Running Head: FINAL PAPER

West Indies Societies

Anthropology of Jamaica
Name: Angelika Bodden
International College of the Cayman Islands

Abstract
The Jamaican culture has been influenced mainly by the Spanish, English and Africans cultures
and with each new group of people they left behind little traces of their culture on the island.
This paper will explain the history of Jamaica, the slave trade, the Jamaican language, food and
the religion of Jamaica. It will also outline how the various conquests and visitors to the island
have influenced each aspect of the Jamaican culture.

Anthropology of Jamaica

The History of Jamaica

Originally, Jamaica was populated by the Arawaks who named the island Xaymaca,
which meant "land of wood and water." The Arawaks were mellow and basic individuals by
nature. Physically, they were light cocoa in shading, short and very much molded with coarse,
dark hair. Their appearances were expansive and their noses level. They farmed cassava, sweet
potatoes, corn, fruits, vegetables, cotton, and tobacco. Tobacco was farmed on a huge scale, as
smoking was their most mainstream interest. They developed their towns throughout the island
yet the greater part of them settled on the coasts and close streams because it was easier for them
to fish for food. Fish was a staple in the diet of the Arawaks. The Arawaks lived calm and
tranquil lives until the Spaniards obliterated them. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)

Anthropology of Jamaica

In May of 1494, Christopher Columbus a European voyager was sailing along to the East
Indies during his second voyage, when he came across the West Indies and landed in Jamaica.
Upon landing in Jamaica, he came in contact with the Arawaks. Christopher heard about Jamacia
(Xaymaca) from Cubans who described the island as "the land of the blessed gold," however
upon arriving at the island, Christopher Columbus discovered there was no gold to be found.
Upon his arrival to the island, Christopher Columbus came into contact with the Arawaks who
attacked him when he first arrived. Columbus needed food, water, and wood to repair his ships
from their long journey. Determined to claim the land in the name of the king and queen of
Spain, he docked his ships in Discovery Bay and again was greeted by the hostility of the
Arawaks. This time, however, when the Arawaks were attacked by a dog aboard the Spanish ship
and Columbus's cross-bow men, they retreated, and Columbus was able to claim the island in the
name of the king and queen of Spain. The Spaniards killed and tortured the Arawaks upon their
arrival to the island. They Arawaks were overworked, and within a short period, they all died.
The Europeans brought with them diseases that the Arawaks had no resistance to and therefore
this contributed to their deaths. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
While under Spanish rule, Jamaica was a very poor country; the island did not receive
much support from Spain, and therefore it was used to supply food, men, and weapons to aid in
conquering the American continent. In 1509, the first Spanish colonists settled on the island in
the St. Ann's Bay area. The first town was called New Sevilla la Nueva. Spanish Town, which
was the then capital of Jamaica, was the only town that was developed. The town consisted of
churches and convents and was the center of government trade. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)

Anthropology of Jamaica

The little consideration the settlement got from Spain soon prompted to a noteworthy
explanation behind inward strife. This added to the weakening of the country in the latest years
of Spanish occupation. The governors were not getting legitimate support from Spain, and there
was a fight with church authorities that challenged their control. The island was frequently
attacked by pirates, which contributed to the island's demise. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
The English Conquest of Jamaica
In May 1655, Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables led a successful
assault on Jamaica. The Spaniards surrendered to the English, liberated their slaves and who fled
to Cuba. It was this arrangement of liberated slaves and their relatives who got to be distinctly
known as the Maroons. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
The early time of English settlement in Jamaica attracted the pirates based at Port Royal.
Buccaneering had started on the islands of Tortuga and Hispaniola. They were a wild, unpleasant
and merciless arrangement of ocean meanderers. They took their raid of gold, silver, and gems to
Port Royal. Port Royal preceding this time was an irrelevant town in Jamaica. Under the
Marauders' authority the town, inside of ten years and a half, developed to end up distinctly
known as one of the "wealthiest and wickedest city on the planet." The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
The best pirate skipper of all was Henry Morgan. He began as a privateer and later turned
into a privateer. Morgan pitilessly struck Spanish Armada and provinces. He kept the Spaniards
caught up with shielding their coasts that they had little time to assault Jamaica. Morgan was
knighted by Lord Charles II of England and was selected Lieutenant legislative leader of Jamaica
in 1673. Morgan passed on in 1688. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)

