History: Information from Wikipedia
Main article: History of Jamaica
Prehistory
Main article: Pre-Columbian Jamaica
The Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, first settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC.[15] When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques (chiefs of villages). The south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour.[15] The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655.[15] The Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Yamaye.[16] Today, few Jamaican natives remain. Most notably among some Maroon communities as well as within some communities in Cornwall County, Jamaica[17][18][19]
Spanish rule (1509–1655)
Main article: Colony of Santiago
Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494. His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay,[20] and St. Ann’s Bay was named “Saint Gloria” by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. One and a half kilometres west of St. Ann’s Bay is the site of the first Spanish settlement on the island, Sevilla, which was established in 1509 and abandoned around 1524 because it was deemed unhealthy.[21] The capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534 (at present-day St. Catherine).[22]
British rule (1655–1962)
Main article: Colony of Jamaica
Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean.[22] The Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In the 1655 Invasion of Jamaica, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, took over the last Spanish fort on the island.[23] The name of Montego Bay, the capital of the parish of St. James, was derived from the Spanish name bahía de manteca (or Bay of Lard), alluding to the lard-making industry based on processing the numerous boars in the area.[24]
Henry Morgan was a famous Caribbean pirate and privateer; he had first come to the West Indies as an indentured servant, like most of the early English colonists.[25]
In 1660, the population of Jamaica was about 4,500 white and 1,500 black.[26] By the early 1670s, as the English developed sugar cane plantations and “imported” more slaves, black people formed a majority of the population.[27] The colony was shaken and almost destroyed by the 1692 Jamaica earthquake.
The Irish in Jamaica also formed a large part of the island’s early population, making up two-thirds of the white population on the island in the late 17th century, twice that of the English population. They were brought in as indentured labourers and soldiers after the conquest of Jamaica by Cromwell’s forces in 1655. The majority of Irish were transported by force as political prisoners of war from Ireland as a result of the ongoing Wars of the Three Kingdoms at the time.[28] Migration of large numbers of Irish to the island continued into the 18th century.[29]
Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and then forcibly converted to Christianity in Portugal, during a period of persecution by the Inquisition. Some Spanish and Portuguese Jewish refugees went to the Netherlands and England, and from there to Jamaica. Others were part of the Iberian colonisation of the New World, after overtly converting to Catholicism, as only Catholics were allowed in the Spanish colonies. By 1660, Jamaica had become a refuge for Jews in the New World, also attracting those who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal.
An early group of Jews arrived in 1510, soon after the son of Christopher Columbus settled on the island. Primarily working as merchants and traders, the Jewish community was forced to live a clandestine life, calling themselves “Portugals”. After the British took over rule of Jamaica, the Jews decided the best defense against Spain’s regaining control was to encourage making the colony a base for Caribbean pirates. With the pirates installed in Port Royal, which became the largest city in the Caribbean, the Spanish would be deterred from attacking. The British leaders agreed with the viability of this strategy to forestall outside aggression.[30]
When the English captured Jamaica in 1655, the Spanish colonists fled after freeing their slaves.[23] The slaves dispersed into the mountains, joining the maroons, those who had previously escaped to live with the Taíno native people.[31] During the centuries of slavery, Maroons established free communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica, where they maintained their freedom and independence for generations. The Jamaican Maroons fought the British during the 18th century. Under treaties of 1738 and 1739, the British agreed to stop trying to round them up in exchange for their leaving the colonial settlements alone, but serving if needed for military actions.[31] Some of the communities were broken up and the British deported Maroons to Nova Scotia and, later, Sierra Leone. The name is still used today by modern Maroon descendants, who have certain rights and autonomy at the community of Accompong.
During its first 200 years of British rule, Jamaica became one of the world’s leading sugar-exporting, slave-dependent colonies, producing more than 77,000 tons of sugar annually between 1820 and 1824. After the abolition of the international slave trade in 1807,[32] the British began to “import” indentured servants to supplement the labour pool, as many freedmen resisted working on the plantations. Workers recruited from India began arriving in 1845, Chinese workers in 1854.[33] Many South Asian and Chinese descendants continue to reside in Jamaica today.[34][35]
Montpelier Plantation, the property of C. R. Ellis, Esq. M.P., c. 1820
By the beginning of the 19th century, Jamaica’s dependence on slave labour and a plantation economy had resulted in black people outnumbering white people by a ratio of almost 20 to 1. Although the UK had outlawed the importation of slaves, some were still smuggled in from Spanish colonies and directly. While planning the abolition of slavery, the British Parliament passed laws to improve conditions for slaves. They banned the use of whips in the field and flogging of women; informed planters that slaves were to be allowed religious instruction, and required a free day during each week when slaves could sell their produce,[36] prohibiting Sunday markets to enable slaves to attend church.[citation needed]
The House of Assembly in Jamaica resented and resisted the new laws. Members (then restricted to European-Jamaicans) claimed that the slaves were content and objected to Parliament’s interference in island affairs. Slave owners feared possible revolts if conditions were lightened. Following a series of rebellions on the island and changing attitudes in Great Britain, the British government formally abolished slavery by an 1833 act, beginning in 1834, with full emancipation from chattel slavery declared in 1838. The population in 1834 was 371,070, of whom 15,000 were white, 5,000 free black; 40,000 ‘coloured’ or free people of color (mixed race); and 311,070 were slaves.[26]
Over the next 20 years, several epidemics of cholera, scarlet fever, and smallpox hit the island, killing almost 60,000 people (about 100 per day). Nevertheless, in 1871 the census recorded a population of 506,154 people, 246,573 of which were males, and 259,581 females. Their races were recorded as 13,101 white, 100,346 coloured (mixed black and white), and 392,707 black.[37]
In the 19th century, the British established a number of botanical gardens. These included the Castleton Botanical Gardens, developed in 1862 to replace the Bath Botanical Gardens (created in 1779) which was subject to flooding. Bath Botanical Gardens was the site for planting breadfruit, brought to Jamaica from the Pacific by Captain William Bligh. It became a staple in island diets. Other gardens were the Cinchona Plantation, founded in 1868, and the Hope Botanical Gardens founded in 1874. In 1872, Kingston was designated as the island’s capital.
