Zumbi challenged Ganga Zumba and led a revolt opposing any concessions to colonial authorities, creating a division within Palmares. Dandara is probably also responsible for convincing her husband, Zumbi (possibly Ganga Zumba’s nephew), to oppose the treaty as well. Although she had once fought alongside Ganga Zumba, she opposed the terms of the treaty. This treaty required the people of Palmares to relocate to the Cucaú Valley, which Dandara feared would lead to the destruction of the Republic of Palmares and a return to slavery. In 1678, Ganga Zumba, the leader of Palmares, accepted a peace treaty offered by the Portuguese governor of Pernambuco. The quilombo resisted incursions from both the Dutch and the Portuguese to survive for nearly a century. Colonial authorities perceived this self-sufficiency to be a threat to the system of slavery in Brazil and sought to resettle or eliminate the maroons. Palmares became economically self-sufficient by diversifying agricultural production. Some inhabitants of Palmares were Brazilian born, while others were from Africa, especially West Central regions such as Angola. It was composed of several mocambos (village-sized communities) united to form a neo-African kingdom. Palmares was Brazil’s most famous quilombo, established in the late sixteenth century in the northeastern captaincy of Alagoas. While no records of Dandara’s birth have come to light, she was most likely born in Brazil and moved to Palmares as a girl. Dandara was a female warrior who, along with her husband Zumbi, defended the colonial Brazilian Maroon community ( quilombo) of Palmares from Portuguese incursions.

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