The descendants of enslaved Africans make up the bulk of the Jamaican population. They have had a profound impact on every aspect of Jamaican life, and their contributions are incalculable. Black people were imported to Jamaica in the 1680s to work on sugar plantations. Most were enslaved for this exact purpose but some were sold into slavery by their African tribes or countries of origin. Even though slavery has been abolished since 1833, many aspects of Jamaican culture still reflect this past influence. For example, you will still see many signs with the "n" word in Jamaica- black, not white, until quite recently these signs did not have the negative connotation they now do. You may also hear the word jamaica used instead of Jamaica on some maps and menus in restaurants and hotels. This is because many former slaves moved to northern America where there was no slave trade, so they kept the name Jamaica! Jamaica's first known hospital was built around 1657 by the British government to treat slaves who had escaped from the Caribbean colony of Carolina back home in England. This is how it got its name - "Carolina Hospital" - after the colony that pioneered human trafficking. In 1729, Jamaica became the first country to abolish slavery completely.