Little is known about the island’s early history, except that there are many traces of Arawak habitation, and that Arawaks, agriculturists who made good quality textiles and pottery, were living there when Christopher Columbus landed on 14 May 1494. He named the island Santiago but, the name was never adopted and it kept its Arawak name Xaymaca, of which ‘Jamaica’ is a corruption. Lacking gold, Jamaica was used mainly as a staging post in the scramble for the wealth of the Americas.

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The Spanish arrival was a disaster to the indigenous peoples, great numbers of whom were sent to Spain as slaves, others used as slaves on site, and many killed by the invaders, despite the efforts of Spanish Christian Missionaries to prevent these outrages. There were no Arawaks left on the island by 1665, but there were enslaved Africans replacing them.

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In 1645 the British captured Jamaica from the Spaniards, whose former slaves refused to surrender, took to the mountains and repelled all attempts to subjugate them. Between 1660 and 1670 pirates used Jamaica as a place of resort.

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In 1670 Spain formally ceded the island to Britain. Two years later the Royal Africa Company, a slave trading enterprise, was formed. The company used Jamaica as its chief market, and the island became a centre of slave trading in the West Indies. Nonetheless, the battles of the Maroons to retain their freedom succeeded when, in 1740, the British authorities recognised their rights to freedom and ownership of property.

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Settlers, using slave labour, developed sugar, cocoa, indigo and later coffee estates. The island was very prosperous by the time of the Napoleonic wars (1792–1814), exporting sugar and coffee; but after the wars sugar prices dropped, and the slave trade was abolished in 1807.

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After the emancipation of slaves in 1834, the plantations were worked by indentured Indian and Chinese labourers. Sugar prices fell again in 1846. Jamaica’s worsening economic situation caused widespread suffering and discontent. In October 1865, a political protest at Morant Bay organised by G W Gordon developed into an uprising during which the local magistrate and 18 other Europeans were killed. The Governor, E J Eyre, declared martial law and launched a punitive campaign of ruthless severity, with several executions without trial, including the hanging of Gordon, who had not instigated any violence. The reaction in Britain was astonished outrage. Eyre was removed from office and Jamaica placed under Crown colony rule (1866).

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The banana industry was established in the second half of the 19th century, on big estates and smallholdings. In the early 20th century, Jamaicans worked on banana plantations in Central America and Cuba, and in the construction of the Panama Canal.

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Jamaica’s first colonial constitution gave considerable power to settlers. The governor’s council included senior figures such as the bishop and Chief Justice, but the representative assembly was controlled by white settlers. After the imposition of direct Crown colony rule in 1866, settlers lost their power and the Governor was advised only by the mainly nominated privy council. With amendments, this constitution was retained until 1944.

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In 1938, the People’s National Party (PNP), led by Norman Manley, was formed to campaign for independence. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), led by Sir Alexander Bustamante, was founded in 1943.

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In 1944 an executive council was established. When Jamaica joined the Federation of the West Indies in 1958, it had full internal self- government with a legislative council (Senate) and legislative assembly (holding real power).

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On independence in 1962 Bustamante was Prime Minister. With bauxite in demand, tourism flourishing and a revival in bananas, Jamaica’s economy boomed.

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Music

Though a small nation, Jamaican culture has a strong global presence. The musical genres Reggae, Ska and many more all originated in the island's vibrant, popular urban recording industry. Jamaica also played an important role in the development of punk rock, through reggae and ska. Reggae has also influenced American rap music, as they share roots as rhythmic, African styles of music. Internationally known reggae musician Bob Marley was also Jamaican.

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Sport

Sport is an integral part of national life in Jamaica and the island's athletes tend to perform to a standard well above what might ordinarily be expected of such a small country. While the most popular local sport is cricket - Jamaica has produced some of the world's most famous cricketers, including George Headley, Courtney Walsh, and Michael Holding - on the international stage Jamaicans have tended to do particularly well at track and field athletics. Over the past six decades Jamaica has produced dozens of world class sprinters including Olympic and World Champion Usain Bolt.

Sugar cane cutters in Jamaica, 1880

Historic building in downtown Montego Bay, Jamaica

Street vendor in Montego Bay

Jamaica is now popular with cruise ships

Bob Marley

The Windrush Generation

The HMT Empire Windrush is best remembered today for bringing one of the first large groups of post-war West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom, carrying 492 passengers and one stowaway on a voyage from Jamaica to London in 1948. British Caribbean people who came to the United Kingdom in the period after World War II are sometimes referred to as 'the Windrush generation'.

Photo: Royal Navy/IWM/Wikimedia • Believed to be in the Public Domain (Age - Copyright expired)

HMT Empire Windrush