Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Maroon, a subject that deserves attention

When people are enslaved, they will do whatever it takes, whatever possible, to escape. Once they escape, they have to survive and remain free.

The Maroon are the Africans brought as slaves to America that escaped. Who had to build a life, a society in the jungles, the remote parts of what was a different world.

When the slaves in Suriname were made free in 1863, there were several different people living in the jungle. There are the Ndyuka, the Saramaka, the Matawai among others. All of them have their own culture, language and history.

When you read the history of the Maroon on Wikipedia, their stories are linked to the present day countries. There are however many clues that indicate that these borders are artificial; one of the languages is a creole of Portuguese or English or a war where some of the major players left Suriname and continued their struggle in French Guiana.

A visitor of the Maroon exhibition of the Tropenmuseum will get much information about these people. The book that goes with the exhibition will bring even more depth to this subject. The Tropenmuseum welcomes more attention to the subject of the Maroon on Wikipedia, people who are interested in writing on this subject can have access to the museum and, for those who demonstrate an effort on the subject a copy of the book may be available.
Thanks,
GerardM

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