Uruguay - Quilombo, camp, community of runaway slaves

On 21 March 1803, the then governor of Montevideo informed of the flight of twelve slaves from the city, which had joined seven more and had taken refuge in the islands of the Santa Lucia River, to the north of Montevideo. The slaves were persecuted by Spanish troops who informed that they had found five huts, rests of fire, beef and many arrows near the Timote stream. This camp was in the middle of the woods, but they did not find the fugitives they were persecuting. It is not clear if the camp was a real “quilombo”. However, it was the first time that a Spanish official used the term “quilombo”- of Portuguese origin- to refer to what he thought to be a refuge of runaway slaves. The Spanish troops found the fugitives some days later, killing the leader and taking the rest in custody. These men and women remained in prison until 1805 when they requested the governor to be liberated.

Al this information was obtained from: Borucki, A (2016). “Across imperial boundaries: Black social networks across the Iberian South Atlantic, 1760–1810”, Atlantic Studies, pp. 11-36. Available in:  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14788810.2016.1233793