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58-548: Accompong (from the Akan name Acheampong ) is a historical Maroon village located in the hills of St. Elizabeth Parish on the island of Jamaica . It is located in Cockpit Country , where Jamaican Maroons and Indigenous Taíno established a fortified stronghold in the hilly terrain in the 17th century. They defended it and maintained independence from the Spanish and then later

116-559: A Trelawny Town Maroon officer named Lewis. James instructed Accompong that he had authority only over Accompong Town. Accompong seems to have died in the decade that followed. After Cudjoe and Accompong died, control of the Leeward Maroon towns passed to white superintendents, who were appointed by the governor to supervise the Maroon towns. In 1773 it was reported that the white superintendent had appointed Maroon captains Crankey and Muncko as

174-591: A black slave to flog the two Maroons, and the humiliation provoked outrage in Trelawny Town. For half a century, the Maroons had been hunting runaway slaves, and while Campbell was being whipped, other imprisoned slaves jeered them. When 6 Maroon leaders, led by Montague James and including Major Jarrett , came to the British to present their grievances, the British took them as prisoners. They were acting under orders from

232-401: A bloody stalemate. The British fielded 5,000 troops and militia, which outnumbered the Maroons ten to one, but the mountainous and forested topography of Jamaica proved ideal for guerrilla warfare. The Maroon officers who fought a guerrilla campaign against the British included Leonard Parkinson, James Palmer, Andrew Smith (Maroon) , John Jarrett, and Charles Samuels (Maroon) . Alexander Forbes,

290-594: A bounty of two dollars each. This last clause in the treaty caused tension between the Maroons and the enslaved Black population. From time to time refugees from the plantations continued to find their way to maroon settlements and were sometimes allowed to stay. However, Accompong Maroons earned an income from hunting runaways on behalf of neighbouring planters. After the treaty, Cudjoe ruled Trelawny Town, while his brother-in-arms, Accompong, ruled Accompong Town. In 1751, planter Thomas Thistlewood recorded meeting Accompong, whom he called 'Capt. Compoon'. The planter described

348-569: A common orthography for all of Akan, which is used as the medium of instruction in primary school . The Akan language is recognized for literacy, from at least the lower primary level (primary 1–3). Akan languages are studied at several major universities in the United States, including Ohio University , Ohio State University , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Harvard University , Boston University , Indiana University , University of Michigan , and The University of Florida . Akan has been

406-422: A first or second language, and about 44% of Ghanaians are native speakers . Akan is also spoken across the border in parts of Côte d'Ivoire . Three dialects were developed as literary standards with distinct orthographies : Asante and Akuapem , collectively known as Twi , and Fante . Despite being mutually intelligible , they were inaccessible in written form to speakers of the other standards until

464-411: A form of vowel harmony with the root of the tongue. Akan has three phonemic tones, high (/H/), mid (/M/), and low (/L/). Initial syllable may only be high or low . The phonetic pitch of the three tones depends on their environment, often being lowered after other tones, producing a steady decline known as tone terracing . /H/ tones have the same pitch as a preceding /H/ or /M/ tone within

522-570: A guerrilla war to secure the independence of Free Black people in Jamaica against the British. Hostilities were finally ended by a treaty between the two groups in 1739, signed under British governor Edward Trelawny . It granted Cudjoe's Maroons 1500 acres of land between their strongholds of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) and Accompong in the Cockpits. While the treaty granted this land to Trelawny Town, it did not recognize Accompong Town. In 1756, following

580-467: A land dispute between Maroons from Accompong Town and neighbouring planters, the Assembly specifically granted Accompong Town an additional 1,000 acres of land. The treaty also granted the Maroons a certain amount of political autonomy and economic freedoms, in return for their providing military support in case of invasion or rebellion. They also had to agree to return runaway slaves, for which they were paid

638-468: A minor issue being blown up into a full-scale guerrilla war. On the other hand, Trelawny Town did not receive any support from the Windward Maroon towns of Moore Town , Charles Town (Jamaica) and Scott's Hall, Jamaica , while the other Leeward Maroon town of Accompong Town even took up arms on behalf of the colonial authorities against Trelawny Town. The war lasted for eight months and ended in

