Boni
ca. 1730 – 1793
Maroon leader who defied the colonial army for years
Boni led the Aluku (Boni) Maroons in armed resistance against Dutch colonial power in Suriname between 1768 and 1793.
Boni was probably born around 1730, son of an escaped enslaved woman. He grew up in Maroon settlements along the Marowijne river, where together with Baron and Joli-Coeur he built a strongly defended community.
From 1768 onward he led the so-called Boni Wars (1768–1793) against the Dutch. The colonial army, supported by mercenaries under captain John Gabriel Stedman, burnt Boni's main village Boekoe in 1772. Boni and his followers escaped to French Guiana.
In 1793 he was murdered by a rival Maroon leader. The Aluku Maroons still live along the Marowijne and honour his memory. In Paramaribo a statue of Boni stands at Onafhankelijkheidsplein.
Sources
- Wim Hoogbergen — The Boni Maroon Wars
- John Gabriel Stedman — Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition (1796)