The Quilombo dos Palmares, a community of escaped enslaved people in the mountains of northeastern Brazil, was one of the largest and most enduring maroon societies in the Americas, existing from about 1600 to 1695. At its peak, Palmares had a population of up to 30,000 people, organized into several settlements with a complex social and political structure. The quilombo's most famous leader, Zumbi, who had been born free in Palmares, led the community's resistance against repeated Portuguese and Dutch attacks. Zumbi became a symbol of Black resistance and freedom, and his death in 1695 marked the end of the quilombo, but his legacy lived on in Brazilian culture.

Zumbi and Palmares have been celebrated in Brazilian literature, poetry, and music as icons of resistance against oppression. The quilombo has inspired works by Afro-Brazilian writers such as Abdias do Nascimento and has been a central theme in the poetry of the black consciousness movement. Zumbi's image is invoked in contemporary Brazilian literature to symbolize the ongoing struggle for racial equality and social justice.