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696-755: A month of arriving with the Jamaican Maroons in Sierra Leone . After slavery was abolished in 1838, the Jamaican colonial authorities imported labourers from Sierra Leone, and among that number were scores of Trelawny Town Maroons. Among those who returned was Peter Campbell, whose flogging had sparked the Second Maroon War. These Returned Maroons established themselves in nearby Flagstaff, and their descendants are still there today. Hundreds of runaway slaves secured their freedom by escaping and fighting alongside

754-415: A number of sugar estates in western Jamaica. The casualties suffered by the colonial militias were higher than those suffered by the Maroons. There were a number of engagements between the Maroons and the British forces for the remaining months of 1795, during which the British suffered between 8-12 killed or wounded in each skirmish. No final figure was given for the total losses for the British. However,

812-637: A peace treaty with the British in 1739. Since independence in 1962, the government of Jamaica has continued to recognize the Indigenous rights of the Jamaican Maroons in this area. Accompong is run by a chief who is elected by voting. The current chief is Chief Richard Currie. In the 18th century, Maroon leader Cudjoe is said to have united his people under the Kindah Tree, as they struggled for autonomy. This

870-576: A regular African language of study in the annual Summer Cooperative African Languages Institute (SCALI) program. The Akan language is studied in these universities as a bachelor or masters program. The Akan peoples use a common Akan (Ghana) naming system of giving the first name to a child, based on the day of the week that the child was born. Almost all the tribes and clans in Ghana have a similar custom. Second Maroon War [REDACTED] British Empire The Second Maroon War of 1795–1796

928-462: A rich literature in proverbs, folktales, and traditional drama, as well as a new literature in dramas, short stories, and novels. This literature began to be documented in written form in the late 1800s. Later, Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia collected a number of proverbs and folktales, including Funeral Dirges of the Akan People (1969), Folk Songs of Ghana (1963), and Akan Poetry (1958). Some of

986-526: A silver medal wherein." Accompong also had "ear rings, and on each of his fingers...rings of silver," but that he still went barefoot. In the 1760s, the Maroons of Accompong Town played a significant role in suppressing rebellions inspired by Tacky's War in western Jamaica. Captain Quashee, reporting to superintendent John Kelly, and his Maroon warriors captured a number of rebel slaves. Some historians believe that there were no official records of Accompong after

1044-462: A traditional form of village government drawn from their Akan ( Asante ) culture, based on men popularly recognized as leaders. The executive is now called "Colonel-in-Chief", who leads the Maroon Council . These men share executive responsibilities for the community. Since Jamaica gained independence in 1962, it has recognised the political and cultural rights of Maroons. In the early 21st century,

1102-478: Is raised in pitch but the final /H/ is still lowered. Thus /HMH/ and /HLH/ are pronounced with distinct but very similar pitches. After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep . This syllable is usually stressed. Akan forms some plural nouns by adding the prefixes 'm' or 'n' to the original word and removing the first sound of the noun. Example include nouns like abofra (child), which forms its plural by removing

1160-727: The Akan Orthography Committee (AOC)'s development of a common Akan orthography in 1978, based mainly on Akuapem dialect . As the first Akan variety to be used for Bible translation, Akuapem had become the prestige dialect. With the Atlantic slave trade , Akan languages were introduced to the Caribbean and South America , notably in Suriname , spoken by the Ndyuka , and in Jamaica , spoken by

1218-584: The British , after the colony changed hands. Accompong is reportedly named after the son of Miguel Reid, the first African Maroon leader in western Jamaica originally from Ghana and allegedly the first leader of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) . This would make Accompong brother to Kojo or Cudjoe , and possibly Cuffee, Quaco and Nanny of the Maroons. Accompong Town was reportedly built by Kojo who assigned his Brother Accompong to watch over it. After years of raiding and warfare, they established their autonomy, self-government and recognition as an Indigenous people by

