perfeita;outra de N. S. da ConceiKao, utra de

Sao Braz. Escolhem

um

dos mais

ladinos,

a

quem

veneramcomo

paroco,

que

os batisa

o os casa. 0 batismo

porem,

e sem

a f6rmadeterminada

ela

Igreja

e os casamentos em

as

singularidades

ue

pede

aindaa lei da naturesa.

0

seu

apetite

e

a

regra

da sua

eleicao.

Cada um tern as mulheres

que quer.

Ensinam-se

entre

eles

algumas

oracoes

cristas,

observam-se

os documentos da

fe

que

cabem

na

sua

capacidade.

0

rei

que

nesta cidade

assistiaestava

acomodadocorn

tres

mulheres,

uma mulata

e

duas creoulas.

Da

primeira

teve muitos

filhos,

das outras nenhum.

0 modo

de

vestir

entre

si

e

o

mesmo

que

observam entre

n6s. Mais ou menos

enroupados

conforme as

possibilidades.

Esta

e

a

principal

idadedos

Palmares,

ste

e

o rei

que

os

domina;

as maiscidades

estao

a

cargo

de

potentados

e cabos m6res

que

as

governam

e assistem nelas....

A

segunda

cidade chama-se Subupira.Nesta assiste o irmao do rei que se chama Zona. E

fortificada oda de madeira

e

pedras,

compreende

mais de

8oo casas.

Ocupa

o

vao

de

perto

duma

legua

de

comprido.

E

abundante de

aguas

porque

corre

por

ela o rio

Cachingy.

Esta

era

a

estancia

onde se

preparavam

s

negros

para

o combate de nossos

assaltos.

Era

toda

cercadade

fojos

e

por

todas

as

partes,por

obviar

(vias aos)

aos nossos

impulsos,

estava semeada

de

estrepes.'



12/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

555

This

excerpt

is cited at

length,

not

only

for the wealth of

information

it

contains,

but because

the translation

in

Kent is

riddled with errors

and

omissions that

obscure the

meaning

of

the text.

Therefore,

Kent's

translation should be carefully re-read in light of the present version.34

First,

the architecture of Macaco and

Subupira

suggests

that

Palmares

was

on

a

constant

war-footing.

Both towns were surrounded

by

trenches

or

pitfalls

and

caltrops, Subupira

had

a wood

and stone

battery,

and Macaco

had

palisades

with

embrasures.

D. Pedro de Almeida's

chronicler does

not,

however,

state

that the

parapets

had

caltrops.35 Subupira

was a site

of

military

training,

but

the chronicle makes

no

mention

of

arms

being

forged

there.36 Macaco's

fortifications seem to have

employed

features of

both

the Buraco de Tatu mocambo

and the

Angolan palisaded

quilombo

which

Schwartz contrasts

in his

article

on Bahian

mocambos.37

That

is,

the

Palmarino

capital

made use

of the

pitfalls

and

caltrops

found

in

Buraco

de

Tatu as well as the

palisades

found

in

Angola.38

The

religion

of

the

polity

was

probably

a

syncretism

of

Christian and

African belief and

practice,

and

this is

conveyed

in

Kent's

translation,

despite

its

shortcomings.

I

want to

clarify

the character of this

syncretism.39

Macaco had

a

chapel

to which the Palmarinos resorted when

in

need,

containing

statues of

apparently

Christian

figures

before which

they brought petitions. The Palmarinos did not go to church 'whenever

time

allow[ed]'

as Kent

states,

nor does the

chronicler

say

that the

statues

were

worshipped

as such. The

pastor

was

probably

ladino

n the

sense

that

34

See

Kent,

'Palmares',

pp.

179-80.

35

See

also

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

197.

36

See

ibid.

37

Schwartz,

'The

Mocambo:Slave Resistance

in

Colonial

Bahia',

in

Price,

Maroon

Societies,

pp.

202-26.

Originally

published

in

Journal of

Social

History,

no.

3

(1970),

pp.

313-33.

38

See

description

and

figures,

ibid.,

pp.

220-I.

39

The notion of

'syncretism'

has an

ancient

history

in

the

scholarship

on

religion

and

more

recently

scholars have

sought

to

give

the term more

rigour.

See

Carsen

Colpe,

'Syncretism', in Mircea Eliade (ed.), The Encyclopedia f Religion,

i6

vols. (New York,

1987),

vol.

14,

pp.

218-27.

For

the Brazilian

context,

see

Bastide,

The

African

Religions

of

Brazil,

passim.

