The Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia

On this page

• The Maroons of Trelawny Town
• Life in Nova Scotia
• Legacy
• Migration to Sierra Leone
• Designation as a national historic event

The Maroons of Trelawny Town

In 1796, more than 500 Maroons from Trelawny Town in the mountains of northwestern Jamaica were transported against their will to the British colony of Nova Scotia.

Their experiences not only illustrate the insecure rights and freedoms of African-descended British subjects in the 18th-century Atlantic world, but also their resistance and pride.

The Maroons were formerly enslaved peoples of African ancestry and their descendants who had lived in the Cockpit Country region of Jamaica as a free, independent people until their exile following the second and final Maroon War (1795–1796).

Almost everyone from the town—approximately 150 families or more than500 adults and children—were forcibly relocated. Many became sick, and several died during their voyage to Halifax.

Life in Nova Scotia

Although they stayed only four years, the Jamaican Maroons left an enduring legacy in Nova Scotia.

They initially lived in Halifax. Later, they were given land in the Preston area, where the Black Loyalists had lived about a decade before.

While in Nova Scotia, the Maroons endured discrimination and faced pressures to convert to Christianity, adopt settler agriculture, and undertake hard manual labour for low wages. As free Black settlers, they resisted cultural assimilation and fought for the same wages as white workers on the same projects.

Legacy

The Maroons worked on several construction projects, including the third version of the Halifax Citadel. It is believed that they concentrated their efforts on the north-west demi-bastion, which in cultural memory in the 19th century became known as the “Maroon Bastion.” Although this fort was replaced by the fourth and final Citadel, the only one made of stone, the forts had similar footprints and the Maroon Bastion is a tangible, enduring connection between the African Nova Scotian community and the Halifax Citadel.

The Maroons also helped build the foundations for Government House, which became and still is home to the Lieutenant of Governor of Nova Scotia. Finally, because it was wartime and the Maroons were revered by Prince Edward and Lieutenant-Governor John Wentworth for their military prowess, some served in the Halifax militia.

Their continued presence is reflected in the surnames, accents, idioms, customs, oral histories, and traditions of African Nova Scotians, for whom Maroon dignity, strength, resiliency, perseverance, and resistance to oppression are a continued source of pride.

 

Migration to Sierra Leone

The Maroons were not pleased with their lives in Nova Scotia and petitioned British authorities repeatedly for the freedom to leave.

In 1800, the British government arranged for their relocation to SierraLeone on the coast of West Africa, following the path of the Black Loyalists before them to the free black community of Freetown.

A small number of Jamaican Maroons remained in Nova Scotia.

Designation as a national historic event

In 2022, the Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia was officially designated as an event of national historic significance under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration.

The plaque unveiling ceremony took place on August 1, 2024, at Halifax Citadel National Historic Site as part of a larger series of events to honour and commemorate Emancipation Day alongside the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, the Jamaican Cultural Association of Nova Scotia, and the Jamaican High Commission in Canada.

Visitors to Halifax Citadel National Historic Site will find the commemorative plaque near the rear entrance, and close to the northwest demi-bastion, or ‘Maroon Bastion’.

Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia

The Maroons of Trelawny Town, formerly enslaved people of African ancestry and their descendants, lived in the Cockpit Country region of Jamaica. After the Maroon War (1795–1796), the British colony exiled more than 500 of them to Nova Scotia. Here, they maintained a strong sense of community, while facing pressures to assimilate and demands for their labour, including at the Citadel. For years, they petitioned for the freedom to leave. When Britain arranged their resettlement in Sierra Leone in 1800, a few remained, their resiliency and perseverance becoming a source of pride for the African Nova Scotian community.