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Jamaica

The island of Jamaica, England's only colony in the Greater Antilles, was first seized by Europeans from the Spanish-sponsored fleets under Cristobal Colón: the Spanish centre was at Villa de la Vega (subsequently, Spanish Town). It had been settled by Taino (Arawak) peoples, who were wiped out. In 1655, it was captured by an English fleet under Admirals Sir William Penn (father of the future Proprietor of Pennsylvania) and Sir Robert Venables, but not formally relinquished by Spain. It was the prize gained by the Western Design, a Cromwellian plan to reclaim the successes against Catholic Spanish tyranny represented by the defeat of the Armada of 1588. The English had been attempting to seize the much greater prize of Hispaniola, but were humiliatingly repulsed, and thus made much of what was, in essence, a landing on an island on which there were only a few Spaniards, disparagingly referred to as 'cow killers'.

Jamaica had been a target of piracy throughout its tenure as a Spanish island, and continued to be so under English adminsitration. Thus, in 1657, the governor invited buccaneers to base themselves on the spit of land along Jamaica's south-eastern coast, with the intention of repelling Spanish attack, and the notorious town of Port Royal developed at its tip. The English defeated Spanish aggression at the battles of Ocho Rios and Rio Nuevo and, in the same year, Sir Robert Blake's fleet was the victor against its Spanish counterpart. The Spanish formally ceded Jamaica by the Treaty of Madrid, in 1670.

Jamaica proved difficult to populate. According to Daniel Gookin, settlers from New England were reluctant to go to a place with a seemingly high death rate and threat of Spanish attack, while merchants complained that the population of slaves was too low, owing to the provision of slaves at exorbitant cost, through a joint stock company (The Africa Company) (1696). The mountainous and densely forested interior of the island, especially the area of the Blue Mountains, along with 'Cockpit Country' - or the 'Land of Look Behind,' with their chief base at Accompong - and Nanny Town, became centres of the Maroons, escaped slaves, who took advantage of remote locations to escape recapture and to launch raids on settlements. The word 'maroon' is said to derive from the Spanish cimarrón, meaning wild, or uncouth. The British made a treaty with the maroons in 1739.

Port Royal was virtually wiped out by an earthquake, on 7 June 1692, which caused the town to sink into the sea, but left a rich heritage of archaeological finds. There is a small village remaining at Port Royal, being developed as a tourism/cruise ship centre, and the remains of the fort have been preserved along with some of the evidence from the debauched and luxurious lifestyle which was said to characterise the settlement in the late seventeenth century.

The wills of Jamaica from the earliest surviving records have been listed by genealogists, such as those to be found at Index to Early Wills of Jamaica, 1655-1816. For the social historian, however, the wills reveal that the combined pressure on the conscience provided by a debauched lifestyle and the constant alert over war with Spain, could yield some surprising results:

Example 1

Example 2

Links/ Further reading

Registrar General's Department, Twickenham Park, Spanish Town, St. Catherine.

The Jamaica Archives, King Street, Spanish Town.

Jamaican Family Search, genealogical research site, which requires a fee-paying subscription.

Jamaican Historical Society, publisher of the Jamaican Historical Review.

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