Maroon

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Maroon is a color mixture composed of brown and purple. Although conceptually a color mixture, it can be regarded as a dark (and possibly also desaturated) shade of red. Derived from French marron ("chestnut"), it didn't become a color-word in English until ca. 1791.

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A Maroon (from the word marronage or cimarrón) was a runaway slave. Eventually, the terms was generalized to include any slave or any group of slaves that had rebelled or escaped from their owners. Individual groups of Maroons often joined with indigenous tribes. Characteristics of the various cultural groups differ widely because of difference in history, geography, African origin, and the culture of Indigenous people throughout the Western hemisphere. Populations of Maroons are found north from the Amazon river Basin to the American states of Florida and North Carolina. Maroons played an important role in the histories of Brazil, Suriname, and Jamaica. Maroon settlements often possess a clannish, outsider identity.

Slaves began running away into the jungle as soon as slavery was introduced to the Americas. Indigenous tribes provided a new home and community to those separated from their own tribes in Africa. Maroons are an example of successful resistance to slavery.

A name for a Maroon village is a palenque. The palenqueros developed a Creole language mixing Spanish and their African languages. One Maroon Creole language in Suriname is Montreal Maroons were a professional ice hockey team, in existence from 1924 to 1938, with a final record of 271-260-91, and were Stanley Cup champions in 1926 and again in 1935.

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The Chicago Maroon is the independent student newspaper of the University of Chicago, in publication since 1892.

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A maroon is a type of rocket which makes a loud banging report. It is used, for example, in the United Kingdom by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to call the crew when the lifeboat needs to be launched.

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See marooning for the act of leaving someone on a desert island.

Caribbean were called maroons. They created their owned communities that survived for years. The Islands offered isolation in the jungle for maroons. Maroons were formed in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. As forests were cut down to expand plantations the maroon?s communities disappeared. Jamaica maroons were creoles, born in Jamaica, Arawak and Miskito people from Central America. Maroons fought against slavery and for Jamaican Independence from the British. One African tradition that they withheld is maroon ceremony for healing. They use medical herbs along with a special rhythm, with drums and dance, when the herbs were administered to a sick person. Maroons survived by growing vegetables and hunting. Also, they raided plantations, destroying cane fields and stealing food, livestock and female slaves. Later, the governor signed a treaty promising the maroons 2500 acres in two locations, because they presented a treat to the British. Also, maroons kept their freedom by agreeing to capture runaway slaves. They were paid two dollars for each slave returned. A famous female maroon was Nanny. She was the only female among Jamaica national heroes. She possessed a spirit of courage that?s usually seen in males. Nanny was leader of the maroon in the 18th.century.The Jamaican community has immortalized her in songs and legends. She was particularly important in the First Maroon war in the early 1700s. She was known for her exceptional leadership skills in one instance, she planned guerrilla warfare that confused the British.