<u><em>List three aspects of Jamaica and their colonial rule</em></u>
The Caribbean island of Jamaica was inhabited by the tribes of Taino prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1503. Early inhabitants of Jamaica named the land "Xaymaca", meaning "Land of wood and water". The Spanish enslaved the Tainos tribes, who were so ravaged by their conflict with the Europeans and by foreign diseases that nearly the entire native population was extinct by 1600. The Spanish also seized and transported over hundreds of West Africans to the island where they later enslaved them.
In the year 1655, the English invaded Jamaica, defeating the Spanish remaining colonists. Enslaved Africans seized the moment of political destruction and fled to the island's interior, forming independent communities (known as the Maroons). Meanwhile, on the coast, the English built the settlement of Port Royal, which became a base of operations for pirates and privateers, including Captain Henry Morgan.
In the 18th century, sugar cane replaced piracy as British Jamaica's main source of income. The sugar industry was labour-intensive and the British brought hundreds of thousands of Africans to Jamaica to use as slaves, so that by 1800 black Jamaicans outnumbered whites by a ratio of 20:1(For every white there were 20 black). Enslaved Jamaicans mounted over a dozen major uprisings during the 18th century, including Tacky's revolt in 1760. There were also periodic skirmishes between the British and the mountain communities, culminating in the First Maroon War of the 1730s and the Second Maroon War of the 1790s.
