The History of Jamaica

Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean and is part of the Greater Antilles, which is one of three island groups in the Caribbean. It was originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1494, and was settled by Spain in the early 16^th century. The natives of Jamaica, the Taino, were eventually exterminated by the settlers and replaced by African slaves.

In 1655 the island was seized by England, who established a plantation economy based on sugar, cocoa, and coffee.

When slavery was abolished in 1834, many of the quarter million slaves that was freed and stationed on Jamaica became small farmers. Bit by bit, Jamaica became more and more independent from Britain. It joined the Federation of West Indies in 1958, an organisation formed by other British Caribbean colonies, and gained its complete independence when it withdrew from it in 1962.

The following decade witnessed a strong economical growth in Jamaica, mostly due to strong investments, tourism and manufacturing industry. However, a sense of inequality rose, and a feeling that the benefits of economical growth were not experienced by the poor.

This, together with the downfall of global economy during the 70’s, led to a change in government, electing the PNP (People’s National Party) in 1972. Michael Manley, as the first PNP prime minister elected in 1972, introduced socialist policies and relations with Cuba. His second term elections marked the start of repeated political violence, so when the PNP lost power in 1980, Edward Seaga began to reverse the policies that Michael Manley had introduced, bringing in privatization and seeking closer ties with the USA. When the PNP and Manley returned to power in 1989, they continued the more moderate policies, but he resigned in 1992 for health reasons and was replaced as leader of the PNP by Percival Patterson.

Economic deterioration continued into the mid-1980s. The first and third largest producers of alumina closed, and there was a significant production reduction by the second largest producers. In addition to this, tourism decreased and Reynolds Jamaica Mines, Ltd. left the Jamaican industry.