Saramaka

The Saramaka or Saramacca are one of six Maroon peoples (formerly called "Bush Negroes") in the Republic of Suriname. (Note that beginning in mid-2010, the people formerly known as “Saramaka” began calling themselves, in their official documents in English, “Saamaka,” to conform to their own pronunciation.) The word "Maroon" comes from the Spanish cimarrón, itself derived from an Arawakan root; by the early 16th century it was used throughout the Americas to designate slaves who successfully escaped from slavery.