Jamaica's first inhabitants were Taíno (also called Arawak) Indians, who arrived from South America around 900 AD and led a simple life of farming and fishing until the arrival in 1494 of Columbus, who claimed the island for Spain. Spanish settlement began in 1510, first at Sevilla Nueva on the north coast and then at the site of today's Spanish Town, just northwest of Kingston.

Spanish Town was completely sacked by the British in 1596, and again in 1643. In 1655, fifteen British ships, having failed in their assault on the island of Hispaniola, turned their sights on neighboring Jamaica. They quickly captured Spanish Town, but the Spanish weren't defeated until five years later, when the last of them fled to Cuba.

In the process, the Spanish freed and armed their slaves, most of who fled to the mountainous interior. The Maroons, as they were called, later waged successful guerrilla war against the British.

Under British rule, new settlers were enticed to Jamaica with gifts of land. The colonists established vast sugarcane plantations. In the eighteenth century, the island became the world's biggest producer of sugar. The planters amassed extraordinary fortunes, but their wealth was predicated upon the appalling inhumanity of slavery.

Despite heavy opposition from a West Indian lobby desperate to protect its riches in the colonies, pressure from the church finally brought about the abolition of slavery in 1834. Across the country, missionaries set up " free villages ", buying land, subdividing it and either selling or donating it to former slaves.  

Jamaica's sugar industry took another major blow in 1846, when a free-trade-minded British government passed the Sugar Duties Act, forcing Jamaica's producers to compete on equal terms with sugar producers worldwide.

At the same time, the development of beet-sugar in Europe reduced demand for the West Indian product.

The economic downturn that followed abolition and the introduction of free trade in sugar took its toll on the freed slaves. Wages were kept pitifully low, taxes were imposed and unemployment rose as plantations were downsized or abandoned altogether.

There were numerous riots, the most significant of which took place in 1865, when a major rebellion broke out in Morant Bay in St Thomas. Fearing island wide insurrection, the governor ordered a show of strength from the armed forces.

Little mercy was shown as 437 people were killed, while thousands more were flogged and terrorized.

The brutal suppression caused horror throughout Jamaica and Britain and the governor was dismissed for his part in the atrocities. His assembly abolished itself, and in 1866, Jamaica became a Crown Colony. more...

Jamaica Travel Guide
Montego Bay, Kingston, Ocho Rios, Negril, Blue Mountains, Portland

Caribbean Travel Guide