Nanny Maroon, Haiti, Toussaint Louverture

The two main Maroon groups in the 18th century were the Leeward and the Windward tribes, the former led by Cudjoe in Trelawny Town and the latter led by his sister Queen Nanny (and later by Quao)] Queen Nanny, also known as Granny Nanny (died 1733) is the only female listed among Jamaica's National Heroes, and has been immortalised in songs and legends.

She was known for her exceptional leadership skills, especially in guerrilla warfare, which were particularly important in the First Maroon War in the early 18th century. Her remains are reputedly buried at "Bump Grave" in Moore Town, the main town of the Windward Maroons who are concentrated in and around the Rio Grande valley in the north-eastern parish of Portland. The Maroons retreated to the mountains throughout the mid-seventeenth century, unaware of the impact they would make on British and Jamaican history.

With a vast knowledge of the uninhabited Jamaican mountain side, the Maroons were able to wage war against British planters and eventually contract a peace agreement with the British. Through the courage of fugitive slaves and the leadership of Cudjoe and his colleagues, the Maroons became a people whose history exemplified the driving force of freedom.

In 1789, Saint-Domingue was plagued by a number of contradictions. The great white planters demanded political autonomy. The Affranchis, most of whom were landowners, clamoured for civil and political equality with the whites.

The slaves looked for freedom. Brought from Africa, they toiled on plantations and in production workshops and were at the mercy of the overseer's whip. On the night of 21–22 August 1791, following a political movement in the North Province under the leadership of a certain Boukman, slaves set fire to the plantations and attacked their masters. The insurrection spread to the West and South Provinces.

The fight waged by the slaves became more structured with the emergence of Toussaint Louverture. As the commander of an army that he personally organised, he became a powerful figure in the colony. From 1794 to 1802, Toussaint Louverture led the combat. In order to keep Saint-Domingue within its colonial empire, the French authorities came to terms with Toussaint Louverture, promoting him to the rank of general in chief of the Saint-Domingue army and, later, governor.

In such a position of power, he made freedom of blacks the focus of his international policy and made the revival of production the focus of his domestic policy.

Toussaint Louverture forged an autonomous policy vis-à-vis France. In 1801, without the backing of French authorities, he entered the eastern side of the island, then under Spanish domination, and abolished slavery there. In the same year he promulgated a constitution for the entire island with immediate application. Right: Toussaint Louverture White-washed Version.

Nonetheless, he sent it to France for approval by Napoleon Bonaparte. In response, Napoleon deployed twenty-two thousand troops and eighty-six warships in order to subdue Toussaint Louverture and restore slavery in the colony and in all the other French dependencies of America. The troops also had a mission to expand the French colonial empire in America, going from Saint-Domingue up to the former French possessions along the Mississippi.

Caribbean, Nanny Maroon

When the British captured Jamaica in 1655 the Spanish colonists fled leaving a large number of African slaves. Rather than be re-enslaved by the British, they escaped into the hilly, mountainous regions of the island, joining those who had previously escaped from the Spanish to live with the Taínos.

The Maroons intermarried with Amerindian natives, establishing independence in the back country and survived by subsistence farming and by raiding plantations. Over time, the Maroons came to control large areas of the Jamaican interior. Their plantation raids resulted in the First Maroon War.

The Spaniards in Jamaica kept up communication with their former neighbours who were now living on the south side of Cuba. Less than 24 hours away on sail, the Spaniards in Cuba would eventually be called upon to help those in Jamaica try to regain control of the island. In 1655, Don Arnoldo de Sasi, the old governor, five hundred of the former inhabitants, and one thousand troops from Old Spain, landed at Rio Nuevo east of Seville where they built a fort.

But, the surprise attack was quickly suppressed when Colonel Doyley, the English governor, arrived with five hundred men from the south side of Jamaica and forced the Spanish to run back to their safe haven in Cuba. With the departure of their Spanish masters, about 1500 slaves decided to seek refuge on the north and east sides of the mountains rather than to submit to the conquerors or follow the fortunes of their former owners.

