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Quilombo dos Palmares

1605 – 1694
KingdomSouth America

A federation of fortified mocambos of escaped enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Serra da Barriga highlands behind Portuguese Pernambuco, self-organized as a confederated monarchy — 'Angola Janga' ('Little Angola') — under a paramount chief who allocated land and appointed officials; ruled successively by Ganga Zumba (to 1678) and Zumbi (1678-1694), with a population historians estimate in the thousands to low tens of thousands at its height.

Its main settlement, Cerca do Macaco, fell to a Portuguese/bandeirante assault in January-February 1694; Zumbi, the last leader, evaded capture until he was killed on 20 November 1695, after which the centralized polity collapsed, though scattered mocambos persisted in the region for some years afterward.

Borders in 1605 · drawn from 1 sourced border frame
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Further reading

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