HISTORY

Introduction | Guerreiro Zumbi | Besouro Mangangá | Mestre Bimba | Mestre Pastinha | Capoeira Angola | Capoeira Regional

GUERREIRO ZUMBIQUILOMBO DOS PALMARES + GERREIRO ZUMBI:

Over the course of years, scattered settlements were established in the mountains. These establishments, with fugitive slaves, natives, and some whites living together, were called "Quilombos" .The largest of these was Palmares with more than 20,000 inhabitants.

A new community was formed with a very rich cultural mixture. In this new environment they shared and learned from each other their dance, rituals, religion, and games. One result of this rich cultural fusion was Maculele and Capoeira in its earliest form.

Quilombo Palmares was growing rapidly as more refugees arrived in this little African nation. It started to worry the Portuguese colonizers. People from Palmares would come down from the mountains to trade produce, fruit, and animal skins and would often raid plantations to free more slaves.

Palmares began to affect the life of the plantations as more and more of the slaves escaped. The colonists suffered economically because of the diminishing labor force.

To make things worse for the Portuguese, Holland invaded Brazil in 1630. The slaves took advantage of this situation and with assistance from Palmares left the plantations and fought the Portuguese Army. The army at this point was fighting two enemies.

The Dutch won the war, but the Africans never stopped fighting. In 1644 the Dutch organized an expedition to go to Palmares, but nothing was accomplished. In the following years a second expedition was sent to the mountains, which also failed.

It is important to point out that these expeditions were formed by very experienced and well-armed soldiers. But the Africans developed a system of fighting called "jungle war" or ambush. Capoeira was the key element in the unexpected attacks. With fast and tricky movements the slaves caused considerable damage to the white men. Capoeira became their weapon, their symbol of freedom. Ganga Zumba and Zumbi are the two most well known warrior-leaders of Palmares. Zumbi organized government system similar to an African Kingdom with a King and his Assembly. The best warriors on battles were chosen King; "Zumbi" was the most notorious King of all. The "Quilombo dos Palmares" fought for 65 years against Portuguese & Dutch colonizers, but was finally destroyed in 1694 by Domingos Jorge Velho and his troops. Zumbi, however, managed to escape and many believed that he was immortal. Wanted by the authorities, he was captured on November 20th, 1695. He was killed and beheaded on the spot. His head was brought by the authorities to a public Plaza at the "vila do Recife" to show the people that he was not immortal.

In Brazil, Guerreiro Zumbi is honored as a hero and symbol of black pride, freedom and democracy to this day. Zumbi's execution date, is acknowledged as the National Day of the Black Conscience and he has appeared in postage stamps, banknotes and coins. His name became a Capoeira legend.