Recently,

Leslie

Gerald

Desmangles

used Bastide's

categories,

renaming

the

phenomena

'symbiosis' by

way

of

describing

the nature of Haitian

syncretism.

Desmangles,

Faces

of

the Gods: Vodou

and Roman Catholicism

n Haiti

(Chapel

Hill, N.C.,

I992),

pp.

7-Ii.

There are

modes

of

syncretism,

related

to the social

processes

that

engender

it.

For

example,

syncretism may

arise when

the

hegemonic

religious

tradition is

a

protective

facade,

in

which

case

the

metaphor

of 'veneer' is

appropriate.

Often, however,

the

juxtaposed religious

traditions are

complementary

avenues to

power

and

experience,

both

temporal

and

metaphysical,

as has often been

the case

in Brazil

and Haiti.

Finally,

there

are

cases of

genuine

fusion

-

the

operative

metaphor

here

is

amalgam

-

which

have

arisen

historically. What is sometimes missing

in the

debates

on

sociology

of

religion

is

that a

community may

be

multimodal in its

syncretism.

Given

the

difficulty

of

interpreting

the artifacts of

belief

and

practice

from

a distant

time,

which

affects research of the

prehistory

of Afro-Brazilian

religions,

'syncretism'

affords the

elasticity necessary

to

describe the data without

speculating

recklessly

on the

particularities

of

the

phenomena.



13/23

5

5

6


he was at least

nominally

Catholic,

spoke Portuguese,

perhaps

knew

prayers,

and

was otherwise

'acculturated'. He

may

or

may

not

have

been

'crafty',

as

Kent

renders. The

description

of the

practice

of

polygamy

certainly

did not conform to

Portuguese

norms. However, for Kent to

state

that it

was

'singularly

close

to

the laws

of

nature' rather

than

'without the

particulars

required

by

natural law' misses

an

important

theological point,

i.e.,

that

natural

law,

as understood

by

the

Church,.

ordains

monogamy,

sanctioned

by

sacramental

marriage.

The other

particulars

of belief

and

practice

of African

origin

that

must

have

been

present

are not stated.

Their

presence

must be inferred

from

the sense

of

distortion

or

imperfection

of Catholic

practice

sensed

and

relayed

by

the

chronicler.40

It is indeed

a

reasonable

hypothesis

that Palmares

was a

diverse and

dynamic community

as

regards religion.

The

religious

evidence of

a creolised Afro-American culture

is

reinforced

by

a

parallel phenomenon

in

dress,

according

to the chronicle:

the

Palmarinos

dressed

more or

less like the

colonials,

within their

capacity

to do so.

The

description

of the

royal

Palmarino

envoy

to D.

Pedro de Almeida mentions 'barbarians'

wearing

both

animal

skins

and

cloth,

with

various

hair

styles, including

braids,

bearing

both bows

and

arrows and firearms.41

Despite

the

chronicler

describing

this as 'usual'

dress, it is reasonable to assume that on such an occasion the Palmarinos

would be

in

their most festive

and

martial attire. Fuller details

of

Palmarino dress and

its

significance

can

only

be

glimpsed

and

compared

with better studied

periods

and

places

in Brazil.

Engravings

and

photographs

from as

late as the nineteenth

century

reveal

a mix

of

African

and

European

dress

among

Brazilian slaves.42

Recently

Silvia Hunold

Lara has

begun analysing

the

complex

significance

of female dress and

adornment

in

colonial

Brazil,

concluding

that this

visual

language,

which

signified

racial and

power

relations

to the white slave

owning

class,

had

other cultural

meanings

for the African.43

As

regards government,

the

'RelaSao'

clearly

refers

to

Ganga-Zumba

as

'

rei'

('king')

and to his residence

as

a

'palacio'

('palace');

the

'guards

and officials'

are those

customary

for

a

'royal

house',

not

having

'by

custom,

casas which

approach

those

of

royalty'.44

The

point

here

is

that

Kent's

translation

mitigates

the

perception

held

by

the

Portuguese,

not to

mention the

Palmarinos,

that the leaders

of Palmares

were viewed

in some

40

See

Bastide,

The

African

Religions

of

Brazil,

pp.

83-90.

4 Carneiro, 0 quilombodos Palmares,p. 203.

42

Mary

Karasch,

Slave

Life

in Rio de

Janeiro,

80oo-I8yo

(Princeton,

I987),

passim;

Robert

Levine

(prod.),

Faces

of

Slavery

(Miami,

I990).

Videocassette.

43

'Sob

o

signo

da cor:

Trajes

femininos

e

relaSoes

raciais

nas

cidades de Salvador

e Rio

de

Janeiro',

paper

delivered

at the

meeting

of the Latin

American Studies

Association,

Washington,

D.C.,

Sept.