Anthropology of Jamaica

A savage quake demolished Port Royal on June 7, 1692. The survivors of the tremor who
re-settled in Kingston deserted the Port. Port Royal turned into an essential maritime base in the
eighteenth century. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
Slavery in Jamaica
The English colonizers focused on growing crops that could be sold in England, which
meant that Tobacco, cocoa, and indigo which were currently being farmed, were put on the back
burner and sugar became the main farming crop. The sugar business developed so quickly that
the 57 sugar bequests in the island in 1673 developed to about 430 by 1739. (The History of
Jamaica)
Africans formed a bulk of the labor force in Jamaica because the British colonists realized
they were more durable, and Chad better over endurance, not to mention African labor was much
cheaper and the yield with African labor was substantially more. The English established the
slave trade to the West Indies. They sold Africans to plantation owners who forced Africans to
work on the sugar plantations. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
The slave exchange turned into a well-known and gainful wander for the English
colonists. The transportation of slaves turned out to be such a customary issue, to the point that
the voyage from Africa toward the West Indies got to be distinctly known as the 'Middle
Passage.' The voyage was so named in light of the fact that the excursion of a British slaver was
3-sided, beginning from England with exchange products, to Africa where these were traded for
slaves. Subsequently, the trip proceeded toward the West Indies where the slaves were landed,
and sugar, rum, and molasses took on board for the last leg of the excursion back to England.

Anthropology of Jamaica

The slaves, be that as it may, were miserable with their status, so they revolted at whatever point
they could. A large number of them were effective in fleeing from the ranches and joining the
Maroons in the practically out of reach mountains. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
A few slave uprisings emerge in Jamaica's history, for instance, the Easter Rebellion of
1760 drove by Tacky; and the Christmas Rebellion of 1831 which started on the Kensington
Estate in St. James, drove by Sam Sharpe. He has since been named a National Hero.
The Maroons additionally had a few wars against the English. In 1739 and 1740 after
two noteworthy Maroon Wars, arrangements were marked with the British. In the arrangement of
1740, they were given land and rights as free men. Consequently, they were to quit battling and
recover flee slaves. This bargain brought about a crack among the Maroons as they didn't all
concur that they ought to return flee slaves to the ranches.
The incessant slave uprisings in the Caribbean were one component that prompted to the
cancellation of the slave exchange and subjugation. Different variables incorporated the work of
philanthropic people who were worried about the slaves' prosperity. Compassionate gatherings,
for example, the Quakers openly challenged subjection and the slave exchange. They shaped an
abolitionist subjugation council which was joined by supporters, for example, Granville Sharp,
James Ramsay, Thomas Clarkson and later on, William Wilberforce.
On January 1, 1808, the Abolition Bill was passed. Exchanging African slaves was
announced to be "completely abrogated, precluded and proclaimed to be unlawful." Liberation
and apprenticeship happened in 1834, and full flexibility was conceded in 1838.

Anthropology of Jamaica

The prompt post subjugation days were extremely troublesome for the poorer classes.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of the English grower had left the islands and new
proprietors were running the manors, the old oligarchic framework remained. The will of the
masses was not regarded imperative and subsequently disregarded. To add fuel to the effectively
smoldering fire, the American Civil War brought about provisions being cut off from the island.
An extreme dry spell was likewise in advance, and most yields were destroyed.
In October 1865, Paul Bogle drove an uprising in St. Thomas, called the Morant Bay
Rebellion. Paul Bogle and his men raged the Morant Bay Courthouse while it was in session.
Various white individuals were slaughtered including the customs of the ward. The disobedience
was put around the Governor, Edward John Eyre. More than 430 individuals were executed or
shot, hundreds more lashed and 1,000 residences crushed.
Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, now National Heroes, were hanged. George
Gordon was a noticeably shaded lawmaker who was thoughtful to the issues of the needy
individuals and was rebuked for the inconvenience brought on by the masses. Eyre was in this
manner reviewed to England yet not before trading the old Constitution for the Crown Colony
framework. The succeeding years saw the island's recuperation and improvement social,
established and monetary, and its advancement into a sovereign state.
Training, wellbeing, and social administrations were extraordinarily made strides. A
legitimate all inclusive reserve funds back framework was sorted out. Streets, spans, and
railroads were fabricated, and link correspondence with Europe built up. The island's capital was
moved from Spanish Town to Kingston. The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)

Anthropology of Jamaica

In the 1930'2 Jamaica was headed to yet another emergency. The contributing elements
were discontent at the moderate pace of political progress. For instance, the pain brought on by
an overall financial despondency, the demolish of the banana business by the Panama business
Disease, falling sugar costs, developing unemployment exasperated by the abbreviation of
movement openings and a steeply rising populace development rate. In 1938 things reached a
critical stage with broad savagery and revolting.
Out of these unsettling influences came the development of the main worker's
organizations and the arrangement of the two noteworthy political gatherings.
On August 1962, Jamaica conceded its freedom from England. Jamaica now has its
constitution, which sets out the laws by which the general population is administered. The
constitution accommodates the opportunity, fairness, and equity for all who abide in the nation.
The History of Jamaica. (n.d.)
Language
Although Jamaica does not have a language of their own, they are well known for
their dialect. At the point when the British settled in Jamaica, they transformed Jamaica into an
English talking nation, despite the fact that the dominant part of individuals who lived in Jamaica
at the time was brought there as slaves, and talked other African tongue as their essential dialect.
At the point when the British conveyed slaves to Jamaica from Africa, they were instantly
submerged into an English just talking society and advised to communicate in English. The
British banned the utilization of local tongs as an approach to attempt and debilitate the bonds
that the African individuals had to their countries. Patois: the language of Jamaica. (n.d.)