As Dallas’ History of the Maroons Vol. 1 mentions, it is believed that "for some time they were instigated by their former masters to commit hostilities against the new possessors of the country." Although this idea seemed unlikely, the possibilities of communicating with their former slaves could have been accomplished since Cuba was so to Jamaica, and because the Spaniards were very familiar in navigating the Leeward Islands.

Located in different parts of the island, most of the Spanish slaves from the south side of Jamaica sought refuge in the mountains of Clarendon where they were led by a chief named Juan de Bolas. Under his leadership, many of these Clarendon Spanish slaves attacked the British inhabitants of Jamaica, as well as the other fugitive slaves of the island. However, once they were defeated and their leader slain, the Clarendon slaves began diminishing in number, never to return to their safe haven in the mountains.

However, another group of fugitives would soon arise. In 1690 a group of slaves from the Clarendon parish rebelled against their masters and sought refuge in the interior parts of the country.

Through the recruitment of other plantation slaves, this new group of Clarendon fugitives increased in number and acquired the necessary provisions from the plantations of their newest recruits. In time, these rebels, not yet associated with the Maroons living in the east, would plunder plantations, destroy cattle, and carry off slaves by force in order to survive, simultaneously causing planters to constantly live in a state of fear.

As a result, the planters made many complaints to the British legislation and parties of armed forces were soon organised to kill the Clarendon rebels. The Clarendon rebels, who always travelled in small gangs without a particular leader, decided to organise themselves and appoint a chief who would protect them from the wrath of the Jamaican colonists. They picked Cudjoe, "a bold, skillful, and enterprising man," he in turn appointed his brothers Accompong and Johnny to lead under him, and Cuffee and Quao as Captains.

With new leadership and an increase in size, due to the Coromantee slaves who had joined them, the Clarendon rebels were gaining strength in numbers and through their leadership. Moreover, Cudjoe's war against the white inhabitants of Jamaica had brought him great fame amongst the white planters and the fugitive slaves alike. As a result, a group known as the Cottawoods, who had separated from the other Maroons prior to 1730, marched through the mountainous, uninhabited areas of the country to join Cudjoe and the Clarendon rebels.

The two main Maroon groups in the 18th century were the Leeward and the Windward tribes, the former led by Cudjoe in Trelawny Town and the latter led by his sister Queen Nanny (and later by Quao)] Queen Nanny, also known as Granny Nanny (died 1733) is the only female listed among Jamaica's National Heroes, and has been immortalised in songs and legends.

Knights Templar, Fabian Society, Priory of Sion

The Knights Templar (full name:

Knights Templar Symbol

 The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta) is a modern off-shoot of Masonry and does not have a direct tie to the original Knights Templar - a religious military group formed in the 12th century.

Members of the Masonic Knights Templar do not claim a direct connection to the medieval group, but merely a borrowing of ideas and symbols. In order to become a member of this group, you must already be a Christian Master Mason. This organisation is a distinct one, and is not just a higher degree of Masonry.

Despite Freemasonry’s general disclaimer that no one Masonic organisation claims a direct heritage to the medieval Knights Templar, certain degrees and orders are obviously patterned after the medieval Order.

These are best described as "commemorative orders" or degrees. Nevertheless, in spite of the fraternity’s official disclaimers, some Masons, non-Masons, and even anti-Masons insist that certain Masonic rites or degrees originally had direct Templar influence.

Fabian Society Symbol

The Fabian Society, founded in 1884 in Great Britain to promote Socialism. The Fabian Society takes its name from the Roman General Fabius Maximus, who fought Hannibal's army in small debilitating skirmishes, rather than attempting one decisive battle.

