In The Kingdom of This World, the maroon leader is Mackandal, also spelled Macandal or Makandal. Alejo Carpentier presents him as an enslaved African man on the plantation of Lenormand de Mézy who becomes a powerful rebel figure after losing his arm in a machinery accident. No longer useful for heavy plantation labor, Mackandal is placed in charge of cattle, giving him opportunities to move beyond the plantation and learn about herbs, plants, and fungi.
Mackandal organizes resistance through poison, targeting livestock and French colonists, while building connections among enslaved people on surrounding plantations. In Carpentier’s retelling, his knowledge and reputation become intertwined with African spirituality and metamorphosis. He is said to transform into animals and insects, making the marvelous a weapon against colonial power.
The historical Mackandal was a Haitian maroon and spiritual leader in Saint-Domingue who was captured and executed by burning in 1758. Carpentier’s novel, first published in Spanish in 1949, turns his memory into a source of inspiration for later rebellion. Ti Noël is the novel’s central connecting character, while Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe belong to later stages of the Haitian revolutionary story.