INTRODUCTION. It is generally believed that the original inhabitants of Jamaica most likely came from islands situated to the east in two waves of enormous migrations. In about 600 CE, the culture now commonly referred to as the 'Redware People' arrived in Jamaica first. However, very little is still known about them as yet. The Alligator Pond in Manchester Parish and the Little River in St. Ann Parish are reputedly the earliest known sites of the Ostinoid person, who was said to have lived near the coast and predominantly hunted turtles and fish for a living. It was said that around 800 CE, the Arawak arrived, and eventually settled throughout the island. Living in villages which were ruled by tribal chiefs called the caciques, they were able to cater for themselves by fishing and also by the cultivation of maize or cassava. However, even at the height of their civilization, the Arawak population was estimated at about 60 000 people. It was the Arawak's who brought the South American system of raising yuca, which was also known as 'conuco.' In order to refurbish the soil nutrients, the Arawak were known to burn local bushes and trees and heaped the resultant ashes in large mounds, into which they will eventually plant yuca cuttings. Most Arawak people lived in circular buildings called bohios, which were constructed with wooden poles, woven straws, and palm leaves too. They spoke the Arawak language and never really wrote, or had no writing rather. A few of the words used by them are barbacoa (barbecue), hamaca (hammock), Kanoa (canoe), tobaco (tobacco), yuca bata (sweet potato), and juracan (hurricane). All these words have been incorporated into Spanish and English languages with time. SPANISH JAMAICA. It is generally believed that Christopher Columbus was the first European to reach Jamaica around 5 May 1494. He arrived on the island during his second voyage to the Americas. It is also known that Columbus returned to Jamaica during his fourth voyage too. He was said to have been sailing around the Carribean for close to one year when a sudden storm beached his ships in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, on 25 June 1503. After the incident, he along with his men remained on the island for a long time before they were finally able to leave in June 1504. The Spanish king was known to have granted the island to the Columbus family, though for several years, it was something like a backwater, which was valued chiefly as a supply base for food and animal skins. However, in 1509, Juan de Esquivel founded the first permanent European settlement, which was the town of Sevilla la Neva ( New Seville), on the north coast. Though, a decade later, Friar Bartolomeo de las Casas wrote to the Spanish government about Esquivel's conduct during the Higuey massacre of 1503. However, in 1534 the capital was relocated to Villa de la Vega( later Santiago de la Vega), which is now called the Spanish Town. This town served as the capitals of both the Spanish and English Jamaica , from their founding in 1534 up to around 1872, after which the capital was again moved to Kingston, where it still remains until today. The Spanish enslaved a lot of Arawak people, though some were said to escape, but many died from diseases peculiar to Europe and excessive work as well. The Spaniards were said to also introduce the first African slaves, and by the early 17 century, when it was believed that no Taino was remaining in the region, the overall population of the island was close to about 3000 people, which included a small number of black African slaves. The Spaniards were disappointed that no gold was actually discovered on the island, which the Spaniards primarily used as a Jamaican military base to support colonising efforts in the whole of mainland Americas. The Spanish colonists did not bring women in the first expeditions and were known to take Taino women for their common-law wives, which resulted in mestizo children's sexual violence against the Taino women by the Spanish. BRITISH INVASION. It is known that sometime in late 1654, the English leader Oliver Cromwell launched the Western Design Amanda against mainly the Spanish colonies in the Carribean. However, in April 1665, General Robert Venables led the armada in an attack against Spanish Fort at Santo Domingo, Hispaniola. The Spanish were able to repel this poorly contrived attack. Thereafter, the English forces then sailed for Jamaica, which was the only Spanish West Indies island that did not have any new defensive works. Sometime in May 1665, around 7 000 English soldiers arrived near Jamaica's Spanish Town capital and before long overpowered the small number of Spanish soldiers. Afterwards, Spain never recaptured Jamaica, losing the Battle of Ochoa Rios in 1657 and also the Battle of Rio Nuevo in 1658. In the year 1660, the turning point was when some Spanish runaway slaves, who later became Jamaican Maroons, switched sides from the Spanish to the English. For England, Jamaica was supposed to be the 'dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire,' although in reality, it was just a possession of Jamaica from Spain in the year 1670 through the Treaty of Madrid. BRITISH COLONISATION. In order to increase the population of the island's European population, Cromwell sent in intended servant and prisoners to Jamaica. Although due to the wars in Ireland at that time, two thirds of the 17 century European population was Irish. However, tropical diseases kept the population at about 10 000 only until around 1740. Even though the African slave population in the 1670s and 1680s never exceeded 10 000, but by the end of the 17 century, imports of slaves increased Jamaica's black population to about five times that of the whites. As a result, Jamaica's African population did not significantly increase in size until well into the 18 century, due to mostly ships coming from the west coast of Africa. At the beginning of the 18 century, the population of slsves in Jamaica did not exceed 45 000, but by 1800 it had increased to well over 300 000 people. JAMAICA'S PIRATES. After the conquest of 1655, Spain repeatedly made several attempts to recapture Jamaica, and in response, in 1657, Governor Edward D' Oyley, invited the Brethren of the coast to come to Port Royal and make it their permanent home port. The Brethren was predominantly made up of pirates who were actually descendants of cattle hunting Boucaniers who had resorted to hunting after they were robbed by the Spanish, and eventually sent out of Hispaniola. The pirates concentrated their attacks on Spanish shipping, whose interests were considered the main threat to the town. These pirates later became the legal English privateers who were given letters of marque by the then Jamaica's governor. At about the same time when the pirates were invited to Port Royal, England led several attacks on Spanish shipping vessels and coastal towns. Sending the newly appointed privateers after the Spanish ships and settlement, which made England to successfully set up a system of defense for Port Royal. Jamaica therefore became a haven for privateers, buccaneers, and sometimes outright pirates: Christopher Myngs, Edward Mansvelt, and also the famous Henry Morgan, were some of them. Later, England achieved the formal possession of Jamaica from Spain in 1670 through the treaty of Madrid. Without the threat of war from Spanish attacks, this peace served as an incentive to farming activities. In addition, it also improved the supply of slaves, which led to more protection, including the military support for the planters against any foreign competition. This caused sugar monoculture and slave-worked plantation society to spread across Jamaica in the 18 century, and consequently, reducing Jamaica's dependence on privateers for protection and money. JAMAICA'S SUGAR BOOM IN THE 18 CENTURY. Around mid 17 century, sugarcane had been imported to the West Indies by the Dutch from Brazil. Upon landing in Jamaica, they hurriedly urged local growers to change their major crops from cotton and tobacco to sugarcane. With plummeted prices of cotton and tobacco, due to intense competition from the North American colonies, the farmers switched, which led to a boom in the Carribean Economies. As a result, the sugarcane industry was snapped up by the British, who used it in cakes and also to sweeten tea. Finally, in the 18 century, sugar replaced piracy as Jamaica's major source of income. Since sugar plantation was labour intensive, the British were said to bring hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans to Jamaica. CONCLUSION. Jamaica had a very tumultuous history in which ownership was tossed between the British and the Spanish. To wade off these recurring attacks by the British, a Jamaican governor invited the pirates to use Port Royal as their home fort. Piracy was therefore a major source of funds for Jamaica. However, down the line, sugarcane plantation replaced piracy, and therefore sugarcane later replaced piracy as the economic main stay of Jamaica.
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