Quilombola facts for kids
A quilombola is an Afro-Brazilian person who lives in a quilombo settlement. These settlements were first created by enslaved people who escaped in Brazil. Quilombolas are the descendants of Afro-Brazilian enslaved people who ran away from large farms called plantations. Slavery in Brazil ended in 1888. The most famous quilombola was Zumbi, and the most famous quilombo was Palmares.
Many quilombolas today live in difficult conditions.
Contents
The History of Quilombolas
In the 1500s, slavery became very common across the Americas, especially in Brazil. People from Africa were captured and brought to Brazil on ships. This was part of the Atlantic slave trade. In Brazil, most enslaved people worked on sugar farms and in mines. They were treated very harshly.
Some enslaved people managed to escape. One famous story tells of Aqualtune, an Angolan princess and general. She was enslaved during a war in her home country. After arriving in Brazil, Aqualtune, who was pregnant, escaped with some of her soldiers. They fled to the Serra da Bariga region. There, Aqualtune started a quilombo, which was a community for escaped enslaved people. This quilombo was called Palmares. Palmares grew to be one of the largest quilombos in Brazil.
Palmares: A Strong Community
In the 1630s, Aqualtune's son, Ganga Zumba, became the leader of Palmares. He ruled the community from a palace. The people of Palmares used African methods to make metal tools. They used these tools to grow crops like corn, rice, and manioc. They also grew palm and breadfruit trees.
Palmares and other quilombos were well-protected. They had strong fences, hidden pits with sharp stakes, and paths with painful traps. Palmares often raided Portuguese towns and ports. The Portuguese government in Lisbon saw Palmares as a threat to their control. They declared war on the quilombolas.
Twenty attacks on Palmares failed. But the constant fighting tired Ganga Zumba. In 1678, he agreed to a peace treaty with the Portuguese. This treaty said Palmares would stop taking in new escaped enslaved people. Ganga Zumba's nephew, Zumbi, thought this was a betrayal. He broke the treaty and became the new leader.
The Portuguese forces kept attacking. Zumbi could not stop them forever. In 1694, the Portuguese finally destroyed Palmares. They killed many of its people. This ended the strong days of the quilombolas. Zumbi and Palmares became symbols of resistance and freedom.
Mola: A Well-Organized Quilombo
The Mola quilombo was another important community. It had about 300 formerly enslaved people. This community was very well-organized politically, socially, and militarily. Felipa Maria Aranha was the first leader of Mola. Later, Maria Luiza Piriá also led the group.
Mola was set up like a republic, where people could vote. Over time, Mola grew to include four other similar settlements nearby. This larger group was known as the "Confederação do Itapocu." By 1895, some signs of the settlement could still be seen, but they have now disappeared. Historians see Mola as a great example of how people resisted slavery.
Recognizing Quilombola Communities
Many other quilombos appeared during the time of Palmares. Escaped enslaved people often became friends with and joined forces with Brazilian Indigenous peoples. Today, most quilombolas have a mix of African-Brazilian and Indigenous family backgrounds.
Quilombos were usually deep in the jungles, far from European control. After Palmares fell, many quilombolas either hid or were wiped out. Most remained hidden so well that people thought they had all died out. They stopped farming in large areas to avoid being found. They continued to use the forest for food. Quilombolas developed a lifestyle that blended Portuguese, Indigenous, and African cultures.
Until the 1970s, most people outside Brazil did not know about the quilombolas. They were thought to be gone. But in the 1970s, logging reached their lands. Loggers thought the quilombolas were just people trying to steal land. They forced them off their land.
Quilombolas were not officially recognized as surviving people until the 1980s. Some ranchers claimed they were pretending to be quilombolas to get land. Eventually, they were accepted as quilombolas. But ranchers still tried to take their land. Chico Mendes was a strong supporter of the quilombolas. He worked to protect the jungle and its Indigenous peoples, including the quilombolas.
Quilombola Land Rights
In 2003, President Lula passed a law called Decreto 4.887/2003. This law recognized Quilombo communities and their right to the land they lived on. The law explained how to officially mark and give titles to Quilombo lands.
