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The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was primarily used for sugarcane production, and experienced many slave rebellions over the course of British rule ...
After 146 years of Spanish rule, a large group of British sailors and soldiers landed in the Kingston Harbour on 10 May 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish War. [4] The English, who had set their sights on Jamaica after a disastrous defeat in an earlier attempt to take the island of Hispaniola, marched toward Villa de la Vega, the administrative center of the island.
Agricultural development was the centrepiece of restored British rule in Jamaica. In 1868 the first large-scale irrigation project was launched. In 1895 the Jamaica Agricultural Society was founded to promote more scientific and profitable methods of farming.
At independence, Jamaica became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations as a Commonwealth realm; prior to this, Jamaica had been part of the West Indies Federation from 1958. With the independence of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands reverted from being a self-governing territory of Jamaica to direct British rule. [1]
Despite continuing their diplomatic efforts to have it returned, Spain eventually ceded the Colony of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid. Under British rule, the island became a hugely profitable possession, producing large quantities of sugar for export. [14]
Spain recognized British sovereignty over Jamaica in the Treaty of Madrid (1670). [1] The Royal African Company was formed in 1672 with a monopoly of the British slave trade, and from that time Jamaica became one of the world's busiest slave markets. Jamaica also became one of Britain's most-valuable colonies in terms of agricultural production ...
The royal couple arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday as part of a week-long tour of former British Caribbean colonies, but have faced public questioning of the British Empire's legacy.
Under Britain's colonial rule, Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on continued importation of African slaves and their descendants. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations.