History

The original Arawak or Taino people from South America first settled on the island between 1000 and 4000 BC. Although some claim they became virtually extinct following contact with Europeans, others claim that some survived. Whatever the case, the culture of the Arawaks is deeply evident and rooted in the food Jamaicans eat, some words they use in the dialects, the cultural medicine they practice and the art that remained. The Arawak called the land Xamayca, meaning 'land of wood and water'.

1509-1655: Spanish Rule

After Christopher Columbus' arrival in 1494, Spain claimed the island and began occupation in 1509, naming the island Santiago (St. James). The settlers later moved to Villa de la Vega, now called Spanish Town, which became the capital of Jamaica.

For 100 years, between 1555 and 1655, Spanish Jamaica was subject to many pirate attacks. However, by the 1640s, many people had moved to Jamaica and made their life there, partly due to the island's reputation for stunning beauty. In fact, pirates were known to desert their raiding parties and stay on the island.

1655-1962: British Rule

In May 1655, British forces in the form of a joint expedition by Admiral Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables seized the island. In 1657, the Governor invited buccaneers to base themselves at Port Royal to deter Spanish aggression. The Spanish, sailing from Cuba, failed at the battles of Ocho Rios and Rio Nuevo in their attempts to re-take the island, and in 1657 Admiral Robert Blake defeated the Spanish West Indian Fleet.

The British extended colonisation in 1661 and in 1670, they gained formal recognition of possession from other European powers through the Treaty of Madrid. However, part of the island remained in the hands of the Maroons (runaway slaves who had formed their own communities in inland Jamaica) with whom they signed a treaty on 1 March 1738. Although much of the Spanish capital, Villa de la Vega, was burned during the conquest, the English renamed it Spanish Town and kept it as the island's capital. For some time, however, Port Royal functioned as the capital whilst Spanish Town was being rebuilt.

The island was a major base for pirates, especially at Port Royal before it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1692. After the disaster, Kingston was founded across the harbour, one of the largest natural havens in the world, and rapidly became the major commercial centre of the island.

Slave Labour

The cultivation of sugar cane and coffee made Jamaica one of the most valuable possessions in the world for more than 150 years. During its first 200 years of British rule, Jamaica became one of the world's leading sugar exporting nations and produced over 77,000 tons of sugar annually between 1820 and 1824, which was achieved through the massive use of imported African slave labour. When this labour became insufficient, the British imported Indian and Chinese indentured servants in the early 1800s, which remained in Jamaica from then until present day.

The colony's slaves, who outnumbered their white masters 300,000 to 30,000 in 1800, mounted over a dozen major slave conspiracies and uprisings between 1673 and 1832. Escaped slaves, (known as Maroons) established independent communities in the mountainous interior that the British were unable to defeat, despite major attempts. However, one Maroon community was expelled from the island after the Second Maroon War in the 1790s and eventually became part of the core of the Creole community of Sierra Leone.

The British also used Jamaica's free people of colour, 10,000 strong by 1800, to keep the enslaved population in check. During the Christmas holiday of 1831, a large scale slave revolt involving as many as 60,000 of the island's 300,000 slave population (known as the Baptist War) broke out. It was originally organised as a peaceful strike by Samuel Sharp. The rebellion was suppressed by the militia of the Jamaican plantocracy and the British garrison ten days later in early 1832.

As a result of the loss of property and life in the 1831 rebellion, the British Parliament held two inquiries. The results of these inquiries contributed greatly to the abolition of slavery as of August 1, 1834 throughout the British Empire. However, the Jamaican slaves remained bound to their former owners' service, albeit with a guarantee of rights, until 1838 under what was called the Apprenticeship System.

Jamaica as a Crown Colony

The freed population still faced significant hardships, marked by the October 1865 Morant Bay rebellion led by George William Gordon and Paul Bogle. It was brutally repressed and in its wake the island's Assembly renounced its authority and Jamaica became a Crown Colony. In 1872, the capital was moved to Kingston, as the port city had far outstripped the inland Spanish Town in size and sophistication.

The establishment of Crown Colony rule resulted over the next few decades in the growth of a middle class of low-level public officials and police officers drawn from the mass of the population whose social and political advancement was blocked by the colonial authorities.

The sugar crop was declining in importance in the late 19th century and the colony diversified into bananas. The Great Depression had a serious impact both on the emergent middle class and the working class of the 1930s. In the spring of 1938 sugar and dock workers around the island rose in revolt. Although the revolt was suppressed, it led to significant changes including the emergence of an organised labour movement and a competitive party system.

The People's National Party (PNP) was founded in 1938. Its main rival, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was established five years later. Jamaica gained a degree of local political control in the mid-1940s, and the first elections under universal adult suffrage was held in 1944.

Jamaica joined nine other UK territories in the Federation of the West Indies in 1958 but withdrew after Jamaican voters rejected membership in 1961.

1962 Onwards: Independent Jamaica

Jamaica gained independence on August 6, 1962, remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The first prime minister was Alexander Bustamante of the Jamaica Labour Party. Initially, power regularly swapped between the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican Labour Party.

Michael Manley was the first PNP prime minister in 1972 and he introduced socialist policies and improved relations with Cuba. Jamaica began to lag behind economically, with its gross national product falling in 1980 to some 25% below the level previously obtained in 1972. Rising foreign and local debt accompanied by large fiscal deficits resulted in the invitation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing from the USA and others, and the imposition of IMF austerity measures (with a greater than 25% interest rate per year). Manley's second term elections marked the start of repeated political violence.

When the PNP lost power in 1980, Edward Seaga of the Jamaica Labour Party immediately began reversing the policies of his predecessor, bringing in privatisation and seeking closer ties with the USA. When the PNP and Manley returned to power in 1989 they continued the more moderate policies and were returned in the elections of 1993 and 1998. Manley resigned for health reasons in 1992 and was succeeded as leader of the PNP by Percival Patterson who ran the country until 2006, before being succeeded by Portia Simpson-Miller, the first female head of government of the nation.