I995.

4

Kent, 'Palmares',

p.

I79.



14/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

5 57

sense as

royalty,

even

if that

sense was

more African than

European.

In

a

gesture

of

respect

towards

royalty

Palmarinos knelt and

clapped

hands.

They

did

not

beat

palm

leaves,

as Kent

states.

This

gesture

was

repeated

by

the Palmarino

envoy

in Recife.45 Luis da Camara Cascudo has

commented

on

praise greeting

by

prostration

and

hand

clapping

in

Africa.46 It would also

appear

that the

principal

town of

Palmares was

christened

by

and on the occasion of the

sacrifice of a

monkey.

Kent

mentions 'site initiation

with animal

blood'

in

passing

in

his

conclusion,

but

in

no

way

connects

it

with

the

name

of the

capital

town.47

Thus,

a

number of errors

in

transcription

and translation

muddle

intriguing

data

about what

appear

to be

non-European

civil

and

religious practices.

More

seriously, though,

the flaws

in

this

translation seem to have

affected the nuance

of

Kent's

interesting

conclusion,

that

'Palmares was

a

centralized

kingdom

with an

elected ruler'

and that

'Ganga-Zumba

delegated

territorial

power

and

appointed

to

offce'.48

Admittedly

there

is

nothing

in

Kent's evidence or

analysis

that

is inconsistent with a

view of

Palmares as a

paramount

chiefdom

or

kingdom along

Central African

lines,

as he has

argued.

In

fact,

Kent's assertion that

'the

political

system

[of Palmares]

did not derive from a

particular

Central African

model,

but

from

several'

prefigures

Schwartz's later

inquiry.49

What

is

troubling

is

that the Portuguese version of the 'RelaSao' suggests a political

organisation

more

complex,

even

more

contradictory

than

a

'centralised'

state

with

'delegated' power imagined

by

Kent. The

'potentates

and

chiefs' of the

other

towns,

did

not

govern

'in

[Ganga-Zumba's]

name',

as Kent

renders;

the

chronicle

says

no such

thing.

In

fact,

the chronicle

suggests

confederation and

tributary

relations

among

the Palmarino

towns,

reinforced

by

what

also

appear

to be

lineage

or

family

relations.

The

'Relacao'

states that

Palmares

had 'all the

trappings

of

any

Republic'.

5

Yet

the

descriptions

of Palmares as a

republic

with an

elective

kingship,

as

though

chosen

by

general

suffrage,

found in Rocha Pitta,

Oliveira

Martins,

Santos,

and

Freitas,

have scant foundation in the

primary

sources.51

Perhaps 'republic'

should be taken to mean

'state',

as

Nina

Rodrigues

suggested,52

and

the election of the

king

could derive

45

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

203.

46

Luis

da

Camara

Cascudo,

'A

saudaSao

africana',

in

Made in

Africa:

Pesquisas

e

notas

(Rio

de

Janeiro,

I965),

pp.

82-9.

Carneiro

noted the

existence

of a

hand-snapping

gesture

in

West

Africa

as a

sign

of

vassalage

that was

also used in the cult of

Xang6.

Carneiro,

p. 43, n.

2.

47

Kent, 'Palmares', p. i88.

48

Ibid.,

p.

I87.

Emphasis

added.

49

Ibid.,

p.

i88.

50

Carneiro,

O

quilombo

dos

Palmares,

p.

I89,

cited above. This

phrase

is

very

loosely

translated

by

Kent as

'their

office

is

duplicated

elsewhere'.

51

See

Bastide,

The

African

Religions

of Brazil, p.

87.

52

Nina

Rodrigues,

Os

africanos

no

Brasil,

pp.

I20-I.



15/23

55

8 Robert Nelson

Anderson

from

descriptions

of

chiefly

and bureaucratic checks on

the

power

of the

king

and the lack

of

hereditary

succession,

all

of which

might

look

'republican'

to

the

Euro-Brazilian

observer.

Nothing

in

this

supposition,

however,

precludes

the

possibility

that the

principal

chief was elected

by

the

chiefs of the constituent

villages

or

even

by

popular

acclaim,

as

among

the

Imbangala

of

seventeenth-century

Angola.

