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The original inhabitants of Jamaica are believed to be the Arawak, also called Tainos. They came from South America 2,500 years ago and named the island Xaymaca, which meant ““land of wood and water”.
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On May 5, 1494 Christopher Columbus, the European explorer, who sailed west to get to the East Indies and came upon the region now called the West Indies, landed in Jamaica. This occurred on his second voyage to the West Indies.
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The Invasion of Jamaica was an amphibious expedition conducted by the English in the Caribbean in 1655 that resulted in the capture of the island from Spain. Jamaica's capture was the casus belli that resulted in actual war between England and Spain in 1655.
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Because of the loss of property and life in the 1831 Baptist War rebellion, the British Parliament held two inquiries. Their reports on conditions contributed greatly to the abolition movement and passage of the 1833 law to abolish slavery as of August 1, 1834, throughout the British Empire.
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The Morant Bay Rebellion broke out after prolonged disputes between the planters and the settlers.
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On May 5, 1953, Jamaica gained internal autonomy, and, in 1958, super headed the organization of the West Indies Federation.
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Jamaica withdrawals from the federation of the West Indies.
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The island of Jamaica was colonized by the Taino tribes prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1494. The Spanish enslaved the Tainos, who were so ravaged by their conflict with the Europeans and by foreign diseases that nearly the entire native population was extinct by 1600.
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The Colony of Jamaica gained independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. In Jamaica, this date is celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday.
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Hurricane Gilbert was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season and brought widespread destruction to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. It was the most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin, until Hurricane Wilma surpassed it during 2005.
