Bayano: Land of Warriors

By Dolce Dolce

She grew up on a beautiful island, cared for by her father, the king. The island was highly prosperous under her father’s rule. Soon she will have to prove herself worthy of the call of the warrior or her father’s throne will be up for grabs. She will have to go up to the summit to get approval from the gods to be queen. She had been preparing for this task for a long time. But she will not be the only one on the mountain. She will enter an unwelcoming and dangerous territory.

Will she get to be queen? Or will she suffer a humiliating defeat?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dolce Dolce
• Release date: Apr 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005139827

Dolce Dolce

I am a poet and author of creative fiction and contemporary topics. I describe myself as a coffee lover by day and a dreamer by night. When I am not writing, I am usually learning something on the computer. But I am never too busy not to do the things I enjoy, such as reading, art, cooking, gaming, music, and dancing. I enjoy learning new things through meaningful conversations.My goal is to leave a positive mark on the world through my writing, with uplifting and thought-provoking topics. So, here I am, out here in this big world, chasing my dream of becoming someone's favorite author. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Book preview

PREFACE

Who was Bayano?

Bayano, the book’s namesake, was an African king, enslaved by Spaniards, who led the biggest slave revolts of 16th century Panama. It is believed that Bayano was captured from the Yoruba or the Mandinka community in West Africa.

Historical records show that Bayano’s revolt began in 1552 either on the ship en route, or after landing in Panama’s Darien province along its modern-day border with Colombia.

Rebel slaves, known as cimarrones, set up autonomous regions known as palenques, many of which successfully fended off Spanish control for centuries using guerrilla war and alliances with pirates, or indigenous nations.

During his reign and battle with the Spanish, King Bayano was successful in taking control of the trade units of the Spanish after several attacks at slave markets and points. He freed several enslaved people and took over trade by monopolizing trade with Peru in food, gold, and silver.

Seeing that they needed external help to defeat the King and his people, the Spanish sought help from the Spanish crown, which sent an army troop to fight King Bayano, but again, the king defeated them. It was during the last fight that the then Spanish governor Pedro de Ursua signed a peace treaty with the maroon leader for trade. But the treaty was a trap for King Bayano.

According to the Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion, King Bayano and his men went unarmed in the name of peace to sign the treaty and were poisoned by the Spanish. While several of his men escaped to inform the people, King Bayano and a few of his men were taken hostage.

After negotiations and signing of the Peace Treaty, King Bayano was exiled to Peru and later Spain, where he lived until he died. His exile caused the Second Bayano Wars, which ended in 1582, but the Maroons in Panama defended their community.

Bayano’s name has become immortal in the Panamanian consciousness through the naming of a major river, a lake, a valley, a dam, and several companies after him. Also, the Panamanian Border Police forces are referred to as the cimarrones, in honor of King Bayano’s warriors.

The Island of Bayano

The island of Bayano; although imaginary, it was inspired by topography, vegetation, and fauna of the island of the new Republic of Barbados, from where some of my ancestors come from.

In this book, I refer to the people of the island as Bayan. Later, I realized the similarity between the name Bajan; the term used to describe the people from Barbados, and the one I made up for my book for the people of Bayano. This was merely coincidental, but similarly I encountered several instances during the writing of this book, in which reality and fantasy intersected. I took these as a sign I was on the right path.

I hope that this book, even if in a small way, honors the legacy of my ancestors, who even before the island was an independent state and British commonwealth, set out sail to a foreign land, to find a better future for themselves and their descendants, but never forgot their roots or the beautiful, enchanting blue waters of the island of Barbados.

Today, because of the sacrifice of those that came before me and the support of my readers. I am living my dream of writing books. I love every minute of this journey and I hope each of my books makes a difference in someone’s life, and that you, just like me, learn something new while you explore the character’s lives.

May you always make the right choice in the face of tough decisions, and may you continually go upward and onward in the direction of the sweetest of your dreams.

With Gratitude,

Dolce Dolce♥

1.Valencia, Pedro de; Gayo, Gaspar Morocho; Fernández, Francisco Javier Fuente; Jeśus Paniagua Pérez (1993). Obras completas (in Spanish). Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de León. p. 185. ISBN 978-84-7719-393-7.

2.Elizabeth Ofosuah Johnson. King Bayano, the Mandinka king who escaped slavery in the 1600s and fought off the Spanish for several years. Face 2 Face Africa. April 02, 2019. https://face2faceafrica.com/article/king-bayano-the-mandinka-king-who-escaped-slavery-in-the-1600s-and-fought-off-the-spanish-for-several-years

1. Waters

In ancient times there was a man that thought himself mighty. He plotted against the appointed king, my grandfather, by having him ambushed by our enemies. After the king was dead, he put on his armor and headed up to challenge the mountain because he wanted to be the king.

Halfway through his journey, the people heard a rumbling noise coming from the mountain. The ground moved with force, then a red cloud rose from the mountain, signaling that the