In 1945, Sir Horace Hector Hearne became Chief Justice and Keeper of the Records in Jamaica. He headed the Supreme Court, Kingston between 1945 and 1950/1951. After Kenya achieved independence, its government appointed him as Chief Justice and he moved there.
Independence (1962)
Main article: Independence of Jamaica
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to Jamaica in 2008
Jamaica slowly gained increasing independence from the United Kingdom. In 1958, it became a province in the Federation of the West Indies, a federation among the British West Indies. Jamaica attained full independence by leaving the federation in 1962.
Strong economic growth, averaging approximately 6% per annum, marked the first ten years of independence under conservative Jamaica Labour Party governments; these were led by successive Prime Ministers Alexander Bustamante, Donald Sangster and Hugh Shearer. The growth was fueled by high levels of private investment in bauxite/alumina, tourism, the manufacturing industry and, to a lesser extent, the agricultural sector.
The optimism of the first decade was accompanied by a growing sense of inequality among many Afro-Jamaicans, and a concern that the benefits of growth were not being shared by the urban poor.[citation needed] Combined with the effects of a slowdown in the global economy in 1970,[citation needed] the voters elected the PNP (People’s National Party) in 1972. It tried to implement more socially equitable policies in education and health, but the economy suffered under its government. By 1980, Jamaica’s gross national product had declined to some 25% below its 1972 level. Owing to rising foreign and local debt, accompanied by large fiscal deficits, the government sought International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing from the United States and others.
Economic deterioration continued into the mid-1980s, exacerbated by a number of factors. The largest and third-largest alumina producers, Alpart and Alcoa, closed; and there was a significant reduction in production by the second-largest producer, Alcan. Reynolds Jamaica Mines, Ltd. left the Jamaican industry. There was also a decline in tourism, which was important to the economy.
Independence, however widely celebrated in Jamaica, has been questioned in the early 21st century. In 2011, a survey showed that approximately 60% of Jamaicans believe that the country would be better off had it remained a British colony, with only 17% believing it would be worse off, citing as problems years of social and fiscal mismanagement in the country.[38][39]
Government and politics
Main article: Politics of Jamaica Further information: Foreign relations of Jamaica and Republicanism in Jamaica
Inside the Jamaican Parliament
Jamaica is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The current Queen of Jamaica is Elizabeth II.[40] As Elizabeth II is queen of fifteen other countries and resides mostly in the United Kingdom, she is often represented by the Governor-General of Jamaica.[41]
The governor-general is nominated by the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the entire Cabinet and then appointed by the monarch. All the members of the Cabinet are appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister. The monarch and the governor-general serve largely ceremonial roles, apart from their reserve powers for use in certain constitutional crisis situations.
Jamaica’s current constitution was drafted in 1962 by a bipartisan joint committee of the Jamaican legislature. It came into force with the Jamaica Independence Act, 1962 of the United Kingdom parliament, which gave Jamaica independence.
The Parliament of Jamaica is bicameral, consisting of the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House). Members of the House (known as Members of Parliament or MPs) are directly elected, and the member of the House of Representatives who, in the governor-general’s best judgement, is best able to command the confidence of a majority of the members of that House, is appointed by the governor-general to be the prime minister. Senators are nominated jointly by the prime minister and the parliamentary Leader of the Opposition and are then appointed by the governor-general.
The Judiciary of Jamaica operates on a common law system derived from English law and British Commonwealth precedents. The court of final appeal is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, though the 2000s, the parliament attempted to replace it with the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Political parties and elections
Jamaica has traditionally had a two-party system, with power often alternating between the People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The party with current administrative and legislative power is the Jamaica Labour Party, with a one-seat parliamentary majority as of 2016. There are also several minor parties who have yet to gain a seat in parliament; the largest of these is the National Democratic Movement (NDM).
Administrative divisions
Main article: Parishes of Jamaica
Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes, which are grouped into three historic counties that have no administrative relevance.
In the context of local government the parishes are designated “Local Authorities.” These local authorities are further styled as “Municipal Corporations,” which are either city municipalities or town municipalities.[42] Any new city municipality must have a population of at least 50,000, and a town municipality a number set by the Minister of Local Government.[42] There are currently no town municipalities.
The local governments of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrews are consolidated as the city municipality of Kingston & St. Andrew Municipal Corporation. The newest city municipality created is the Municipality of Portmore in 2003. While it is geographically located within the parish of St. Catherine, it is governed independent
