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Queen Nanny, Grandy Nanny or Nanny (c. 1686 – c. 1755), was an 18th-century leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She was born into the Akan or Ashanti people in what is today Ghana. Nanny is a heroic figure in Jamaican history whose story includes written sources, oral tradition, and legends. A female leader, provider, protector, priestess in the tradition of Ashanti queen mothers who shared power with the Ashanti Kings in pre-colonial Africa. Nanny is honored for her role in successfully leading the Windward Maroons in a multi-year struggle against the British when in spite of her enemy's superior numbers and armament, she never lost a battle.

The Windward Maroon's military successes stemmed from military strategy, innovative tactics, and superior communications developed by Nanny. Many attributed their mastery over the British to the successful use of supernatural powers by Nanny. This reputation coupled with the horrendous losses the British suffered terrorized the British troops.

The war with the British ended in 1739 when the Windward Maroons signed a peace treaty with the British. The treaty stopped the hostilities, provided for state sanctioned freedom for the Maroons, and a land grant for them. On April 20, 1740 Nanny and her followers received the land grant from England. One stipulation was that the Maroons would return any escaped slave who came to them and serve as an ally to British interests. The village built on the land grant still stands and today is called Moore Town. There April 20th is celebrated as a holiday.

Nanny has been honored by Jamaica. She is the only female national hero. Her image is also on the Jamaican $500 bill which is called a Nanny.

Windward Maroons

The Windward Maroons fought the British on the east side of the Island of Jamaica from their village in the Blue Mountains of Portland Parish. They traced their heritage to the Africans who were brought to Jamaica by the Spanish during the Spanish rule of Jamaica 1509-1665. When the British conquered Jamaica, the Spanish left leaving many of their slaves. These formerly enslaved people with their ranks enhance with escaped and liberated slaves became the core of the Windward Maroons. They staged a prolonged fight against British subjugation and enslavement.

First Maroon War.

Between 1728 and 1734, during the First Maroon War, Nanny Town and other Maroon settlements were frequently attacked by British forces. They wanted to stop the raids and believed that the Maroons prevented settlement of the interior. According to some accounts, in 1733 many Maroons of Nanny Town traveled across the island to unite with the Leeward Maroons. In 1734, a Captain Stoddart attacked the remnants of Nanny Town, "situated on one of the highest mountains in the island", via "the only path" available: "He found it steep, rocky, and difficult, and not wide enough to admit the passage of two persons abreast."

In addition to the use of the ravine, resembling what Jamaicans call a "cockpit", the Maroons also used decoys to trick the British into ambushes. A few Maroons would run out into view of the British and then run in the direction of fellow Maroons who were hidden and would attack. After falling into these ambushes several times, the British retaliated. According to a planter named Bryan Edwards, who wrote his narrative half a century later, Captain Stoddart "found the huts in which the negroes were asleep", and "fired upon them so briskly, that many were slain in their habitations". However, recent evidence shows that the number of Windward Maroons killed by Stoddart in his attack on Nanny Town was in single digits.

Military Tactics

The Windward Maroon's success against a much superior and better armed enemy was a testament to the great skill their leader, Nanny, possessed. One of their advantages over the British was their long-range communications capability. They pioneered the use of a cow horn called an abeng. This horn with a hole drilled in one end was used for long range communications. Its signals allowed Maroon lookouts to communicate over great distances. Its signals were not understood by the British who had no similar communications capability.

Nanny's troops were masters of camouflage. The soldiers were so proficient at disguising their location that the British soldiers circulated tales of trees in the forest becoming alive and cutting one's head off. Besides the physical aspects of camouflage the Maroons became experts in slowing their breathing so as not to reveal their presence to someone in their vicinity. The maroons also developed ways of creating stealthy fires that were not readily visible.

The Windward Maroons were innovators in guerilla warfare. They used surprise, the knowledge of the terrain, and cleverly chosen positions in their fight against the British. Their village was located in rugged territory with only one way in. That one way in was a narrow path that was only wide enough for one person. Soldiers trying to attack arrayed in a single file were easily ambushed. To heighten the enemy's fear, Nanny never killed all of the attacking force. She would always allow a remnant to live to return to based a relay the story and horror of the massacre.

Legends

Obeah woman

Magic & Salt

   Swallowing magic and excreting it

Spirits going back to Africa

Bullets glancing off

White men dying by visiting Nanny Town

Accolades

New Nanny Town (Moore Town)

Jamaican National Heroine

On $500 bill

Picture of Nanny