1733 slave insurrection on St. John

A slave insurrection started on Sankt Jan in the Danish West Indies (now St. John, United States Virgin Islands) on November 23, 1733, when 150 African slaves from Akwamu, in present-day Ghana, revolted against the owners and managers of the island's plantations. Led by Breffu, an enslaved woman from Ghana, and lasting several months into August 1734, the slave rebellion was one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in the Americas. The Akwamu slaves captured the fort in Coral Bay and took control of most of the island. They intended to resume crop production under their own control.

Slave uprising of 1733
Part of the Slave Revolts in North America

Later illustration of a plantation in the Danish West Indies
Date23 November 1733 – 25 August 1734
Location
Sankt Jan, Danish West Indies (present-day Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands)
Result Danish Victory
Belligerents
Rebel slaves (Akwamu natives)
Commanders and leaders
Phillip Gardelin
Johannes Sødtmann
John Jansen
Lieven Jansen
Øttingen
June
Kanta
Bolombo
Aquashie
Breffu
Strength
Hundreds 150

Planters regained control by the end of May 1734, after the Akwamu were defeated by several hundred better-armed French and Swiss troops sent in April from Martinique, a French colony. Colonial militia continued to hunt down maroons and finally declared the rebellion at an end in late August 1734.

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