​​​​​​​The Quilombo dos Palmares was begun by runaway slaves, mainly from the Pernambuco sugarcane plantations, who initially gathered together about 70 kilometres west of the Pernambuco coastline, in Serra da Barriga (Belly Range), a place of dense palm tree forests.

Quilombolas are the current habitants of Black rural communities made by the descendants of African-American slaves, who lived, in their majority, from subsistence agriculture in donated, bought, or long-occupied lands.