Freedom's Children: The 1938 Labor Rebellion and the Birth of Modern Jamaica
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Abstract
This chapter discusses Jamaica's long history as a colony. It began in 1494 when Christopher Columbus disembarked on the island, encountered the indigenous peoples, and proclaimed it the property of Spain. The Spanish presence led to a decline in the population of the native peoples as a consequence of violence and disease. In 1501, nine years after Columbus's first arrival in the hemisphere, the Spanish crown authorized the importation of enslaved Africans to Hispaniola, inaugurating the Atlantic slave trade to the Americas. The institution of slavery spread to Jamaica in 1511, permanently altering the demographic configuration of the island. The English took possession of it in 1655 after a military conflict with the Spanish. Under English suzerainty, Jamaica experienced a significant expansion of the plantation system, with sugarcane as the principal crop, and a tremendous increase in the trade in enslaved Africans. Overall, as many as 900,000 African peoples were purchased in the island and became human property.
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