Maroon growth came chiefly from slave rebellions and escapes.

Evidence

The precise, that is historical, relationship of the maroons to the Haitian revolution is still a matter of debate—particularly so among Haitian historians. Some traditions hold that the maroons played no role in the revolution at all. Others declare that the maroons were “the principal origin of the rising of 1791.” If it were not Haiti about which the controversy revolved, the debate might have very well been settled by the available evidence. After all, voodoo, which James termed “the medium of the conspiracy” (of 1791), had also inspired earlier maroon revolts, the most important of which had occurred barely thirty years before under the guide of Mackandel; two of the Revolution’s first leaders were maroons: Boukman “a fugitive slave from Jamaica,” and Jean François “who had spent the last few years prior to 1791 as a maroon”; and, as well, when in late August, mulattos of the Western Province too rose up against the French, we know that they enlisted maroons whom they termed “the Swiss,” (and whom they would eventually betray). — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 733 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Maroon communities appeared wherever slavery and refuge terrain coexisted.; Limited maroon refuge forced would-be escapees toward direct revolution; United slave resistance disabled whites’ power to discipline plantations (+3 more)

Related

• Maroons were integral participants in the genesis of the Haitian Revolution (similarity 0.94)
• Maroon communities appeared wherever slavery and refuge terrain coexisted. (similarity 0.88)
• A majority of Haiti’s revolutionaries were African-born slaves. (similarity 0.88)
• Blocked maroon refuges pushed Haitian slaves toward systemic revolution (similarity 0.84)
• Maroon communities prefigured the Haitian revolution as a living challenge to colonial ideology (similarity 0.84)
• Jamaican maroon societies grew primarily through slave rebellions and escape (similarity 0.83)
• Blocked maroon escape routes pushed slaves toward systemic revolt (similarity 0.82)
• Blocked maroon refuges forced slaves to attack the plantation system directly (similarity 0.82)
• Maroon precedents proved that escaped slaves could defeat European armies (similarity 0.82)
• Slave resistance through flight seeded lasting Black maroon communities (similarity 0.82)
• Two durable maroon societies formed in the Jamaican highlands. (similarity 0.81)
• Limited maroon refuge forced would-be escapees toward direct revolution (similarity 0.81)
• Anti-maroon campaigns armed free people of color and sparked demands for inclusion (similarity 0.81)
• Haitian maroon communities were smaller than Jamaica’s because coffee planting filled the mountains (similarity 0.81)
• Everyday marronage networks rather than mountain bands enabled the 1791 revolt (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Limited maroon refuge forced would-be escapees toward direct revolution #complicates (0.65)
• United slave resistance disabled whites’ power to discipline plantations #corroborates (0.50)
• Maroons were integral participants in the genesis of the Haitian Revolution #expands (0.50) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 733
• Revolt empowered individual slaves to seize control of plantations #complicates (0.40)
• Eighteenth-century slave revolts were led mainly by African-born slaves #corroborates (0.35)