Zumbi Dos Pares: An Afro-Brazilian Legend And Symbolism Of Resistance

Investigation
Zumbi dos Palmares was an Afro-Brazilian legend and symbol of resistance from
Brazil’s colonial time. He was the leader of the quilombos, a community formed by fugitive slave farmers, Indians and poor whites. He officially became the chief of the Quilombo dos Palmares, located in Pernambuco, in 1680 after leading a civil war and defeating their current leader, Ganga Zumba. Zumbi resisted the Portuguese colonial oppression for 14 years until the expedition led by Domingos Jorge Velho destroyed the Palmares in 1694 (Diggs, pg 62-67, pr 1- 18). However, there was no physical evidence of the Palmares, and the historical documents showed the invaders’ perspective of the events (Orser, pg 10, pr 3). Thus, the historiography of this
In respect to the history, a usually questioned aspect of the accepted truth was the claim that Zumbi knew how to speak Latin, made by Décio Freitas. Freitas mentioned that his arguments were based on documents, which stated that Zumbi had been captured as a baby and raised by the priest Father António Melo. However, Freitas never provided any documentation that supported his biography of Zumbi. Besides, he tends to romanticize his work. Even though this claim was not based on solid evidence, it integrated itself as a part of the official history that was accepted as true (Narloch, pg 87, pr 1). Moreover, the once accepted truth of the Palmares’ mass suicide over the cliff was a myth. Historians have found no actual evidence that the event described was in fact a suicide. However, the Afro-Brazilian population had internalized the event as a major source of pride towards the Palmares and Zumbi; hence, having accepted it as part of the “official” story. The primary historian responsible for commencing this myth was Rocha Pita, as she declared that “Prince Zumbi and his strongest warriors and loyal followers” had committed mass suicide. “Not wanting to die on our [i.e. Portuguese] swords, they climbed to the height of their eminence and willingly threw themselves off and with that style of death showed that they did not love life in slavery and did not want to lose it to our
That claim was actually supported by a primary source, a letter sent by the Governor of Pernambuco in 1685, Jorge Velho, to the Majesty of Portugal in which he pleads for his help in containing the threat of the Palmares (Velho). He asked Pedro II not to attempt to educate them or save their soles, since they were animals. This letter confirmed the conception that the quilombo was feared by the authorities; hence, supporting the official story. Additionally, Carla Caruso, who wrote the book Zumbi: O último herói dos Palmares and historian, Paiva de Oliveira, argued that on February 6, 1694, Zumbi was able to escape wounded from the attack led by Domingos Jorge Velho, which killed hundreds of Palmares and destroyed the quilombo. Zumbi fled the conflict scene and alongside companions attempted to keep the slave rebellion alive He was only captured and killed in 1695 after the betrayal of his fellow companion, Antônio Soares (Caruso, pg 60-61, pr 1-6). Moreover, this claim appeared in a diverse amount of documents that confirmed that Zumbi escaped the Palmares in 1964 after its destruction, and was hunted down and killed almost two years after what was known as the suicidal cliff event (Diggs, pg 67, pr 1). Furthermore, another document, which validated the official history, was a letter from the King of Portugal directed towards Zumbi dos Palmares in which he