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1276-620: The Cuban coast, victorious) (off the Southern U.S. coast, victorious) ( Indian Territory , suppressed) (Spanish Cuba , suppressed) (South Carolina, suppressed) The treaty signed in December between Walpole and the Maroon leaders established that the Maroons would beg on their knees for the King's forgiveness, return all runaway slaves, and be relocated elsewhere in Jamaica. The governor of Jamaica ratified

1334-655: The Jamaican Maroons , also known as the Coromantee . The cultures of the descendants of escaped slaves in the interior of Suriname and the Maroons in Jamaica still retain Akan influences, including the Akan naming practice of naming children after the day of the week on which they are born, e.g. Akwasi/Kwasi for a boy or Akosua for a girl born on a Sunday. In Jamaica and Suriname, the Anansi spider stories are still well-known. In history,

1392-728: The 'ab' from the word and adding 'mm' to form its plural: mmofra (children). Same goes for aboa (animal) to mmoa (animals), abusua (family) to mmusua (families), abirekyie (goat) to mmirekyie (goats) etc. in the Asante dialect. The nouns which use the 'n' prefix include; adaka (box) to nnaka (boxes), adanko (rabbit) to nnanko (rabbits), aduro (medicine) to nnuro (medicines), atare (dress) to ntare (dresses), odwan (sheep) to nnwan (sheep plural), aduane (food) to nnuane (food plural), kraman (dog) to nkraman (dogs), kanea (light) to nkanea (lights), safoa (key) to nsafoa (keys). Akan can create plural nouns by adding

1450-507: The 1750s. However, there is evidence that Accompong tried to take over Trelawny Town in the mid-1760s. The treaty of 1739 named Accompong as Cudjoe's successor. When Cudjoe died in 1764, Accompong tried to take control of Trelawny Town. The governor, Roger Hope Elletson, asserted authority over the Leeward Maroons. Elletson instructed Superintendent John James to take the Trelawny Town badge of authority away from Accompong, and to give it to

1508-469: The Accompong captain's head. Militia colonel William Fitch , newly arrived in Jamaica, ignored the advice of his experienced Maroon trackers. He led his forces into a Trelawny Town ambush; their warriors killed Fitch, many members of the white militia, and a number of Accompong warriors. During the course of the Second Maroon War, the Maroons of Accompong broke up a longstanding settlement of runaway slaves in

1566-798: The Akans in Ghana makes it an area of research for various disciplines such as folklore, literary studies, linguistics , anthropology and history. Akan is a dialect continuum that is closely related to the Bia languages , the other Central Tano languages spoken by the Akan people . The relationships of the major Akan dialects are as follows: Brong (Bono) Wasa Asante Akuapem Fante Ethnologue reports that Brong and Wasa have limited mutual intelligibility with each other, and so may be considered separate languages, though Dolphyne reports that they are mutually intelligible with at least neighboring dialects of

1624-599: The Akans who live in Ghana migrated in successive waves between the 11th and 18th centuries. Others inhabit the eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire and parts of Togo . They migrated from the north to occupy the forest and coastal areas in the south in the 13th century. The Akans have a strong oral history tradition of their past and they're also known in the art history world for symbolic artifacts of wood, metal and terracotta. Their cultural ideas are expressed in stories and proverbs and also in designs such as symbols used in carvings and on clothes. The cultural and historic nature of

1682-426: The British casualties were believed to be in the hundreds. When General George Walpole employed a scorched-earth strategy against Trelawny Town, the Maroons found they had difficulty getting access to food, water, and ammunition as the dry season began at the end of the year. When Governor Balcarres imported some one hundred bloodhounds and their handlers from Cuba, Montague James and his lieutenants saw this as

1740-633: The British colonial authorities against Trelawny Town. During this period, the de facto leadership of Accompong Town was held by its white superintendent, Alexander Forbes, who ensured that the Accompong Maroons remained loyal to the British colonial administration. Accompong Town suffered losses in the Second Maroon War. When Maroon Captain Chambers was sent to Trelawny Town to secure their surrender, Captain James Palmer of Trelawny Town shot him and cut off

