Maroon heritage of Moore Town | Global Knowledge Systems

Overview

Situated in the highlands of eastern Jamaica, Moore Town is home to the descendants of independent communities of former runaway slaves known as Maroons. The African ancestors of the Moore Town Maroons were forcibly removed from their native lands to the Caribbean by Spanish slave traders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The term Maroon, derived from the Spanish word cimarrón (wild), refers to those slaves who fled the plantations in the early 1600s and established their own settlements in the Blue and Johncrow Mountains of eastern Jamaica. By the early eighteenth century, the Maroon communities controlled much of the eastern part of the island. In opposition to the expanding plantation system of the British, they formed well-organized and efficient underground military units. After decades of warfare, the British finally yielded to the communities’ demands for recognition...

This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.

Community and Authority

Communities: Jamaica
Languages: Not specified in UNESCO dataset
Cultural territories: Jamaica
Countries: Jamaica

How the System Works

Music, Performance and Oral Literature Language, Story and Memory Material Culture, Design and Technology Health, Healing and Care Ceremony, Spirituality and Cosmology Ways of Knowing and Knowledge Transmission

Sources and Evidence

Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ListsDataset

Open original source record

Field-Level Provenance

title: UNESCO DataHub field title_en
preferredTitle: UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
summary: UNESCO DataHub field description_en
type: UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
countries: UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
categories: ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
relationships: UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
sourceUrl: UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
rights: UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url

Original Source Metadata

uuid4c577f97-b985-4ebf-a28b-523712a5f7e9

ich_public_ref53

inscription_year2008

title_enMaroon heritage of Moore Town

title_frLes traditions des Marrons de Moore Town

type_of_element_enRepresentative List

type_acronymRL

countriesJM

http_url_enhttps://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/00053

concepts_primary_namesCultural space, Slavery

concepts_secondary_namesArmed forces, Colonial history, Dance, Instrumental music, Oral tradition, Percussion instruments, Religious belief, Religious syncretism, Traditional medicine, Veneration of the dead, Vocal music, Wind instruments

main_image_urlhttps://ich.unesco.org/img/photo/thumb/00187-LRG.jpg

main_image_caption_enThe Maroons are descendants of runaway slaves who established free settlements in eastern Jamaica in the seventeenth century. There, they developed distinct social and religious expressions incorporating various spiritual traditions, among them a collective procession accompanied by drumbeat and the calling sound of the side-blown abeng horn.

main_image_copyrightUNESCO/Andrew P. Smith

main_image_authorNot supplied

videoshttps://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/G3xW808tdJE, https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/X-TD7-jG8xc

images[object Object], [object Object], [object Object]

Why This Record Is Credible

This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.

Cultural Access

Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.

Relationships

Cultural space Slavery Armed forces Colonial history Dance Instrumental music Oral tradition Percussion instruments Religious belief Religious syncretism UNESCO representative list World Heritage connection: Blue and John Crow Mountains

Review and Corrections

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