Saramacca

The Saramacca people are one of six Maroon communities found in Surinam in the South American hemisphere. The Maroons of Surinam have the distinction of being the only Maroons to have maintained themselves as politically and culturally autonomous communities in the Americas up to this day. Indeed, unlike Maroon communities in other parts of the Americas, such as Brazil, for example, the Maroons of Surinam have managed to perdure and carry on their traditions. There are about 60,000 Maroons in Surinam, with the Saramacca numbering approximately 25,000. In addition to the Saramacca, the other Maroon communities include the Djuka, the Matawai, the Aluku (also known as Boni), the Paramacca, and the Kwinti.

Surinam, formerly known as Dutch Guiana, was invaded in 1651 by the British, who set up a plantation economy based on chattel slavery and the production of sugar, a typical development in South and Central America at that time. In 1667, however, the Dutch successfully seized Surinam from the British and proceeded to expand the production of sugar, with the massive and constant introduction of Africans. In fact, the high mortality rate among enslaved Africans, which could not be compensated for due to a low birth rate and which was due primarily to the atrociousness of slavery and the extremely harsh life conditions that enslaved Africans experienced, rendered necessary the uninterrupted arrival of men, women, and children from the African continent. With them, those men, women, and children brought their culture, including, of course, African religion. The culture of the Maroons of Surinam is often cited by scholars as the most obviously and unmistakably African culture of the Americas. Interestingly, and as a preliminary example, one of the Saramacca villages is called Dahomey, the name of a powerful kingdom in West Africa. Also, the Creole language spoken by the Saramacca is tonal, a characteristic phonological feature of African languages. About 30% of the Africans taken into bondage in Surinam came from Central Africa, with the remaining 70% originating in West Africa.

Africans started escaping from plantations as soon as they were brought into Surinam, that is, in 1651. The Saramacca probably started coalescing, as a community, in 1690, when a large number of Africans escaped together. In 1728, the Saramacca, as well as other Maroon communities that had come then into existence as well, began to raid plantations in an attempt to obtain weapons, tools, and women. The Dutch attempted to fight back and crush the Maroons, whose frequent attacks had made their life quite difficult, if not impossible. However, they were unsuccessful and opted for peace treaties with the Maroons starting in 1760. Those peace treaties, among other things, acknowledged Maroon communities as sovereign nations, totally independent from the plantations. When slavery was finally abolished in Surinam, in 1863, the Maroons maintained their autonomy and continued to live in a fair amount of isolation in the interior of the country.

The Saramacca are organized in lo, that is, matrilinear clans. Members of a lo trace their ancestry back to a common woman ancestor. Each Saramacca village coincides with a given lo. It has [Page 594]its own leader and council. However, above the villages and the lo presides the Granman. The Granman is regarded as the king of the Saramacca people. He also functions as a high priest. He is assisted in his functions by a council of elders, who act as the formal government of the Saramacca people.

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