ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your shmoop du jour,

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brought to you by Sir Francis Drake,

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the world's most talented rapper/actor/explorer.

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Yeah, baby.

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All right, so give this excerpt a read.

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All right, the next day...

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right, and now the question:

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Inhabitants of the New World, like the "Cimaroons,"

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who Sir Francis Drake mentions above,

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may have been wary to help the English sea captain because of... what?

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And here are the potential answers.

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The English were allied with the Spanish...

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[ mumbles ]

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All right, well, who exactly were these "Cimaroons"?

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Sounds like a candy or something.

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All right, well, the English version of this word is "Maroon,"

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which refers to the populations of escaped slaves

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who settled in the New World.

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It's also where we get the verb "to maroon,"

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like when Gilligan and his gang, uh, you know,

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got stuck on that island in the middle of nowhere.

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If you don't know it, ask your parents. It was a great series for a long time.

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So, we need to figure out why these escaped slaves

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were less than thrilled to help out our English sea captain,

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and professional scallywag, Sir Francis Drake.

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Was it because A - the English were allied with the Spanish?

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Well, remember that the English and Spanish

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were fighting continually throughout this period of time,

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kind of like siblings in the back seat on a long family road trip.

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"Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet?"

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Yeah, like that. So that can't be it.

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Were the Cimaroons hesitant to help the English because B -

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traditional doctrines forbade contact with outsiders?

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Well, the Cimaroons weren't jumping at the chance

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to hang out with the Europeans, but not because

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there was a policy against it. It was more of

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a personal preference thing. Think of it like a friend who,

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as a general rule, doesn't like to eat out at restaurants...

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unless you're the one paying for it.

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So, uh, not the best choice.

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Could it have been because D -

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they never had interacted with Europeans before?

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[ chuckles ] As if.

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These escaped slaves were slaves in the first place

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because they came into contact with the Europeans back in Africa.

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Not to mention that in Jamaica, new Cimaroon communities

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were continually at war with the British.

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So, let's knock that one off, too.

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Which leaves us with C -

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because of the Cimaroons' origins as escaped slaves and their descendants.

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All right, makes sense, right?

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I mean, you escape from slavery, establish your own community

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in the Carribean in hopes of preserving your language

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and traditions from Africa, and then the people

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who enslaved you in the first place show up and ask you for help.

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[ chuckles ] There might be some issues

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still left to work out there. So C is our answer.

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And, you know, they say it's better to forgive than forget.

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Uh, but not sure everyone would agree with that.

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Yeah, let's go there.

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