Cattawood Springs

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Cattawood Springs
Village; originally Maroon
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Cattawood Springs
Coordinates: 18°04′00″N76°26′00″W / 18.0667°N 76.4333°W / 18.0667; -76.4333 Coordinates: 18°04′00″N76°26′00″W / 18.0667°N 76.4333°W / 18.0667; -76.4333
Country Jamaica
Parish Portland

Cattawood Springs is a place in Portland Parish, Jamaica located at latitude 18 04' 00", longitude 76 26' 00".

Originally this was a Maroon settlement. Its name probably derives from the Twi word katá which means to cover conceal or protect. [1]

History

Cattawood Springs was a place of refuge for Queen Nanny and the Jamaican Maroons during the First Maroon War, especially when the militias captured Nanny Town. However, under Nanny's leadership, the Windward Maroons mounted attacks from Cotterwood, and recaptured Nanny Town on more than one occasion. The Windward Maroons made overtures to join forces with Cudjoe towards the end of the 1730s. After the Windward Maroons signed a peace treaty with governor Edward Trelawny in 1740, Queen Nanny's Maroons abandoned Nanny Town, and resettled in New Nanny Town, which was eventually renamed Moore Town. [2]

Some of the original inhabitants left Cattawood in 1730 to join up with Cudjoe in Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town). According to one story, a group of one hundred men women and children went to join Cudjoe, and they were probably members of the group led by Captain Cuffee, who was one of Cudjoe's deputies at the signing of the 1739 peace treaty with the Leeward Maroons. They retained their name subsequently settling in Cotterwood in Saint Elizabeth Parish. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

Nanny Town Abandoned Maroon Village in Saint Thomas, Jamaica

Old Nanny Town was a village in the Blue Mountains of Portland Parish, north-eastern Jamaica, used as a stronghold of Jamaican Maroons. They were led in the early 18th century by an Ashanti escaped slave known as Granny Nanny, or Queen Nanny. The town held out against repeated British colonial attacks before being destroyed in 1734.

Accompong Place in St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica

Accompong is a historical Maroon village located in the hills of St. Elizabeth Parish on the island of Jamaica. It is located in Cockpit Country, where Jamaican Maroons and indigenous Taíno established a fortified stronghold in the hilly terrain in the 17th century. They defended it and maintained independence from the Spanish and then later against British forces, after the colony changed hands.

Nanny of the Maroons Leader of Windward Maroons in Jamaica

Queen Nanny, Granny Nanny or Nanny or Nanny of the Maroons, was an 18th-century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She led a community of formerly enslaved Africans called the Windward Maroons. In the early 18th century, under the leadership of Nanny, the Windward Maroons fought a guerrilla war over many years against British authorities in the Colony of Jamaica in what became known as the First Maroon War.

The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by slaves who escaped from their plantations to become mountain dwelling fugitives. The name "Maroon" was given to these fugitives, and for many years they harassed the British colonial Government of Jamaica. Having tasted freedom, these Maroons were determined, at any cost, to preserve it. Their major tactic may be described as the forerunner of modern guerilla warfare. It was followed about half a century later by the Second Maroon War.

Second Maroon War

The Second Maroon War of 1795–1796 was an eight-month conflict between the Maroons of Cudjoe's Town, a Maroon settlement later re-named after Governor Edward Trelawny at the end of First Maroon War, located near Trelawny Parish, Jamaica in the St James Parish, and the British colonials who controlled the island. The Windward communities of Jamaican Maroons remained neutral during this rebellion and their treaty with the British still remains in force. Accompong Town, however, sided with the colonial militias, and fought against Trelawny Town.

Cockpit Country Geographical Region in Trelawny, Jamaica

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Tackys War

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Jamaican Maroons descend from maroons, Africans who escaped from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established free communities in the mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Escaped Africans who were enslaved during Spanish rule over Jamaica (1493–1656) may have been the first to develop such refugee communities.

Major John Jarrett was a Jamaican Maroon leader of the Maroons of Cudjoe's Town in Jamaica. He was most likely named after a neighbouring planter with a similar surname.

Maroon Town, Jamaica

Maroon Town is a settlement in Jamaica. It has a population of 3122 as of 2009.

Moore Town, Jamaica

Moore Town is a Maroon settlement located in the Blue Mountains and John Crow Mountains of Portland, Jamaica, accessible by road from Port Antonio. The easternmost Maroon town, Moore Town is located in the eastern end of the parish. Formerly known as New Nanny Town, Moore Town was founded in 1740 when the Peace Treaty was signed between the British colonial authorities and the Windward Maroons. This treaty allotted the Moore Town Maroons 1000 acres, but Moore Town only received 500. In 1781 the initial 500 acres was augmented with another 500 acres, taking their communal land up to 1,000 acres.

Cudjoe, Codjoe or Captain Cudjoe, sometimes spelled Cudjo - corresponding to the Akan day name Kojo, Codjoe or Kwadwo – was a Maroon leader in Jamaica during the time of Nanny of the Maroons. In Twi, Cudjoe or Kojo is the name given to a boy born on a Monday. He has been described as "the greatest of the Maroon leaders."

Edward Trelawny was one of the early 18th century British Governors of Jamaica from April 1738 to September 1752. He is especially known for a treaty that ended the long war that pitted white planters against the Maroons.

Cudjoe's Town was located in the mountains in the southern extremities of the parish of St James, close to the border of Westmoreland, Jamaica.

Quao was one of the leaders of the Windward Maroons, who fought the British colonial forces of Jamaica to a standstill during the First Maroon War of the 1730s. The name Quao is probably a variation of Yaw, which is the Twi Akan name given to a boy born on a Thursday.

Cuffee was an escaped slave in Jamaica who led other runaway slaves to form a community in the island's forested interior, and they raided white plantation owners at the end of the eighteenth century. The name Cuffee is a variation of the Twi Akan name Kofi, which is the name given to a boy born on a Friday.

Andrew Smith was a Maroon officer from Cudjoe's Town. His brother, Charles Samuels, was also an officer from Trelawny Town, and both officers reported to Colonel Montague James.

Crawford's Town was one of the two main towns belonging to the Windward Maroons, who fought a guerrilla war of resistance against the British colonial forces of Jamaica during the First Maroon War of the 1730s.

Charles Town is one of four official towns of the Jamaican Maroons. It is located on Buff Bay River in Portland Parish.

Scott's Hall is one of the four official towns of the Jamaican Maroons. It is located in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica.

References

  1. A Dictionary of Jamaican English edited by F.G. Cassidy, R.B.Le Page accessed 18thFebruary 2007
  2. Bev Carey, The Maroon Story: The Authentic and Original History of the Maroons in the History of Jamaica 1490-1880 (Kingston, Jamaica: Agouti Press, 1997), pp. 117–257.
  3. The History of the Maroons from their Origin to the Establishment of their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone by Robert Charles Dallas, London 1802
  4. Siva, Michael (2018). After the Treaties: A Social, Economic and Demographic History of Maroon Society in Jamaica, 1739-1842 (PDF) (PhD). Southampton: Southampton University. pp. 44–5.