1798-556: The British still remains in force. Accompong Town, however, sided with the colonial militias, and fought against Trelawny Town. The Maroons of Trelawny Town felt that they were being mistreated under the terms of Cudjoe 's Treaty of 1739, which ended the First Maroon War . The spark of the war was when two Maroons, one named Peter Campbell, were found guilty of stealing two pigs by a court in Montego Bay . The court then ordered

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1856-584: The Cockpit Country called the Congo Settlement, which had been formed in the 1770s. Many of the survivors of this community went on to fight on the side of Trelawny Town in the Second Maroon War. Accompong Town backed the winning side. After the Maroons of Trelawny Town were deported to Nova Scotia , the colonial authorities granted Accompong the sole rights to hunt runaway slaves. But the Accompong Maroons were unsuccessful in attempts to disperse or capture

1914-407: The Maroon leader as "about my size, in a Ruffled Shirt, Blue Broad Cloth Coat, Scarlet Cuffs to his Sleeves, gold buttons...and Black Hatt, White linen Breeches puff’d at the knee, no stockings or shoes on". In 1755, Zacharias Caries wrote in his diary that when he met Accompong, the Maroon leader wore "an embroidered waistcoat, gold lace around his hat, a silver chain about his neck to which was hung

1972-417: The Maroons adapted to local conditions. Accompong Town converted to Christianity during the Second Maroon War, before eventually embracing Presbyterianism. However, by the 1850s, the traditions of Revival and Pentecostalism grew out of the merging of West African religions with Christianity. Descendants of the Maroons and friends celebrate annually on 6 January both the birthday of Cudjoe, leader in 1739, and

2030-480: The Maroons of Trelawny Town. The runaways fighting on the side of Trelawny Town may have outnumbered the Trelawny Maroons warriors. About half of these runaways surrendered with the Maroons, and many were executed or re-sold in slavery to Cuba. However, a few hundred stayed out in the forests of the Cockpit Country, and they joined other unofficial maroon communities. In 1798, a slave named Cuffee ran away from

2088-590: The Trelawny Town Maroons to Nova Scotia . Walpole was disgusted with the governor's actions, pointing out that he had given the Maroons his word that they would not be transported off the island. Walpole resigned his commission, and went back to England, where he became an MP and protested in vain in the House of Commons how Balcarres had behaved in a duplicitous and dishonest way with the Maroons. However, Secretary of War Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville , supported

2146-511: The context of the vowel /i/ . These sounds do occur before other vowels, such as /a/ , though in most cases not commonly. In Asante, /ɡu/ followed by a vowel is pronounced /ɡʷ/ , but in Akuapem it remains /ɡu/ . The sequence /nh/ is pronounced [ŋŋ̊] . A word final /k/ can be heard as a glottal stop [ʔ] . There is also a nasalization of /h/ and of /j w/ as [h̃] and [j̃ w̃] , when occurring before nasal vowels. The transcriptions in

2204-534: The government has acknowledged these rights in terms of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), including the "right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions." It also acknowledges the "right for self-government in matters relating to local affairs," as well as "ways and means for financing autonomous functions". In 2009 Ferron Williams

2262-440: The governor's decision to deport the Maroons. In 1796, about 581 Trelawny Maroons were transported to Nova Scotia, but another 58 stayed behind in Jamaica, and either forged careers as free persons of colour, or joined Accompong Town. During the ship's voyage 17 Maroons died. During the first winter between 1796 and 1797, which was a bitter one, another 19 Maroons died. During this winter, another five Maroons were born, and in 1797

2320-446: The important authors in the language are A. A. Opoku (dramatist), E. J. Osew (dramatist), K. E. Owusu (novelist), and R. A. Tabi (dramatist and novelist). The Bureau of Ghana Languages has been unable to continue printing novels in the language, and the following are out of print: Obreguo, Okrabiri, Afrakoma, Obeede, Fia Tsatsala, and Ku Di Fo Nanawu . In 1978 the AOC established

