Afro-Jamaicans are Jamaicans of entirely or predominantly African descent. The first Africans to arrive came in 1513 from the Iberian Peninsula. They were servants, cowboys, herders of cattle, pigs and horses, as well as hunters. When the English captured Jamaica in 1655, many of them fought with the Spanish who gave them their freedom and then fled to the mountains resisting the British for many years to maintain their freedom, becoming known as Maroons. The British in this point in time, brought with them mostly Akan slaves, some of which runaway and joined with Maroons and even took over as leaders.