Zumbi dos Palmares is a well-known figure in Brazilian history and was known for being one of the leaders of the Quilombo dos Palmares. Throughout the 20th century, the figure of Zumbi was rescued as a symbol of the struggle and resistance of Africans against slavery. He was killed in an ambush carried out by André Furtado de Mendonça.
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Quilombo dos Palmares
Zumbi's life is directly linked to the Quilombo dos Palmares, after all he was one of the known leaders of the largest quilombo in Brazilian history. The first record that mentions Palmares is from 1597. This quilombo was formed by slaves who fled sugar mills in the captaincy of Pernambuco.
The name of this quilombo referred to the large amount of palm trees that existed in the region in which it developed – Serra da Barriga. Palmares was the result of the junction of several mocambos (small villages of runaway slaves) that were formed in that region. Among these hovels can be highlighted Subupira, Wanted, Andalachituche and the capital of Palmares was the mocambo of Royal Monkey Fence.
The capital of Palma came to count on six thousand inhabitants and the other hovels were connected to it by a network of roads. The Palmares protected their capital with a palisade and building various traps around Mocambo do Macaco. Altogether, Quilombo dos Palmares had twenty thousand inhabitants spread across the various mocambos.
The history of Palmares was a history marked by resistance, and the first report of a clash between the Palmares against the colonizers dates back to 1602. Europeans considered Palmares (and all quilombos) a major threat, and often military expeditions were sent to destroy these sites and redirect escaped slaves to slavery.
Over the nearly 100 years of existence of Palmares, military expeditions were carried out by the Dutch and Portuguese and, from 1650, the Portuguese expeditions increased. The destruction of Palmares was carried out by the expedition of Domingos Jorge Velho, a Girl Scout hired to destroy Palmares.
Domingos Jorge Velho's expedition had thousands of men and was armed with cannons. Mocambo do Macaco was destroyed in 1694 and the survivors fled. Among the survivors was Zumbi dos Palmares, the leader of the quilombo at the time.
zombie life
THE lack of documents brings a great difficulty in rebuilding Zumbi's life and, therefore, the historians know very little about it. The biggest gaps in knowledge about Zumbi are about his personal life and the only existing report was made by journalist Décio Freitas. The book written by this journalist, despite being a classic, is the target of many questions by historians specialized in the subject.
This report is known for saying that Zumbi was born free in Palmares, having been kidnapped as a child – during one of the expeditions against the quilombo – and then sold as a slave to a priest named Antônio Honey. This priest gave the name Francisco to Zumbi and taught him Portuguese and Latin.
At the age of 15, Zumbi would have fled from Antônio Melo's property and returned to Quilombo dos Palmares, where he became an important military commander of the Palmares forces. This classic account of Zumbi's life is considered by historians more fanciful than true, because there is no evidence to support this information.
Regarding Zumbi, it is not known whether he had a wife and children either, but a letter written by a Portuguese king suggests otherwise. That king called d. Pedro II (not our d. Pedro II, of course) wrote a letter to Zumbi offering him forgiveness for his actions, should he accept to be a subject of the king of Portugal.
The Portuguese king's letter to Zumbi was written in 1685 and we do not know if it ever reached its recipient. Anyway, when it comes to an offer of surrender, we know that Zumbi and Denim Zumba, the former leader of Palmares, went into shock because of this, which was decisive for the rise of Zumbi as leader of Palmares.
In 1678, Ganga Zumba was the leader of Palmares and received a peace offer from the governor of the captaincy of Pernambuco. Ganga Zumba accepted the offer of peace that was offered to him and Zumbi did not agree with the acceptance of the offer, because it stipulated that only those born in Palmares would be free. The disagreement between the two led to the poisoning de Ganga Zumba e Zumbi became, after that, the leader of Palmares.
We don't know if it was Zumbi who killed Ganga Zumba or if he was involved in planning the murder. Zombie is also currently known as nephew of Ganga Zumba, but there are historians who disbelieve this, saying that the use of the word “nephew” was only meant to designate that he was a protégé of Ganga Zumba.
zombie was one of the generalsPalmares and Portuguese reports state that he was largely responsible for the success of the Palmares in expelling the expeditions sent by the Portuguese at the time. Zumbi's name can be derived from the African term “nzumbi” which meant ghost. Zumbi was at the head of Palmares' final resistance and managed to escape when Cerca Real do Macaco fell to the Portuguese.
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How did Zumbi dos Palmares die?
Zumbi managed to flee when Palmares fell to Domingos Jorge Velho's expedition. Until the mid-twentieth century, historians believed that he would have committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, but recent studies have managed to prove that he fled and spent the next few months hiding in the woods and living on little ones. robberies.
In 1695, Antônio Soares, one of Zumbi's companions, was captured by the Portuguese who through torture managed to obtain the location of Zumbi. There are historians who say that Antônio Soares gave up Zumbi in exchange for his freedom. Anyway, Zombie was ambush and dead on November 20, 1695. Currently, on the day of Zumbi's death, the Black conscience day.