Jamaica Car Rental and MoBay Underwater Tours
Maroon is a word that comes from the word marronage, which meant "wild, savage, fugitive, runaway" or literally "living on mountaintops". This was a word that described runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America. Maroon populations can be found in all of these areas.
A legend in their own right
Visiting Maroon Village with you Montego Bay car rental you will learn that the history of these people began in Jamaica where the Africans refused to live in slavery under the Spanish after 1655. Slaves would leave their homes and go to areas of Jamaica that were inaccessible. The jungles offered food, protection, shelter, and isolation for escaped slaves to survive and establish their own communities, histories, traditions, and cultures. Until recently, many of them remained separate from the rest of society. In recent centuries the populations have began to disappear as the forests were razed and they began to move to cities.
Blue Mountain
The Blue Mountains are seldom a stop on many people's itinerary with their Montego Bay car rental. It's a little out of the way with your Jamaica car rental,, but well worth the drive there, even if the trip is a little uncomfortable. The adventurous would do well to take that journey. Blue Mountain is the first thing you see coming to Jamaica, and it is visible from every beach and the backdrop for Kingston. The mountains run through much of the island. Don't be fooled though: these mountains have many mysteries to them, both old and new. There is beauty, nature, and much more to be found here.
To get to Maroon Village in Accompong with your Montego car rental, you will need to travel to these areas. You will go high into the mountains to a town of about 200 residents. This will give you some cultural insight to the island that is difficult to get from the tourist areas. This is the history of the first freed slaves in the Western Hemisphere. They were able to keep their freedom, and even, ironically, earn some money for returning escaped slaves.
One of the interesting things you will learn while you visit with your Montego Bay car rental is that they were the first nation or group to be granted freedom by a colonizing European power, even 38 years before the United States declared itself free and 62 years before Haiti declared independence. The village you visit here with your Jamaica car rental is the only Maroon Village that keeps its original name.
The Maroons are a very interesting people. They have a very unique place in the history of Jamaica, which is sometimes forgotten because they are hidden in the altitude of the mountains, just as they hid from slave owners. Coming with your Montego Bay car rental will give you a chance to learn about and be a part of a Jamaica that is off the beaten path and give you memories worth taking home with you.