Four slaves after being liberated by Adewale, 1735
Maroons were Africans who had escaped slavery in the Americas to form their own communities of runaway slaves. The word "maroon" either comes from the Greek word maurum, meaning "dark-skinned", or from the Spanish word cimarron, meaning "dweller of a peak" (referring to runaways). On many occasions, escaped slaves would ally with Native Americans and form their own settlements, with some armed camps being formed in the Caribbean. Maroons typically fled to the jungles, where they grew vegetables and hunted for food, and they lived in communities where their native traditions flourished. In Jamaica and Haiti, the Maroons were known to launch armed uprisings, while many Maroons in the United States joined forces with the Seminoles during the early 19th century. Today, some traditional Maroon settlements still exist, albeit integrated into the whole of their countries due to the worldwide abolition of slavery.