Overview
One estimate places the population of Palmares in the 1690s at around 20,000 inhabitants, although recent scholarship has questioned whether this figure is exaggerated. Stuart Schwartz places the number at roughly 11,000, noting that it was, regardless, "undoubtedly the largest fugitive community to have existed in Brazil". These inhabitants developed a society and government that derived from a range of Central African socio-political models, a reflection of the diverse ethnic origins of its inhabitants. This government was confederate in nature, and was led by an elected chief who allocated landholdings, appointed officials (usually family members), and resided in a type of fortification called Macoco. Six Portuguese expeditions tried to conquer Palmares between 1680 and 1686, but failed. Finally, the governor of the captaincy of Pernambuco, Pedro Almeida, organized an army, under the leadership of the Bandeirantes Domingos Jorge Velho and Bernardo Vieira de Melo, defeated a palmarista force putting an end to the republic in 1694.
Read more about this topic: Palmares (quilombo)