Some people who disagreed with the law said it was against the country's constitution. The decision on this case was delayed for over three years. Because of this, President Temer stopped all new land titles until the court made a decision. On February 8, 2018, the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) supported Lula's law. They voted that it was constitutional.
Even though the STF now protects Quilombola land rights, these communities still face problems. For example, there is a proposed change to the constitution called PEC 215. If passed, this change would give the Brazilian Congress the only power to decide on Indigenous and Quilombola land. Right now, the president's government branch has this power. PEC 215 could also affect land that has already been approved for quilombolas. It could potentially take away land titles from many Quilombola communities.
About 40% of the 12 million Africans brought to the Americas as enslaved people landed in Brazil in the late 1500s. The people who live in these independent communities are called Quilombolas. For many years, quilombolas have fought to keep and get titles to their land. They face challenges from modern development and unfair governments in Brazil.
In 1988, the Brazilian Constitution officially gave quilombolas rights to their land. It said that communities of "remnants" of quilombos who have lived on the same lands would have their ownership recognized. The government would give them titles to these lands.
However, according to Sue Branford and Maurício Torres, only 219 of 2,926 quilombos have land titles. Brazil has over 16 million quilombolas. They are among the poorest people in Brazil. About 75% of quilombolas live in poverty. This is much higher than the 25.4% poverty rate in the general population.
Without land titles, quilombolas cannot get social benefits like housing help. They also face threats from illegal loggers and gold miners who enter their lands.
On March 3, 2018, Simão Jatene, the governor of Pará, signed a document. This document gave land titles for over 220,000 hectares of Amazon forest to an isolated community of quilombolas. However, with new leaders in government, policies about quilombolas might change. Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, has spoken negatively about quilombolas and their land rights. He has said that if he were president, there would be no new land given to Indigenous groups or quilombolas.
1988 Constitution: Article 68
During the 1980s, black movements and rural black communities in Brazil gained political power. They successfully pushed for quilombola land rights to be included in the 1988 Constitution. This became Article 68. Groups fighting racial discrimination formed an alliance in 1986. They played a big part in the actions that led to Article 68.
Black activists across Brazil demanded that the government make up for the harm caused by slavery. They wanted black communities to have access to land. The Black Movement decided to make land rights a main goal during the constitutional discussions. They used the idea that there were very few quilombos. This made it seem like a small, symbolic step to include it in the Constitution. People thought that any community would have to prove they were directly descended from escaped enslaved people.
Benedita da Silva, a black federal representative, was a key supporter in Congress. She helped include quilombo land rights in the new Constitution. This Constitution was written after Brazil's military government ended in 1986. Article 68 stated that "definitive ownership will be recognized, and the respective title will be issued by the State, to those descendants of the maroon communities occupying their lands." This means quilombo members cannot be legally forced off their land. The only exceptions are if the federal government challenges it, like with Rio dos Macacos (near a Navy base) and Alcântara (where a space station was built). Including quilombo communities in the Constitution was the first clear government action to fix historical unfairness against descendants of enslaved people.
Redefining Quilombo Communities in 2003
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, hundreds of black farming communities in Brazil started the legal process to be officially recognized. In 1999, the government tried to limit how Article 68 was used. But black rural groups became more active. There was also growing criticism that rural black communities were only seen as a result of old colonial relationships.
In 2003, President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva issued a new law, Presidential Decree 4887. This law changed how quilombo descendants were defined. It said they were "self-designated ethno-racial groups who have their own historical journey, specific land connections, and a presumed black ancestry related to the historical oppression they have suffered." Because of pressure from black farmers across Brazil, the government clearly stated that quilombos should be defined as communities formed by black farmers in general. They are part of today's farming system and modern society, not just connected to the past as descendants of runaways.
As of 2016, 294 villages had applied to be recognized as quilombos. This is because they were founded by escaped enslaved people and are mainly lived in by their descendants. The process for official recognition has been slow. So far, 152 villages have been officially recognized as quilombos.
See also
In Spanish: Quilombolas para niños