2378-1387: The last straw, and accepted Walpole's overtures for peace. The Maroons had the better of the skirmishes, so they only laid down their arms and surrendered in December 1795 on condition they would not be deported. Walpole gave the Maroons his word that they would not be transported off the island. ( Santo Domingo ) ( Spanish Florida , victorious) ( Real Audiencia of Panama , New Spain , suppressed) ( Veracruz , New Spain , victorious) ( New Spain , suppressed) ( New Spain , suppressed) ( British Province of New York , suppressed) (British Jamaica , victorious) (British Chesapeake Colonies , suppressed) ( Louisiana , New France , suppressed) ( Danish Saint John , suppressed) (British Province of South Carolina , suppressed) (British Province of New York , suppressed) (British Jamaica , suppressed) (British Montserrat , suppressed) (British Bahamas , suppressed) ( Louisiana , New Spain , suppressed) ( Louisiana , New Spain , suppressed) (Dutch Curaçao , suppressed) ( Virginia , suppressed) ( St. Simons Island , Georgia , victorious) ( Virginia , suppressed) ( Territory of Orleans , suppressed) (Spanish Cuba , suppressed) (Virginia, suppressed) (British Barbados , suppressed) ( South Carolina , suppressed) ( Cuba , suppressed) (Virginia, suppressed) ( British Jamaica , suppressed) (off

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2436-483: The new governor, Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres , who wrongly believed that the French had infected the Maroons with their revolutionary spirit. Balcarres completely mishandled the dispute, which could have been resolved without conflict, but he ignored the advice of local planters, and ordered his forces to put down the Maroons of Trelawny Town. Fighting began in mid-August. The governor's combative approach led to

2494-603: The officers reporting to him in Accompong Town. Accompong Town's population grew from 85 in 1740 to 119 in 1770, to 159 in 1788. When the Second Maroon War broke out in 1795, the Maroons of Trelawny Town took up arms against the British colonial authorities, but the Accompong Maroons under the nominal leadership of Maroon Captain John Foster swore allegiance to the British. The Maroons of Accompong Town fought on behalf of

2552-559: The population of Accompong Town was 238, but it almost doubled to 436 in 1841. The Accompong Maroons played a significant role in helping the colonial militia of Sir Willoughby Cotton to put down the Christmas Rebellion of 1831–2, also known as the Baptist War , led by Samuel Sharpe . In 1739 the Maroon community was granted certain rights and autonomy by treaty with the British colonial authorities. In two settlements, they set up

2610-412: The rest of Akan. The Akan dialects contain extensive palatalization , vowel harmony , and tone terracing . Before front vowels , all Asante consonants are palatalized (or labio-palatalized ), and the stops are to some extent affricated . The allophones of /n/ are quite complex. In the table below, palatalized allophones which involve more than minor phonetic palatalization are specified, in

2668-472: The runaway community of Cuffee . Soon the colonial authorities reinstated slave hunting rights to the Windward Maroons. When Cuffee's group faded from the colonial records, other refugee slaves established a Maroon community in Cockpit Country in 1812. The community of Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come also resisted attempts by the Accompong Maroons and the colonial militias to disperse them in the 1820s. In 1808,

2726-405: The same tonic phrase, whereas /M/ tones have a lower pitch. That is, the sequences /HH/ and /MH/ have a level pitch, whereas the sequences /HM/ and /MM/ have a falling pitch. /H/ is lowered ( downstepped ) after a /L/. /L/ is the default tone, which emerges in situations such as reduplicated prefixes. It is always at bottom of the speaker's pitch range, except in the sequence /HLH/, in which case it

2784-565: The seven-vowel orthography, and five nasal vowels, which are not represented at all. All fourteen were distinguished in the Gold Coast alphabet of the colonial era. A tongue-root distinction in orthographic a is only found in some subdialects of Fante, but not in the literary form; in Asante and Akuapem there are harmonic allophones of /a/ , but neither is ATR. The two vowels written e ( /e/ and /i̙/ ) and o ( /o/ and /u̙/ ) are often not distinguished in pronunciation. Akan vowels engage in

