Accompong

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Accompong
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = JAM
subdivision_type1 = Parish
subdivision_name1 = St. Elizabeth Parish
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latd= 18|latm= 14|lats= |latNS=N
longd=77|longm=45 |longs= |longEW=W
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Accompong is a historical maroon village, located in the hills of St. Elizabeth Parish in Jamaica, consolidated by a treaty in 1739. [http://www.jnht.com/heritage_site.php?id=272 "Accompong" Jamaican National Heritage Trust] ;] It is located in one of the two areas where runaway slaves settled, originally with the Tainos, isolated enough to be safe first from the Spanish and then later from the British. The town of Accompong was named after the Maroon leader Accompong, who was the brother of a number of other Maroon leaders: Quao, Cuffy, Cudjoe, and Nanny, from an Ashanti family.

History

In Accompong Town, rebel slaves and their descendants wrested land from the colonial plantation-military regime and transformed a marginal mountainous reservation, imposed by a colonial legal treaty, into a sacred landscape rooted in common land. [http://www.jlp.bham.ac.uk/volumes/43/besson-art.pdf Folk Law and Legal Pluralism in Jamaica] by Jean Besson]

Cudjoe (also Kojo), [http://www.folklife.si.edu/resources/maroon/educational_guide/63.htm Wright, M. L. (1992) "The Accompong Town Maroons: Past and Present" "1992 Festival of American Folklife catalogue" Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage of the Smithsonian Institution] ;] a leader of the Maroons, is said to have united the Maroons in their fight for autonomy under the Kindah Tree - a huge, ancient mango tree that is still standing (2006). [http://africanaxis.org/diasporanews6_en.htm Myers, Garfield (8 January 2006) "Maroons hold 'mother of all celebrations' at 268th annual festival" "African Axis"] ;] Accompong was founded in 1739 after the Maroons signed a peace treaty with the British at nearby "Peace Cave". The treaty granted the Maroons their long sought autonomy. However a second Maroon war broke out in 1795. The Accompong Maroons remained neutral and the British left them alone. At the end of the war all the other Maroon settlements in Jamaica were destroyed, Accompong alone remained. [ [http://www.jamlib.org.jm/steliza_history.htm "Parish Information:Accompong" St. Elizabeth Parish Library] ;]

The fruitful Kindah Tree itself, with its sign proclaiming “We are Family”, symbolizes the common kinship of the corporate creole community on its common land. In the 1990s the Myal Dance became a tourist attraction and a symbol of Jamaican nationhood, forged through a history of conflict and alliance. [http://www.jlp.bham.ac.uk/volumes/43/besson-art.pdf Folk Law and Legal Pluralism in Jamaica] by Jean Besson]

Culture

The inhabitants of Accompong share practices and a culture similar to their African culture originating 200-300 years ago. Every January 6 (Cudjoe’s birthday) at Accompong, descendants and friends of the Maroons come together at a festival in celebration of the treaty. [http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20070107T210000-0500_117619_OBS_MAROONS_UNITE_IN_DEFENCE_OF_COCKPIT_COUNTRY.asp Myers, Garfield (8 January 2007) "Maroons unite in defence of Cockpit Country" "The Jamaica Observer] ;] In 2007, the festival took on a more political flavor, as attenders protested increased bauxite mining.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.accompongtown.com/ Accompong Town] Site appears to be permanently off-line
* [http://www.rootzreggae.com/StElizabeth.htm ROOTZVIEW]
* [http://www.accompong.info/ Pro bono replacement website for Accompong Town]