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August 06, 2008
Independence Day of Jamaica
The Spanish and the English rule
The Spanish settlers moved to Villa de la Vega, now known as Spanish Town, establishing it as the capital of Jamaica. The 1640s saw many people coming to Jamaica for its stunning beauty; especially the pirates who had a reputation of deserting their raiding parties and staying on in the island. The attacks by the pirates in Jamaican history can be traced back to nearly 100 years, between 1555 and 1655; the final attack leaving the island in the hands of the English.
The island of Jamaica was finally seized by the British forces in the form of a joint expedition by Admiral Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables in May 1655. The buccaneers were invited by the Governor to form their base at Port Royal to prevent Spanish aggression in 1657. The Spanish were defeated in the successive battles that followed, starting the extended reign of the British on Jamaican soil. Through the Treaty of Madrid in 1670, the British gained formal recognition of possession of Jamaica. Still part of the Island remained in the hands of some of the escaped slaves called the 'Maroons', with whom they signed a treaty on March 1, 1738. Even though much of the Spanish capital, Villa de la Vega, was burned during the English conquest, they renamed it Spanish Town and kept it as the island's capital.
By the 19th century, the revolt between the blacks and the whites increased with the blacks outnumbering the whites by a ratio 20 to 1. Following a series of uprisings, slavery was ultimately abolished on August 1, 1834 with Jamaica becoming a Crown Colony. This led to the establishment and growth of a middle class comprising of low-level public officials and police officers drawn from the mass of the population, whose social and political progress was blocked by the colonial authorities. The Great Depression followed in the 1930s and then the revolt by the sugar and the dock workers in 1938 leading to significant changes including the growth of an organized labor movement and a competitive party system.
Modern history
By the mid 1940s the Jamaican gained a degree of local political control. In 1938 the People's National Party (PNP) was founded and five years later its rival, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) came into being. Under the universal adult suffrage, the first election was held in 1944. Nine other UK territories in the Federation of the West Indies were joined by Jamaica in 1958. Finally on August 6, 1962, Jamaica gained its independence, remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. In the beginning, power switched between the two parties quite regularly. The first Prime Minister was chosen in 1972 and thus the present day government in Jamaica began to function.
For further information on the history of Jamaica, scroll through 123independenceday.com .