It was

Schwartz who noted the connection

between the

quilombo

of

Brazil and

the institution

by

the same name in

Angola

(KiMbundu

kilombo).53

He

synthesised

his

knowledge

of maroons in colonial Brazil

with the

history

of

state formation in

seventeenth-century

Angola

as

related

by

Joseph

C. Miller.54

While the more

general

word

for

maroon

settlement in colonial Brazil

is mocambo

(Kimbundu mukambo,

'hide-

out'),55

the

word

quilombo,

referring

to

the

same

thing,

gains

currency

only

in

the late

seventeenth

century,

and

then

only

at

first

in

connection

with

Palmares.56 Kent is

right

to

point

out that

quilombo

s not

the

usual

designation

for 'maroon

settlement'

until the

present

century.

That the

term

quilombo

s

rarely

applied

to maroon

settlements other

than Palmares

prior

to this

century

has

implications

for

the

arguments concerning

African structure of the

polity

of Palmares

proposed

by

Kent and

subsequent

scholars.

In Angola the kilombo was originally a male initiation camp and, by

extension,

a

male

military society.

During

the

seventeenth

century

the

territory

the

Portuguese

called

Angola

was

disrupted by

factors

that

included the

pressure

of

the

Portuguese

slave

trade and

occupation

of

the

coast,

by

the

collapse

of states such

as

the

Kingdom

of the

Kongo

to the

north,

and

by

invasions

principally

from

the northeast. The

people

of

central

Angola

responded

by

coalescing

under

the

name

'Imbangala'.

In

contrast to

prior

states

in

the

area,

which

crystallised

around a

royal

lineage

of

divine

kings,

the nascent

Imbangala

states

gathered

together

diverse

peoples

in a

lineageless

community.

Since these communities

existed

in

conditions

of

military

conflict

and

political upheaval

they

found

in

the institution of the

kilombo

a

unifying

structure suitable

for

a

people

under constant

military

alert.57

It

is

clear

that the wars

in

Angola

were

feeding

the

slave trade to the Northeast of

Brazil,

a

market

that

expanded

53


and

Rebels,

pp.

122-36.

54

Kings

and

Kinsmen:

Early

Mbundu

States

in

Angola

(Oxford,

1976).

55 Antonio

Geraldo

da

Cunha,

Diciondrio

etimologico

Nova Fronteira

da

lingua

portuguesa

Rio

de Janeiro,

1982),

p.

526.

56

Schwartz,

Slaves, Peasants,

and

Rebels,

p.

12

5.

Although

as Schwartz

points

out,

colonial

choniclers used

the

phrase 'kingdom

and

quilombo'

to refer

to

Matamba

and other

Imbangala-influenced

olities

in

seventeenth-century

Angola,

such that

'[q]uilombo

as

becoming

a

synonym

for a

kingdom

of a

particular

ype

in

Angola'

(ibid.,

p.

128).

57

Schwartz,

Slaves, Peasants,

and

Rebels,

pp.

25-7;

Miller,

passim.



16/23

The

Quilombo

of

Palmares

5

9

to

recoup

the

losses

during

the

Dutch

occupation.

It

is

reasonable to

assume

that

many,

if

not

most,

of the

Palmarinos

were the

descendants of

slaves

from

Angola,

and

many may

have been

recent

arrivals from

among

the

Imbangala.58

Indeed,

the residents of Palmares called it

Angola

Janga,

supposedly

'Little

Angola'.59

Yet,

whatever

the

Central

African

presence

in

Palmares,

by

the

second

half of the seventeenth

century

it

was

clearly

a

multiethnic and

mostly

creole

community.

The

population

of Palmares

in the

I67os

appears

to

have been

largely

native-born and of African descent.60

The

balance

of

the

population

would have been

runaway

slaves,

slaves and free

persons

captured

in

raids,

colonials

who had suffered

political

reversals

as a

consequence

of the

Portuguese reconquest

of

Pernambuco,

and

poor

free

immigrants

of all racial

backgrounds.61

Preliminary

results of the Palmares

Excavation

project

also confirm a

strong indigenous

American

presence,

presumably

among

the women.62

During

this time

the

paramount

chief

of

Palmares

was

Ganga-Zumba,

probably

a title rather than a

proper

name.

As

Schwartz

and

Miller have

noted

nganga

a

nIumbi

was

a

religious

title

among

the

Imbangala,

one

whose

responsibilities

included

relieving

sufferings

caused

by

an

unhappy

spirit

of a

lineage

ancestor.63

In a

fundamentally

lineageless

society

like the

Imbangala- or the colonial maroon- this official would have great

importance,

as

it

would fall

to

him to

appease

those ancestral

spirits

who

had been cut loose from their descendants

and had

therefore been

deprived

of

family

propitiation.

Schwartz

speculates

that

Ganga-Zumba

of Palmares

held such an office.

