[149], Jamaica under Donald Sangster and Hugh Shearer. Jamaica simultaneously sought her independence, which was achieved on August 6, 1962. After the Spanish repelled this poorly executed attack, the English force then sailed for Jamaica, the only Spanish West Indies island that did not have new defensive works. The economic structure shifted from a dependence on agriculture that in 1950 accounted for 30.8 percent of GDP to an agricultural contribution of 12.9 percent in 1960 and 6.7 percent in 1970. Timelines & Maps. Estimated property damage reached more than $200 million. The city ofPort Royal, across the harbour from Kingston, became a haven for pirates, until the devastating 1692 earthquake, when most of the city sank and a new capital, Kingston was founded. No planes were going in and out of Kingston, and telephone lines were jammed from Jamaica to Florida. On Christmas Day of 1831, a peaceful protest began. UK, Visiting the Middle East: Customs and Culture, A Brief Introduction to the Industrial Revolution, Ukraines Nukes: Museum of The Strategic Rocket Troops, Worlds Largest Mangrove Swamp; The Sundarbans. 1494 - Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica. 1993 - PNP returned to office with an increased majority. The elected members of this body were in a permanent minority and without any influence or administrative power. Jamaica was founded around 700AD by the peacefulArawak Indians, who had migrated from South America. The transatlantic slave trade is largely responsible for bringing to the Americas enslaved Africans. Although the concentration of land and wealth in Jamaica was not as drastic as in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, by the 1920s the typical sugar plantation on the island had increased to an average of 266 hectares. Parliament subsequently approved an emancipatory act that gave all enslaved people in British colonies their freedom by 1838. Christopher Columbus is believed to be the first European to reach Jamaica. Bustamante was succeeded as the prime minister in February 1967 by Donald Sangster, who in the same year died in office. The royal governor, the Jamaican legislature, and Parliament had many bitter disagreements regarding taxation and government expenditures. In the late 1830s and 40s the governors Sir Charles T. Metcalfe and James Bruce, 8th earl of Elgin, attempted to improve the economy by bringing in thousands of plantation workers from India (rather than paying higher wages to former slaves) and creating the islands first railway. Kingstons layout and architecture were subsequently altered, and Sir Sydney Olivier (later Lord Olivier) rebuilt its public offices on the finest street of the city. In sprinting, Jamaicans had begun their domination of the 100 metres world record in 2005. 1999 April - Violent protests take place against a 30% increase in fuel prices. According to Russell, the year 1838 was considered a good year: only 91 men died. (1956) "Jamaica and Britain", Dawson, Andrew. That helped Coke expand into construction, with his company winning numerous government contracts. [1] The preliminary results indicated a slim victory for the opposition Jamaican Labour Party led by Bruce Golding, which grew by two seats from 3129 to 3327 after official recounts. Enthusiasm for Rastafari declined in the 1980s, following the deaths of Haile Selassie and Marley.[58]. Hundreds of runaway slaves secured their freedom by escaping and fighting alongside the Maroons of Trelawny Town. Low crop prices, droughts, and disease led to serious social unrest, culminating in the Morant Bay rebellions of 1865. Initial Officer Training Programme (IOTP) provides basic military officer training to Officer Cadets (OCdts) and their equivalents from law enforcement and uniformed services. Garvey left the colony in 1935 to live in the United Kingdom, where he died heavily in debt five years later. Gomm, a veteran of the wars against revolutionary France and Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica from 1840 to 1841, relentlessly badgered the War Office in London to establish a mountain station for British soldiers in Jamaica soon after taking up his post. Considered by many writers of that time one of the world's deadliest earthquakes, it resulted in the death of over eight hundred Jamaicans and destroyed the homes of over ten thousand more.[55]. Membership in the federation remained an issue in Jamaican politics. In 1958, the West Indies Federation was founded and the infantry regiments of the various Caribbean islands were disbanded and reorganized into the West India Regiment. In an unusual move, because the Jamaican constitution required an opposition in the appointed Senate, Seaga appointed eight independent senators to form an official opposition. Coke took over the "Shower Posse" gang of Tivoli Gardens from his father, Lester Jim Brown Coke, in the 1990s. By 1850, the black & mulatto Jamaican population outnumbered the white population by a ratio of twenty to one. African slaves soon outnumbered Europeans 5 to 1. 2014 April - Anti-doping officials in Jamaica given Asafa Powell, once the world's top sprinter, an 18-month ban for failing a drugs test. Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a black activist, Trade Unionist, and husband to Amy Jacques Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League in 1914, one of Jamaica's first political parties in 1929, and a workers association in the early 1930s. 1960: Tourism industry begins. [42], In 1831, enslaved Baptist preacher Samuel Sharpe led a strike among demanding more freedom and a working wage of "half the going wage rate." These former Spanish slaves organised under the leadership of rival captains Juan de Serras and Juan de Bolas. An extensive period of postwar growth transformed Jamaica into an increasingly industrial society. The government also had an admirable record in housing provision, while measures were also taken to protect consumers from illegal and unfair business practices.[81]. He felt that the only hope for the future was a peace treaty with the enemy which recognized the independence of the Leeward Maroons. 1560: Slave trading to Brazil becomes a regular occurrence, with anywhere from around 2,500-6,000 enslaved people kidnapped and transported each year. Jamaica also became one of Britains most-valuable colonies in terms of agricultural production, with dozens of processing centres for sugar, indigo, and cacao (the source of cocoa beans), although a plant disease destroyed much of the cacao crop in 167071. 2007. Then later in 1996, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, effectively ending the cross-subsidies that had benefited ACP countries for many years. In 1660, the turning point was when some Spanish runaway slaves, who became Jamaican Maroons, switched sides from the Spanish to the English For England, Jamaica was to be the 'dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire,' although in fact it was a possession of little economic value then. In October 1968 when the Shearer government banned Dr. Walter Rodney from returning to his teaching position at the University of the West Indies, so-called Rodney riots started. In acknowledgment of this year as an important historical event, the National Library of Jamaica has compiled a select bibliography of materials available on this subject in its collections. In 1974, Manley proposed free education from primary school to university. Jamaica's two founding fathers projected quite different popular images. In 2011, Vybz Kartelat the time, one of dancehall's biggest starswas arrested for the murder of Clive "Lizard" William. Popular support for republicanism grows following the death of Elizabeth II. (With descriptive letterpress). The PNP adopted a socialist ideology in 1940 and later joined the Socialist International, allying itself formally with the social democratic parties of Western Europe. Upon landing in Jamaica and other islands, they quickly urged local growers to change their main crops from cotton and tobacco to sugarcane. main image:Image taken from Ten Views in the Island of Antigua, in which are represented the process of sugar making, and the employment of the negroesFrom drawings made by W. Clark, etc. The period after emancipation in 1834 initially was marked by a conflict between the plantocracy and elements in the Colonial Office over the extent to which individual freedom should be coupled with political participation for blacks. [122] The ICC were also condemned for high prices for tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations. In addition to the apprentice system, former slave owners were to be compensated for the loss of their "property." [25], In the second half of the seventeenth century, de Serras fought regular campaigns against English colonial forces, even attacking the capital of Spanish Town, and he was never defeated by the English. Nestled in the cool hills of upper St Andrew and amidst beautiful trees, ferns, ground orchids, delicate wild flowers and a profusion of ginger lilies, is the Newcastle. Cromwell increased the island's European population by sending indentured servants and prisoners to Jamaica. In 1553, Maroon revolts in Panama had forced the Spanish to the negotiating table, and by 1580 . Historically, land tenure in Jamaica has been rather inequitable. Morgan achieved some success against the Maroons, who withdrew further into the Blue Mountains, where they were able to stay out of the reach of Morgan and his forces. 1870 - Banana plantations set up as the sugar cane industry declines in the face of competition from European beet sugar. In Jamaica the. In May 1760, Tacky, a slave overseer on the Frontier plantation in Saint Mary Parish, led a group of enslaved Africans in taking over the Frontier and Trinity plantations while killing their enslavers. In 1868 the first large-scale irrigation project was launched. [17] Sexual violence against the Tano women by the Spanish was also common. The Offenses Against Persons Act does not formally ban homosexuality, but clause 76 provides for up to 10 years' imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for anyone convicted of the "abominable crime of buggery committed either with mankind or any animal". The Spanish were the first to import African slaves to work on tobacco and, later, sugar plantations. Due to the carefully adapted military and academic curricula, IOTP serves as the course to treat with the aforementioned considerations. 