The History of Jamaican Slavery :: American America History

Jamaicas history is full of social unrest. The island was originally dwell by the Arawaks. The Arawaks were a peaceful, pleasant race. In his History of the British westmost Indies, Sir Alan Burns says, all accounts credit them with being generous-minded, affectionate and good-humoured (37). erstwhile Jamaica was discovered by Spain in 1494, however, the Arawaks, who had inhabited the island for centuries, quickly died off collect to the harsh treatment of the Spaniards. Spain never really create the land, however, and thus when British forces invaded in 1655, Spain chose non to focus much energy on fend for the island. The British found Jamaica to be much more profitable than the Spanish had. It eventually became one of the most lucrative colonies in the British empire due to its dominance in lucre exports from the mid 1700s until the termination of the slave trade in Jamaica in the 1830s, Jamaica accounted for 42 percent of sugar imported into Britain (Burnard and Morgan 3 ). Unfortunately, these benefits for the British empire came at a significant represent to the hundreds of thousands of Africans who became unwillingly caught up in the trade triangle between England, Africa and the Caribbean. In their essay The Dynamics of the Slave Market and Slave Purchasing Patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788, Trevor Burnard and Kenneth Morgan say Jamaica had the largest demand for slaves of any British colony in the Americas (2). By the end of the eighteenth century there were more than 300, 000 slaves in Jamaica and the event that the slaves outnumbered the plantation owners was unsettling for many of the wealthy, white inhabitants of the island. The political system basically consisted of a governor who represented the Crown and the Assembly of Planters, who both were against the slaves. Adding to the unrest of the island was the world of the Maroons. When the British invaded the island they demanded that the Spaniards surrender. In miscalculation, however, the y gave them time to consider the offer. The Spaniards fled the island, but not forward setting loose their cattle and freeing their slaves. These freed slaves then retreated to the mountains and developed their own threatening communities in the wild mountain interior of Jamaica (Hamshere 140). very much they terrorized the English by setting fire to homes and buildings or by murdering soldiers. The Maroons were not truly a vicious people, however they did feel the need to check their freedom from the British by any means necessary.