Jamaica+-+History

Jamaica History ​

Arawak tribe were the first people in Jamacia before Christopher Columbus found it. It bacame a spanish colony in 1509. The first settlement was Saint Iago de la Vega. Colonization was slow under Spanish rule The Arawak tribe died out quickly because of harsh treatment. Jamacia got took over by a engish naval force under Sir William Penn in 1655. At the end of the 17th century, growing numbers of English immagrants arrived the sugar, cacao, and other agricultural industires rapidly expanded. Jamacia became the one of the princaipal slave-trading centers in the world. Jamaica lost its self-government 1865. In September 1988, Hurricane Gilbert caused an estimated $8 billion dollars in property damage and left some 500,000 Jamaicans homeless.