Where did the slaves in Jamaica come from?
Jamaican enslaved peoples came from West/Central Africa and South-East Africa. Many of their customs survived based on memory and myths.
Why is Black River a cultural icon?
Black River is noted as being the first place in Jamaica to receive certain technological innovations such as electricity and motorcars. The river was also used in the past as a means of transporting goods in and out of the country. The town was once a major sea port for the island with the chief export being logwood.
How many slaves were killed in Jamaica?
Approximately five hundred slaves were killed in total: 207 during the revolt and somewhere in the range between 310 and 340 slaves were killed through “various forms of judicial executions” after the rebellion was concluded, at times, for quite minor offences (one recorded execution indicates the crime being the theft …
How many African slaves went to Jamaica?
The slave trade is said to have drawn between ten and twenty million Africans from their homeland, with approximately six hundred thousand coming to Jamaica (one of the largest importer of slaves at the time) between 1533 and 1807.
What did the original Jamaicans look like?
Physically, they were light brown in colour, short and well-shaped with coarse, black hair. Their faces were broad and their noses flat. They grew cassava, sweet potatoes, maize (corn), fruits, vegetables, cotton and tobacco. Tobacco was grown on a large scale as smoking was their most popular pastime.
How were slaves treated in Jamaica?
Those Africans who endured and survived the horrors of the Middle Passage would then begin a life of inhumane treatment on the plantations, which included working without pay, whipping, torture and sexual abuse. Many were maimed or killed as punishment for daring to seek freedom.
Which ethnic group came to Jamaica first?
Jamaica’s first inhabitants, the Tainos (also called the Arawaks), were a peaceful people believed to be from South America. It was the Tainos who met Christopher Columbus when he arrived on Jamaica’s shores in 1494.
What town in Jamaica was once known as the wickedest place on earth?
Port Royal
Port Royal in Jamaica was once known as the “wickedest city on earth”, but it is hard to imagine that now. Today it is a small sleepy fishing village located at the mouth of Kingston Harbour that wants to use its rich heritage to bring in tourists and improve its fortunes.
How were Jamaican slaves treated?
What was Jamaica called before 1962?
Xaymaca
Although the Taino referred to the island as “Xaymaca”, the Spanish gradually changed the name to “Jamaica”.
Who are the owners of slaves in Jamaica?
Interestingly, the free coloured and black population included the owners of some 70,000 enslaved Africans (R Montgomery Martin, 1854).” (‘Jamaica’s black and coloured slave owners’, The Gleaner, August 1 2017) It was the custom of the white planters to allot freedom and property, including slaves, to their Negro concubines.
Where was the first slave rebellion in Jamaica?
On Tuesday, 27th of December, 1831, a fire at Kensington estate in St. James, one of the most important sugar growing parishes in Jamaica, marked the outbreak of a slave rebellion which swept the western parishes of the island. The Kensington Estate Great House was the first house to be set alight as a signal that the rebellion had begun.
How big was the slave population in Jamaica?
Large estates in Jamaica had on average 400-500 slaves, with the largest ones having more than 1,000. Barbados being a much smaller island with much of the island already cultivated, saw a drop in slave population as smaller and less successful plantations folded.
What was the wealth created by the slave trade in Jamaica?
The wealth created in Jamaica by the labor of black slaves has been estimated at £18 million (£2.3bn today), more than half of the estimated total of £30 million for the entire British West Indies. The transatlantic slave trade was a triangular route from Europe to Africa, Africa to the Americas and back to Europe.