Jamaica

A Spanish colony since 1494 (the indigenous people, the Arawak and Taino were enslaved and nearly wiped out through mistreatment and European diseases), Jamaica was used mainly as a military base to supply Spain's colonization of the rest of the Americas. In 1654 Oliver Cromwell launched an effort against Spain's colonies, and after being repulsed by the Spanish in Hispanola, they sailed to Jamaica. After a series of battles the tied was turned when a group of Jamaican Maroons switched sides and fought for the British. In 1670 Britain got official ownership of Jamaica through the Treaty of Madrid.

Although the African slave population in the 1670s and 1680s never exceeded 10,000, by the end of the 17th century imports of slaves increased the black population to at least five times the number of whites. Thereafter, Jamaica's African population did not increase significantly in number until well into the 18th century, in part because ships coming from the west coast of Africa preferred to unload at the islands of the Eastern Caribbean. At the beginning of the 18th century, the number of slaves in Jamaica
did not exceed 45,000, but by 1800 it had increased to over 300,000. ( ☀https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\_of\_Jamaica#British\_colonisation )

## Major locations

* Kingston
* Port Royal
* Trelawny Town
* Santiago de la Vega / Spanish Town (capital city until 1872)

## Maroons

When the British captured Jamaica in 1655, the Spanish colonists fled, leaving a large number of African slaves. These former Spanish slaves created three *Palenques*, or settlements. **Former slaves organised under the leadership of Juan de Serras allied with the Spanish guerrillas** on the western end of the Cockpit Country, while those under **Juan de Bolas established themselves in modern-day Clarendon Parish and served as a "black militia" for the English.** The **third chose to join those who had previously escaped from the Spanish to live and intermarry with the Arawak people.** Each group of Maroons established distinct independent communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica. They survived by subsistence farming and periodic raids of plantations. **Over time, the Maroons came to control large areas of the Jamaican interior.** Early in the 18th century, the Maroons took a heavy toll on the British troops and local militia sent against them in the interior, in what came to be known as the First Maroon War. (☀https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\_of\_Jamaica#First\_Maroon\_War )

## Major Events 1700s

* Most sea trade moved to Kingston after an earthquake (1692), fire (1703), and hurricane (1722), devastated Port Royal. By the late 1700s Port Royal was largely abandoned
* Sugar replaces piracy as Jamaica's main source of income after Dutch traders encourage local growers to plant sugarcane (from Brazil) instead of cotton and tobacco
* First Maroon War ends 1739-40. The Maroons agreed to remain in their five main towns (Accompong; Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town); Nanny Town; Scott's Hall (Jamaica); and Charles Town), living under their own rulers and a British supervisor. In exchange, they were asked to agree not to harbor new runaway slaves, but rather to help catch them.
* 1760 Tacky's Revolt
* 1795 SECOND MAROON WAR (in the future as far as our characters are concerned