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Zumbi dos Palmares: Hero of the black people, hero of the Afro-Brazilian people. Born in Palmares, it was fitting for Zumbi to lead the people of the quilombo during a decisive time in the battle against the slave masters, who were determined to suffocate the seed of liberty that dared to grow in Brazilian soil.
Excerpted from "A Arte da Capoeira" Translation by Shayna McHugh Zumbi dos Palmares: Hero of the black people, hero of the Afro-Brazilian people.
Born in Palmares, it was fitting for Zumbi to lead the people of the quilombo during a decisive time in the battle against the slave masters, who were determined to suffocate the seed of liberty that dared to grow in Brazilian soil.
The history of the man who would become Zumbi began when Brás da Rocha attacked Palmares in 1655, bringing back a newborn baby among the captured adults. The child was given to the leader of the attacking faction, who in turn decided to give him as a present to the priest Melo in the city of Porto Calvo. The priest decided to name the boy Francisco.
The great battle of the warrior chief Zumbi, striving day and night for the safety of his people and fighting for the ideal of communities where blacks, whites, and Indians lived together, began when he turned 15 in 1670 – in this year, Francisco ran away from Melo in search of liberty.
In the war against Zumbi and the people of Palmares, the oppressors’ system aimed to erase from the collective memory of the oppressed people even the possibility of building an alternative to the existing social structure, which was based in the exploitation of forced labor. The combatant who represented the slave owners was Domingos Jorge Velho.
The Bishop of Pernambuco wrote the following about his peer Domingos in 1697: "This man is one of the greatest savages that I have ever encountered… his entire life, since he first had reason (if indeed he ever had it, he has lost it to such a degree that I think he will not easily find it) until the present, has been spent hunting Indian women for the purposes of satisfying his twisted desires and Indian men for the purposes of gratifying his interests."
Despite all the violence and savagery of the colonial system, the heroic spirit of the Brazilian people could not be defeated. After many years of battle, the colonizers still could not subdue the souls of the freedom fighters. Each warrior killed in defense of the right to liberty is an example of the fact that we only fully live when we are free. And to die in this battle is to give one’s life for life itself.
Upon returning to Palmares, the 15-year-old Francisco came to be known as Zumbi. It is interesting to note that the main god of Cameroon and of the Congo is called Nzambi; in Angola the term Zambi refers to the dead; and in the Carribean, Zumbis are living dead, creatures who never rest even in the afterlife.
Zumbi found his biological family in Palmares – father, brothers, aunts and uncles. The most important among his relatives was Ganga Zumba. Later, when Zumbi was 23, he rejected the peace treaty that Ganga Zumba arranged with the slave masters, a peace treaty that would have guaranteed his own liberty since he was born in Palmares. Not yet 25 years old, Zumbi refused to stop fighting for a freedom without conditional statements or concessions: he would stay in Palmares and fight to the end.
Commanding his warriors, he won numerous battles, skillfully using guerrilla tactics. When he attempted to engage in combat in a fixed position, he failed. He lost the control of the Serra da Barriga area, where the winners (explorers, soldiers, and "good men" from Pernambuco and Alagoas) established themselves.
The blacks had only one alternative: return to the strategy of ambushes in the forest. They only had about 1000 men left. The warriors were divided into two bands and Zumbi put a companion named Antônio Soares in charge of the other band. Soares suffered an ambush; he was imprisoned and brought to Recife in a heavily-armed escort.
On the way, the escort met up with a band led by André Furtado. For a long time, Soares endured violent torture at the hands of his captors: they wanted him to reveal the location of Zumbi's hiding place. When they were unsuccessful, Furtado changed his tactic: he offered Soares his own freedom if he would cooperate. It worked.
Soares was trusted by Zumbi. They went to look for him, and as Zumbi prepared to embrace his friend, he was surprised: Soares stabbed him in the belly.
Zumbi's eyes must have shone with sadness and disappointment. Of the six warriors who accompanied him, five were immediately shot by the soldiers in the surrounding forest. Zumbi, wounded and alone, killed one of his attackers and wounded others. It was November 20th, 1695.
Zumbi perfectly embodies the horrors of slavery, which is always an unburied corpse, a living dead. His memory will survive the official version history, which insists in ignoring his real importance. He will remain as a symbol of the inexcusable atrocities of unlimited and arbitrary power. He will endure, above all, as an example to all who resist oppression and who fight for liberty and justice. Read more about Zumbi: |