Despite

the

title

and

apparent

official

function

of Bantu

origin,

the

Ganga-Zumba

known to

history may

have

been

a native

Palmarino

of

the Ardra

nation,

identifiable

with

the

Ewe-speaking

Allada

state on the

Slave Coast.64

Zumbi was the war

commander

of

Palmares

under

Ganga-Zumba.

Freitas

gives

a

biographical portrait

of Zumbi which has often been

repeated

as

fact,

while

raising

doubts

among

scholars about its

veracity.65

The

suspicion

is

justifiable: although

Freitas cites numerous

published

58

Bastide,

The

African Religions of Brazil,

pp.

84-5;


and

Rebels,

p. I25.

59

Ennes,

As

guerras

nos

Palmares,

doc.

54,

article

I.

I

have been unable to confirm the

sense

ofjanga

as 'little'

in

KiKongo

or

KiMbundu.

My

best

hypothesis

is

that

Angola

Janga

is

from KiMbundu

ngola adianga,

first

Angola'.

60 Carneiro,0 quilomboosPalmares, . I89; Kent, 'Palmares',p. 180.

61

Freitas,

Palmares,

pp.

182,

I85.

62

Funari,

quoted

in

'Neto'.

63

Miller,

pp.

254-5;

Schwartz,Slaves, Peasants,

and

Rebels,

p.

I27.

KiMbundu

nganga,

'priest'; ngumbi,

ancestor

spirit'.

64

Freitas,Palmares,

.

Ioz.

Freitas,

however,

does not

give

the source

of

this

information.

65

Ibid.,

pp.

125-7.



17/23

560

Robert

Nelson Anderson

and

manuscript

sources

in

his

bibliography,

there is little

rigour

in

citation

of sources in the

narrative. For

example,

Freitas works from

'various

letters'

written

by

Priest

Antonio

Melo,

without

giving

the

disposition

of

those letters.

However,

journalists

reporting

from

Portugal

for the Folha

de

Sao

Paulo

tentatively

corroborate the existence of Father

Melo's letters:

one in the

Arquivo

Historfco Ultramarino and several in

the

possession

of

Graziela

de

Cadaval,

Countess of

Schonborn,

not

seen

by

the

reporters

but

copied

with

permission by

Freitas.66Freitas writes

that

Zumbi

was

born

in

65 5.

That same

year

Bras da Rocha

Cardoso led

the

first

Portuguese

attack

on Palmares

after

the

expulsion

of the

Dutch.

During

that

otherwise

ineffective and

unremarkable

attack,

a

baby

boy,

native to

Palmares,

was

captured

and later

given

to

Father Melo in

the Coastal town of Porto

Calvo. The

boy,

baptised

Francisco

by

the

priest,

was raised as

the

priest's

protege

and

instructed

in

Portuguese,

Latin,

and other

subjects.

At

the

age

of

fifteen,

in

I670,

the

youth

ran

away

to

Palmares,

although

he later

continued to

pay

the

priest

secret visits.

Francisco

reemerges

in

Governor d. Pedro de

Almeida's chronicle

as

'Zambi',

the

'general

das armas' of

Palmares.67

During

the

campaign

led

by

Sergeant-Major

Manuel

Lopes

(Galvao)

in

I675-76,

'Zambi' suffered

a

leg

wound that left him with a

limp.68

He is

described as

a

'black

man

of singular valour, great spirit, and rare constancy. He is the overseer of

the

rest,

because his

industry,

judgement,

and

strength

to our

people

serve

as

an

obstacle;

to

his,

as an

example'.69

A

document

received

by

the

Conselho

Ultramarino,

partially

cited

in

Freitas,

attributes Palmares's

resistance

to

'military

practice

made warlike

in

the

discipline

of their

captain

and

general,

Zumbi,

who made them

very

handy

in

use of all

arms,

of which

they

have

many

and

in

great quantity

-

firearms,

as

well

as

swords,

lances,

and

arrows'.70

The historical

record

has

helped

to

confuse

the

issue

of

proper

names

at Palmares. It is uncertain whether 'Zumbi' was a

proper

name,

title,

epithet,

or

praise

name. Freitas advances the idea that it

was

not

a

title but

a

given

name

or

even

nickname,

since

there

is

only

one

person

known

to

history

as

Zumbi,

and his

name occurs

in

the record

only

between

I675

66

Aureliano Biancarelli and

Jair

Battner,

'Pistas

dispersas:

Milhares de documentos

aguardam catalogaao',

Folha

de Sao

Paulo, I2

Nov.

1995,

sec.

5

['Mais '],

p.

6;

'Arquivo

r