Origins
The story of the Black Maroons begins with the colonization of present-day Suriname by the English around 1650. To cultivate the land, the British brought slaves from Africa, before finally exchanging the nascent Suriname with the Dutch for New Amsterdam (present-day New York) twenty years later. The slaves already there, working mainly in the sugarcane fields, came under Dutch rule, supplying the booming European sugar market. While slaves' living conditions were obviously never enviable, it should be stressed that the Dutch colonial system, unlike the French system governed by a "code noir", was particularly harsh: masters were totally free to treat slaves as they saw fit, not hesitating to be severe, even cruel. This mistreatment became unbearable - some slaves committed suicide and even went so far as to kill their children to spare them a life of servitude - combined with a very good knowledge of the forests around the plantations where they worked, prompted some slaves to escape to regain their freedom: thus began marronnage.
Little by little, the phenomenon of individual marronnage became collective, and the escapees formed small clandestine bands, then true communities of free men. The so-called Bushinengués (from Bushi Nenge in Sranan, itself derived from Bos Negers in Dutch and Bush Negroes in English, literally meaning "bush negroes") also took advantage of a historical episode to make ends meet. In 1712, French admiral Jacques Cassard, commissioned by the metropolis to annex land, attempted to colonize Dutch Suriname. The balance of power led him to propose a capitation tax (per head of slaves) in exchange for his withdrawal from Suriname, a proposal accepted by Amsterdam. To reduce the tax and secure their workforce, the Dutch planters decided to temporarily send their slaves to the forest, with the intention of transferring them back to the plantations once the storm had passed. But many slaves, who knew the forests of the interior inside out, took advantage of the windfall to escape and join the Maroon communities that had already been formed.
From simple isolated phenomena, cases of marronage developed throughout the 18th century into a gigantic wave of desertion, provoking a reaction from the Dutch authorities. The planters themselves, supported by the colonial army, began to track down the escapees and bring them back to the plantations. As a result, a full-scale war soon broke out between the Bushinengués and the colonial powers. The Maroons, generally settled in inaccessible areas of the interior (forests and rivers), organized themselves. Some of them did not hesitate to return to the plantations to free their women and children, but also to collect weapons. The six different communities formed at the time are the same as those found in Suriname today: Matawaïs, Alukus (later Bonis), Kwintis, Saramacas, N'djukas (or Aucas) and Paramacas. These true warriors mastered their environment perfectly and carried out repeated attacks, so much so that the colonists, who nevertheless wished to maintain their remaining slaves on the plantations, proposed peace treaties to the Maroons, which led to the legal constitution of autonomous Maroon communities. The N'djukas were the first to sign this treaty - the Treaty of Auca - in 1760, becoming the first black people on American soil to gain independence, soon followed by the Saramacas.
The case of the Boni
However, not all Black Maroon communities chose the peace treaty with the Dutch. Indeed, some clauses of these treaties required the pacified Maroons to collaborate with the colonial authorities by helping them to track down new escapees, but also by refusing to integrate any new deserters into their communities. The Bonis refused to do so and, led by the chief, left Suriname in 1776. The chief in question is none other than Boni himself: born in the forest within the Aluku community (named after the first chief), he grows up there and comes to know the Amazon territory to perfection. His self-confidence and charisma quickly made him a natural leader and he became both a community leader and a spiritual leader, giving him a strong warrior identity. Having refused to collaborate with the Dutch, the Bonis crossed the Maroni River and settled in French Guiana, which triggered fierce controversy in French territory.
Opinions diverge: on the one hand, some think that France lacks manpower at that time and that integrating these Maroons in the plantations would allow them to integrate; on the other hand, the Bonis are perceived as dangerous men with whom no communication is possible. The problem was all the more thorny as French Guyana also had Black Maroons with whom it did not know where to stand. In 1786, the Guyanese administrators decided to send missionaries up the Maroni River to negotiate a peace agreement with the Boni and to offer them work on the plantations. Boni returned to Suriname three years later to free slaves, triggering a new war between the Bonis and the Dutch authorities. The war ended with the death of the Bushinengué leader around 1793. It was not until 1848 and the abolition of slavery in France that relations between Black Maroons and the Guyanese authorities became normalized.
The Black Maroons today
In 2014, the Bushinengue population was estimated at around 194,000: 126,000 on the Surinamese side and 68,000 in French Guiana. The largest communities are the Saramacas (82,500, including 57,500 in Suriname) and the Djukas or N'djuka (also 82,500, including 56,000 in Suriname), followed by the Alukus or Bonis (10,800, exclusively in French Guiana) and the Paramaracas (10,300, equally distributed on both sides of the border), then come the Matawaïs (6,800, exclusively in Suriname), and finally the Kwintis (950 members, in Suriname alone). The Saramacas speak Saamaka, a creole with a Portuguese lexical base mixed with Akan (a West African dialect), which has much in common with the language spoken by the Matawaïs; while the N'djukas, Paramaracas and Bonis use an English-based creole to which European and Amerindian elements have been added. The closely related languages of these last three communities are grouped together under the term nege-tongo or bushi-tongo. Sranan tongo, one of Suriname's official languages, was forged by the slaves who did not escape, and is the common language used by the Black Maroons.
Social organization
While each community has its own particular ways of functioning and beliefs, they all share a common type of social organization. The matriarchal Bushinengé world is divided into two social categories: masculine and feminine. They must never be confused, as the Black Maroons consider women to be powerful beings capable of weakening the power of men. Daily life is therefore organized according to a strict division of tasks: the men, equipped with rifles (the embodiment of their virility, power and scope of responsibility), feed the group by hunting and fishing. The women are in charge of the household, as well as cultivating and harvesting fruit, vegetables and roots. They may have several houses built by their husbands, and the man may have several wives as long as he can support them all: he must be able to house them, provide them with food and medical care, etc.
Paternal authority is not exercised by the father, but by the eldest maternal uncle, as recognition of the child by the father is not encouraged. Young boys are therefore taught by their uncle, who teaches them about the forest, how to set nets in creeks, and all the techniques of canoeing, using the paddle and takari. Today, motors have replaced physical strength, but steering a canoe in a jump still requires dexterity that cannot be improvised. Young boys must also be able to make their own toys by the age of 7, benches by 14 and a canoe by 20. His apprenticeship ends with the construction of his future wife's house, symbolizing his accession to adult status. Among the Wayana, a rite of passage to adulthood has young men imprisoning wasps or ants inside a small wickerwork box, stings visible, which is then moved along the body. To become an adult, the young man must endure the pain without a scream.
Traditional functioning of a Bushinengue village
At the entrance to each village is theassampau, a sort of leaf portal believed to ward off evil spirits. A Gaan-lo (tribe) functions according to a hierarchy established as follows: the Graanman is the leader and supreme authority of the tribe; the chief captain is the regional representative of the Graanman; the captain is the representative of a large family of higher order and may also be the chief of a village; the basia is the representative of all the families of a village and is the direct assistant of the captain or chief captain.
As for village activities, arts and crafts play an important role in daily life. The Saramaca people have an innate talent for decorative art, imprinting objects with highly symmetrical shapes. Bodies are also decorated, through a type of scarification called Kambamba, which consists of small cuts made on the skin of the face - notably around the mouth - and between the breasts, following a precise pattern. The Saramaca also have a tradition of braiding hair using ancient methods (the hairstyles all have different names and meanings). Agriculture, and more specifically slash-and-burn farming, is widespread, with ashes used as fertilizer. Around the Black Maroon villages, crops of rice, sweet potatoes, tobacco, cocoa, bananas and, above all, manioc, one of the main staples of the Bushinengué diet, can be found.