Anthropology of Jamaica

The British would part up individuals who were from a similar zone in Africa and
sent them to various ranches on the island, making correspondence between slaves in their local
tongs practically outlandish. The early settlers and slave masters were anxious about the
possibility that the slaves would contrive against them, or endeavor to escape if they could speak
without having the capacity to be caught on. In counter to this dread, the British constrained the
slaves to just communicate in English. Patois: the language of Jamaica. (n.d.)
Considering they lived their whole lives speaking the local dialects of their countries,
the English that the slaves talked was not perfect. Slaves were compelled to communicate in
English in regular circumstances, and in light of this, a lingo of broken English came into play.
This was reflected on almost every other Caribbean island too, making an unofficial lingo of the
Caribbean, and Jamaica. Patois: the language of Jamaica. (n.d.)
As time passed by, this broken English formed into a uniform tongue of broken
English. The lingo started to receive its particular arrangement of tenets, expressions, and words.
This improvement of this type of broken English got to be distinctly broad and comprehended in
Jamaica, making its particular tongue, as opposed to only the title of broken English. Patois: the
language of Jamaica. (n.d.)
A great part of the impact on patois is because of the slave codes. The slaves considered it to be a
type of defiance, by not talking in impeccable English. Making patois a type of rebellion that has
happened since the Africans was taken from their country and conveyed to the island of Jamaica.
Patois: the language of Jamaica. (n.d.)
Religion in Jamaica

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Starting in the late eighteenth century, Jamaica saw the rise of an assortment of African
and African-impacted religious customs. The three noteworthy customs are called Obeah,
Jamaican Revivalism or Pukumina, and Rastafarianism. Jamaican Religion. (n.d.)
Obeah is a type of herbal n and otherworldly innovation used to cure diseases and to
mischief one's foes. In Jamaica, obeahmen were believed to be capable of harming individuals
and of ruling them by getting their shadows. In Jamaica, these practices were an unbelievable
part of slave resistance and revolt. In the United States today, Obeah men and ladies, usually
alluded to as "readers" and known as talented herbalists, are looked to for healing of spiritual,
and mental issue, and safety from evil spirits. Jamaican Religion. (n.d.)
A Jamaican Revivalist convention called Pukuminamore organized than Obeah in
conviction and practice, with various places of worship and assembliesis polished in most
major U.S. urban areas today. Like Christianity, Jamaican Revivalism is a great deal more prone
to be portrayed as "African" by members than by insiders. However, there are many parallels
between Jamaican Revivalist developments and West African societies. Different Jamaican
Revivalist honest review West African and Haitian religions. For instance, each of the different
spirits loved in Revivalism is said to lean toward particular sustenance's, hues, and music.
Reviewing Haitian Vodou, Pukumina formal space incorporates the "custom design" of a focal
shaft, to which Jamaicans include a bowl of water utilized for soul directing. This contraption
remains at the focal point of the sacrosanct space, whether it be on the patio or in an
extraordinary meeting lobby.
The most celebrated Jamaican religion is without a doubt Rastafarianism, a
perplexing otherworldly and political development that rose in Jamaica amid the sorrow years of

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11

the 1930s. It joined moving Jamaican people Christianity with skillet Africanist slants propelled
by Marcus Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association. In disavowing British imperialism,
Rastafarians were motivated by Ethiopia, noted as the one place that is known for Africa said in
the Bible. Ethiopia's twentieth-century ruler Haile Selassie, "the Lion of Judah," was accepted by
Rastafarians to be the 225th Lord of scriptural Ethiopia; they took Haile Selassie's name, Ras
Tafari, the "Prince of Tafari Province," as their own. Garvey's fantasy of an arrival to Africa
turned into the Rastafarian dream also, and a few Rastafarians have in fact settled in Ethiopia,
Ghana, and Zaire. Jamaican Religion. (n.d.)

Conclusion
The island of Jamaica has been influenced in all different ways and is a melting pot of
different cultures. The various conquests of Jamaica have influenced the food, language, and
religion of the country and have created a rich history and a diverse group of people. Jamaica
continues to show bits and pieces of its past in its modern day culture.

Anthropology of Jamaica

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References
The History of Jamaica. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016, from
http://jis.gov.jm/information/jamaican-history/
History Of Jamaican Food A Cuisine Rich In Heritage. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016,
from http://www.ethnic-spicy-food-and-more.com/historyofjamaicanfood.html
Patois: the language of Jamaica. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016, from
https://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/Belcher-Timme.htm
Jamaican Religion. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016, from http://pluralism.org/religions/afrocaribbean/afro-caribbean-traditions/jamaican-religion/
The Diplomatic Society. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016, from
http://www.thediplomaticsociety.co.za/

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Welcome To The Jamaican High Commission, Abuja, Nigeria. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16,
2016, from http://jhcnigeria.com/