1655 - Jamaica is captured by the British. Read about our approach to external linking. When the English captured Jamaica in 1655, the Spanish colonists fled, leaving a large number of African slaves. Jamaica's political patterns and governmental structure were shaped during two decades of what was called "constitutional decolonisation," the period between 1944 and independence in 1962. [15] Disappointed in the lack of gold on the island, Jamaica was mainly used as a military base to supply colonization efforts in the mainland Americas. Two of the bloodiest periods in the 18th century became known as the Maroon Wars. Living in villages ruled by tribal chiefs called the caciques, they sustained themselves on fishing and the cultivation of maize and cassava. The Masters and Servants Act was abolished, and a Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act provided workers and their trade unions with enhanced rights. Uprisings in Jamaica began on the Frome Sugar Estate in the western parish of Westmoreland and quickly spread east to Kingston. 1884 - New constitution marks the initial revival of local autonomy. In the face of mounting pressure, a resolution was passed on August 1, 1838 releasing all "apprentices" regardless of position from all obligations to their former masters. Jamaicas internal strife was accompanied by external threats. However, many of the Spaniards escaped slaves had formed communities in the highlands, and increasing numbers also escaped from British plantations. The party concentrated its earliest efforts on establishing a network both in urban areas and in banana-growing rural parishes, later working on building support among small farmers and in areas of bauxite mining. Bananas soon became a principal export crop for small farmers as well as for large estates. Another provision of the agreement was that the Maroons would serve to protect the island from invaders. ", Dunkley, Daive A. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. 2023 BBC. Revolutionary timeline. The latter was because the Maroons were revered by the British as skilled warriors. Beginning with the Stuart monarchy's appointment of a civil governor to Jamaica in 1661, political patterns were established that lasted well into the 20th century. View of Kingston in 1907 showing damage caused by the earthquake. [10], Around 800 CE, the Arawak tribes of the Tainos arrived, eventually settling throughout the island. On the back of the Grenada invasion, Seaga called snap elections at the end of 1983, which Manley's PNP boycotted. View full text book material from the Bibliography. The Baptist War, as it was known, became the largest slave uprising in the British West Indies,[44] lasting 10 days and mobilised as many as 60,000 of Jamaica's 300,000 slaves. From the 1920s the growing professional classes and people of mixed African and European ancestry agitated for more-representative government. The slave trade has been the subject of extensive scholarship; confronting issues such as the number of Africans transported to the Americas and the social, economic and political effects of the trade. The hurricane caused almost $1 billion worth of damage to the island, with banana and coffee crops wiped out and thousands of homes destroyed. The apprentice system was unpopular amongst Jamaica's "former" slaves especially elderly slaves who unlike slave owners were not provided any compensation. Services now account for over 60 percent of Jamaica's GDP and one of every four workers in Jamaica works in tourism or services. What is the history of Jamaica Timeline; What is the history of Jamaica Timeline Religion in Jamaica. The apprentice system saw little change for most ex-slaves, who were. This Oped News article by John Martin originally posted in 2008 (first reposted in 2015 on Global Research), skims the surface of a complex historical process which has been the object of critical debate, controversy and confusion. 2013. "Policy Reform for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean", p. 39. Jamaica is one of the most indebted countries and spends around half of its annual federal budget on debt repayments. Here, on the average, 1 soldier died every 2 days. Unofficial estimates state that at least 30 people were killed around the island. However, the act stipulated that all slaves above the age of 6 on the date abolition took effect, were bound (indentured) in service to their former owners', albeit with a guarantee of rights, under what was called the "Apprenticeship System". [38] Obeahmen (Caribbean witch doctors) quickly circulated around the camp dispensing a powder that they claimed would protect the men from injury in battle and loudly proclaimed that an Obeahman could not be killed. By 1890, bananas had replaced sugar as Jamaica's principal export. This bibliography is divided into categories according to the type of material, as follows: Newspaper References (Royal Gazette & Jamaica Courant 1805-1806). In the 1980 election, Edward Seaga and the JLP won by an overwhelming majority 57 percent of the popular vote and 51 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives. [22] For England, Jamaica was to be the "dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire," but in fact, it was a possession of little economic value then. Baptist War. By 1882 sugar output was less than half what it was in 1828. Coke was eventually captured on 23 June, after initial rumours that he was attempting to surrender to the United States. Under Christopher Coke's leadership, the gang trafficked drugs and dabbled in visa fraud (using a high-school athletics team) and extortion, charging small traders in the nearby market for protection money. [146], However, marijuana may become a new cash crop and tourist-draw for Jamaica, depending on future legislation. Independence from Britain was granted in 1962. 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