Jamaic Out Of Many, One People - 1245 Words

Jamaica: Out of Many, One People History of the Culture One would think that an island would have a culture of its own with very little outside influence, however that is not the case with this island. Located in the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is rich in culture from its European and African history. Jamaica was first populated by the Taino people, who were also called Arawaks, in AD 600. It was then found by Christopher Columbus in 1492, and shortly thereafter became a Spanish Territory. A decade later, the population was equally split between Spanish and slaves with a small percentage of free blacks and the native Taino people. In 1655, the English army captured Jamaica and fifteen years later, Jamaica formerly concedes to England. A decade later, the slaves, making up eighty four percent of the population, decided to rebel. However, full emancipation from slavery happened in 1838, almost a century later despite the gross population unbalance. Beginning in 1841, the island started having more outside influence when the first indentu red workers arrived from Africa, India, China, Syria, Lebanon and the Mediterranean. In 1962, Jamaica gained full independence from Britain after almost two decades of self-government formation. The history and vast cultural influences of Jamaica makes the country’s motto of ‘Out of many, One People’ ring true. (Mordecai Mordecai, 2001) Slavery of a nation is a tragic hardship of the people, however the abolition of slavery brought