Jamaica - Early History
The West Indian Islands were at the time of their discovery occupied by two distinct races of Indians. The most warlike of these, called Caribbs, were not found in Jamaica. They mostly inhabited what are now known as the Windward Islands. The Bahama Islands, Cuba, Hayti, Porto Eico, and Jamaica, were occupied by a far more gentle race: indeed, the smaller islands were once inhabited by the same people, but an incursion of the warlike Caribbs from South America destroyed the less warlike tribes; and probably it was only the distance and extent of the larger islands that preserved them from the same fate.
Columbus landed in Jamaica on 4 May 1494 and found it inhabited by Arawak Indians. He named the island Santiago (Saint-James). However, the name was never adopted and it kept its Arawak name Xaymaca, of which ‘Jamaica’ is a corruption. He took possession in the name of Spain. The original inhabitants of Jamaica are believed to be the Arawaks, also called Tainos. They came from South America 2,500 years ago and named the island Xaymaca, which meant ““land of wood and water”. The Arawaks were a mild and simple people by nature. Physically, they were light brown in color, short and well-shaped with coarse, black hair. Their faces were broad and their noses flat.
They were painted with a variety of colours. They were destitute of beards, but their hair was long and straight; they were of medium height and gracefully proportioned, but that they were so very beautiful as some assert is fairly open to question. No doubt a few of the women were so, but such cases must surely have been exceptional. As a rule their faces were broad, and the nose flat and wide. But the habit of preternaturally compressing the forehead in infancy gave an unnatural elevation to the hinder part of the head, and must have imparted a most unpleasant aspect to the countenance. The only advantage that appears to have resulted from this practice, was the hardening of the skull to such a degree as not only to enable it to resist the blow of their wooden swords, but, it is said by Herrara, to blunt and even break Spanish blades.
Their clothing was scanty in the extreme, but they were exceedingly fond of paint and feathers. When Columbus first saw the multitude who crowded the shore on his arrival at Jamaica, he observed that they were painted of almost every colour, black predominating. Some were partly covered with palm leaves, others wore garlands of flowers, and occasionally the neck and arms were similarly decorated. The little squares of cloth worn by the elder women were often dyed.
The houses occupied by the Indians were of very simple construction. They usually consisted of a tall central post, around which, at equal distances, were placed a number of smaller posts forming a circle: to these wild canes were lashed; the roof was formed of the same material, and covered either with the tops of canes or by palm leaves. Slight as these structures were, they withstood the violence of ordinary storms.
The caciques dwelt in buildings similarly constructed, though larger and occasionally much ornamented. They were kept clean, the floor was sometimes strewn with palm leaves, just as rushes were once laid down in England, and a shady place beneath trees was usually selected. These cottages often stood alone, surrounded by a little garden, sometimes in clusters of four or five, and occasionally they were arranged so as to form a square.
For sleeping, hammocks were used; hamac was the old Indian name. These were made of twine, netted. The twine itself was made from the cotton which grew abundantly in this and other islands, and was often dyed a variety of beautiful colours. These, with a few flat plates on which to dry cassava, some earthen pots and calabashes, comprised as a general rule the furniture of their huts. Some of the caciques were however more favoured. The early invaders speak of seats and other articles of furniture, curiously wrought out of single pieces of wood (generally ebony) into the shape of animals.
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. They built their villages all over the island but most of them settled on the coasts and near rivers as they fished to get food. Fish was also a major part of their diet.
During Spain's occupation of the island, starting in 1510, the Arawaks were exterminated by disease, slavery, and war. Spain brought the first African slaves to Jamaica in 1517. Lacking gold, Jamaica was used mainly as a staging post in the scramble for the wealth of the Americas.
The Spanish arrival was a disaster to the indigenous peoples, great numbers of whom were sent to Spain as slaves, others used as slaves on site, and many killed by the invaders, despite the efforts of Spanish Christian missionaries to prevent these outrages. There were no Arawaks left on the island by 1665, but there were enslaved Africans replacing them.
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