After the publication of the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, a great deal of interest in the Priory of Sion has been created. Unfortunately for those hoping to find and join the Priory, it is, in fact, fictional. It was a hoax created in 1956 by a pretender to the French Throne, Pierre Plantard.

Letters in existence dating from the 1960s written by Plantard, de Cherisey and de Sède to each other confirm that the three were engaging in an out-and-out confidence trick, describing schemes on how to combat criticisms of their various allegations and how they would make up new allegations to try to keep the whole thing going. Despite this, many people still continue to believe that the Priory exists and functions to this day.

The authors of the well known book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, misled by the hoax, stated: The Priory of Sion has a long history starting in AD 1099, and had illustrious Grand Masters including Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci.

The order protects certain royal claimants because they believe them to be the literal descendants of Jesus and his alleged wife Mary Magdalene or, at the very least, of king David. The priory seeks the founding of a “Holy European Empire” that would become the next hyper-power and usher in a new world order of peace and prosperity.

Opus Dei, Ordo Templis Orientis, OTO, Bilderberg Group

Opus Dei is an organization of the Catholic Church that emphasizes the Catholic belief that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity.

Opus Dei

The celibate numeraries and numerary assistants live in special centers, while associates are celibate members living in their private homes. The order was founded in Spain in 1928 by Roman Catholic priest Josemar Escriva with the approval of Pope Pius XII. When Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was published, it claimed that Opus Dei was a secret organisation within the Church whose aim was to defeat the Priory of Sion and those who seek to uncover the “truth” about Christianity and the alleged royal bloodline of Christ.

Outside of the book, there has been a great deal of controversy over Opus Dei because of the strictness of its religious structure. The Catholic Church forbids secret societies and membership in them, and Opus Dei investigators have frequently debunked claims that this organisation is acting in secrecy to further a sinister agenda.

Ordo Templis Orientis: The OTO (Order of the Temples of the East) is an organisation that was originally modelled on Masonry but, under the leadership of the self-styled “Great Beast” Aleister Crowley, it took on the principles of his religious system called Thelema. Thelema is based around a single law: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law, love is the law, love under the will” [1904].

Membership is based upon degrees of initiation and highly stylized rituals are used. The OTO currently claims over 3,000 members worldwide. Crowley created a “Mass” for the OTO which is called the Gnostic Mass. Of the "Mass", Crowley wrote: "I resolved that my Ritual should celebrate the sublimity of the operation of universal forces without introducing disputable metaphysical theories.

Ordo Templis Orientis

I would neither make nor imply any statement about nature which would not be endorsed by the most materialistic man of science. On the surface this may sound difficult; but in practice I found it perfectly simple to combine the most rigidly rational conceptions of phenomena with the most exalted and enthusiastic celebration of their sublimity." The ritual is very stylised and uses virgin priestesses, children, and priests. Many Ancient Egyptian God’s are invoked, as well as the Devil, and at one point the priestess performs a naked ritual.

The Bilderberg Group: This group is slightly different from the others in that it does not have an official membership. It is the name given to a group of highly influential people who meet ever year in secrecy (and usually with strong military and government sponsored security). The topics discussed are kept secret. The structure of the meetings is that of a conference - usually held in five star hotels around the world. Attendance at the meeting is strictly by invitation only. The first meeting took place in 1954 at the Hotel Bilderberg in the Netherlands.

The original meeting was initiated by several people. Polish migrant and political adviser, Joseph Retinger, concerned about the growth of anti-Americanism in Western Europe, proposed an international conference at which leaders from European countries and the United States would be brought together with the aim of promoting understanding between the cultures of The United States of America and Western Europe. Although the agenda and list of participants are openly available to the public, it is not clear that such details are disclosed by the group itself.

Also, the contents of the meetings are kept secret and attendees pledge not to divulge what was discussed. The group’s stated justification for secrecy is that it enables people to speak freely without the need to carefully consider how every word might be interpreted by the mass media. Needless to say, this group is constantly surrounded by controversy and conspiracy theories.