2842-525: The suffix nom to the original word. Examples include; agya (father) to agyanom (fathers), nana (grandparent/grandchild) to nananom (grandparents/grandchildren), nua (sibling) to nuanom (siblings), yere (wife) to yerenom (wives). Some Akan nouns are the same in both singular and plural. Nouns such as nkyene (salt), ani (eye), sika (money), etc., are written the same in both singular and plural. The letters C, J, Q, V, X and Z are also used, but only in loanwords . The Akan languages have

2900-561: The surgeon John Oxley counted 550 Maroons in Nova Scotia. After a few years the Maroons were upset with the poor accommodation in Canada. Led by Montague James, the Maroons asked to be transported to the new British settlement of Sierra Leone in West Africa . The British government eventually agreed, and the Maroons travelled to Freetown at the start of the nineteenth century. Palmer died within

2958-583: The tables below are in the order / phonemic /, [ phonetic ]. Note that orthographic ⟨dw⟩ is ambiguous; in textbooks, ⟨dw⟩ = /ɡ/ may be distinguished from /dw/ with a diacritic: d̩w . Likewise, velar ⟨nw⟩ ( ŋw ) may be transcribed n̩w . Orthographic ⟨nu⟩ is palatalized [ɲᶣ] . The Akan dialects have fourteen to fifteen vowels: four to five "tense" vowels ( advanced tongue root ; +ATR or -RTR), five "lax" vowels ( retracted tongue root , +RTR or -ATR), which are not entirely contrastively represented by

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3016-416: The treaty that granted their autonomy. In 2007, attendees at the festival protested increased bauxite mining, in an effort to protect the environment of their region. Akan language Akan ( / ə ˈ k æ n / ) is the largest language of Ghana , and the principal native language of the Akan people , spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana. About 80% of Ghana's population speak Akan as

3074-404: The treaty, but gave the Maroons only three days to present themselves to beg forgiveness on 1 January 1796. Suspicious of British intentions, most of the Maroons did not surrender until mid-March, by which time the conflict had proved to be very costly to the island, and resulted in the ruin of many plantations and estates. Balcarres used the contrived breach of treaty as a pretext to deport most of

3132-490: The white superintendent of Accompong Town, sent an Accompong Maroon officer, Captain Chambers, to Trelawny Town to persuade them to surrender, but Palmer shot Chambers and cut off his head. Colonel William Fitch mobilised his forces, which included Accompong warriors, to attack Trelawny Town. However, Fitch did not follow the advice of his Accompong trackers, and he led them into a Trelawny ambush, which resulted in 18 deaths, including those of two Accompong trackers. Fitch himself

3190-470: Was an eight-month conflict between the Maroons of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) , a Maroon settlement later renamed after Governor Edward Trelawny at the end of First Maroon War , located near Trelawny Parish, Jamaica in the St James Parish , and the British colonials who controlled the island. The Windward communities of Jamaican Maroons remained neutral during this rebellion and their treaty with

3248-579: Was elected as Colonel-in-Chief of Accompong. Williams was elected to a second six-year term in 2015. He appointed Timothy E. McPherson Jr. from Nanny Town , now Moore Town , to consolidate relations across the Maroon communities as part of a collective effort to protect the environment and promote climate change awareness. In February 2021 Richard Currie was elected Colonel-in-Chief. The inhabitants of Accompong share practices and traditions drawn from their Akan ( Asante ) ancestors of 200–300 years ago, and combined with Taino. These practices have evolved as

3306-429: Was killed in a Maroon ambush. In the first two weeks of the conflict, the Maroons of Trelawny Town had killed 65 British soldiers without any Maroon death reported. Throughout the entire conflict, one general complained that the colonial forces had killed less than 32 Maroons and their allies. Recent research shows that the colonial militias were only able to kill about 21 Trelawnys. The Maroon warriors also laid waste to

3364-507: Was the site for signing the 1739 treaty with the British, according to this Maroon town's oral history. This legendary, ancient mango tree is still standing (2009). The tree symbolizes the common kinship of the community on its common land. However, the Returned Maroons of Flagstaff believe that the treaty was signed at Petty River Bottom, near the village of Flagstaff. During the First Maroon War , rebel slaves and their descendants fought

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