Saturday, September 24, 2011

British-Spanish conflict in Jamaica in the seventeenth century

     In 1654, Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of Britain, sent a fleet to capture the Spanish colonies of West Indies. There were several reasons for Cormwell to undertake the naval expedition. Spain had been a traditional enemy of Britain since 1588. The religious disagreement exacerbated the relations between two countries when Cromwell, a pious Puritan, took into power in Britain while the Spain is a stubborn Catholic nation.The citizens of two counties also disliked each other. Cromwell's advisor John Milton recapitulated that Spaniards often inflicted cruel wrongs upon British traders and colonists at the West Indies, such as the massacres at St. Kitts in 1629. Besides, Spanish usually attacked on English vessels, plundering and killing the crew. Therefore, British government decided to take an attack on Spanish colonies of West Indies for a vengeance and a glory of country.
      In addition, Spain was a commerical rivalry of Britain. Cromwell wanted to attack on Spanish trade and treasure. At that time, sugar replaced gold and silver to be the most valuable commdity. Hence, British must occupy a proper island of West Indies to produce sugar.
      Cromwell's expedition to the West Indies, which was called Western Design, began on December 26th in 1654 when a fleet left Portsmouth. The fleed included about six thousand soldiers and sailors, and it was commanded by the Admiral William Penn and the General Robert Venables. Their original object was Hispaniola, the most valuable Spainsh colony at the West Indies. The British fleet got reinforcement at Barbados and they attacked Hispaniola in April 1655, but they failed at last. Therefore, they decided to capture the most defenceless Spanish colony in the West Indies, Jamaica. The British fleet arrived at Jamaica in May 1655 and anchored on Passage Fort. They landed on Jamaica on May 10th, and captured the Spanish Town (the capital of Spanish Jamaica) through little conflict. The Spaniards' strength was so weak in Jamaica that the Governor Cristobal Arnaldo Isasi had to capitulate on May 17th. Although Penn and Venagles occupied Jamaica successfully, they were put into the Tower of London because their failure to capture Hispaniola. Actually, Jamaica was little useful at that time. Nevertheless, British decide to hold the island because they thought that Jamaica could be a base for British force to attack Spanish colonies and vessels in the Caribbean.
    Spanish didn't want to give up the island. The native Spaniards retired to woods and hills with the runaway slaves (maroons). They were under the command of the former governor Isasi and continued to resist the British garrison. At the same time, Bristish soldiers suffered significant diseases and they were weakened. In 1657, Isasi gained reforcement from Cuba and decided to occupy the island again. The British governor, Edward D'Oyley, sailed north, taking nine hundred militia to the Ocho Rios. He defeated Spanish army and made Isasi flee back to the hills. Isasi tried again in 1658 at Rio Nuevo with reforcement from Mexico, however, he was defeated again by D'Oyley.
     To defend the Jamaica from Spain, the governor of Jamaica invited the pirates to base at Port Royal in 1657. Port Royal became the capital of Caribbean pirates and many great pirates such as Henry Morgan, sailed from here to attack Spanish colonies and vessels. At last, Spain recognized the British possession of Jamaica at the treaty of Madrid in 1670.

Citation
1. William James Gardner, A History of Jamaica, London: 1873, page 28-40

2. Robert Venables, The narrative of General Venables: with an appendix of Papers Relating to the Expedition to the West Indies and the Conquest of Jamaica, 1654-1655, London: 1900

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Jamaican Tainos

     The Tainos were the indigenous residents in Jamaica when Christopher Columbus "discovered" the island in 1494 AD. The Tainos came from south America mainland and they migrated to Jamaica through the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico around 650 AD. According to Marian BeWolf, the potteries discovered in Little River of Jamaica were similar to that of Cuevas Ostinones of Puerto Rico (Howard, 1965, p. 250). It is the evidence of the migration route said above.
     Taino people lived in relatively large numbers all over Jamaica until 1494. They did not create a nation or city, but lived in tribes and villages. There were about 200 villages on the island when Spanish met them. Every village belonged to a tribe and was ruled by caciques. Generally speaking, there were about four classes in the society of Jamaican Tainos. The caciques, the bohuti, the common people, and the Naborias. The caciques were chiefs in villages and they were permitted to have several wives. The  bohuti were priests and soothsayers, and they were dominant in the religious rites. Besides, the bohuti played roles as doctors. The common people were just the ordinary members of the society. The Naborias were "underclass labors" in the society of Tainos, However, they were not slaves. They were assigned work within the limits of the town and received maintenance from their lords (Antonio Curet, p.500). In some documents, the Naborias were not Tainos, but were the people conquered by Tainos.
       Tainos lived in small-thatch-hut villages. There were two kinds of huts in the villages, one was for caciques and the other was for general people. Caciques' huts were square and called caneyes, while the general people's huts were round and called bohios (Glenn Woodley, 2001, p.50). Tainos relied heavily on seafood and some cultivated food such as cassava, maize, and sweet potatoes. They also hunted birds and a kind of now-extinct barkless dogs called alcos. According to Peter Martyr of Anhgiera, Tainos used the sweet potatoes roasted or boiled and they used cassava to make a bread. Tainos did not wear clotheh except the apron of women. They extracted a black dye from a local kind of fruits and painted the dye to their skin. They also painted a red dye, which is from the Annatto seed, to make them look fearful to enemy. In many spainsh documents, the Tainos of Greater Antilles often conflicted with the Caribs of Lesser Antilles. Nevertheless, Jamaica was relatively peaceful.
        The Tainos have their own religon. They worshiped caves, ancestors, and zemis (a kind of simulacra made of wood). For the Tainos, caves were places of dwelling, burials, and religious conotations. They believed that mankind originated from caves. The belief is reflective in Taino reverence for caves and the location of rock art at the entrance of the cave, such as the "One bubby Susan" at Rock Spring (Atkinson, 2010). Tainos also worshiped ancestors through the sacred areitos, a big religous rite and festival. In addition, the Tainos worshiped zemis as eternal gods. The zemis were made of wood because Tainos believed that trees could receive messages from gods at night.
         In Taino's worldview, there were two types of souls: goeiza (soul of living) and opia (soul of deads). The opia roamed at night in the form of animals. Therefore, two kinds of animal which were active at night, owls and bats, were symbols of death. In the Taino's folklore, if an owl cryed near someone's home, it meant that this person would die soon.
         The influence of Taino on Jamaica was significant. For example, the name of the island, Jamaica, derived from Taino language which meant "the land of wood and water." Tainos lived in Jamaica about one thousand years and created a unique culture. Unfortunately, Jamaican Tainos disappeared now and an important factor of the catastrophe was the arrival of Europeans. Nevertheless, the influence of Tainos were not extinct, the legacy of their culture, such as maize, cassava, and folklores, stilled play important roles in the modern Jamaican society. Today, the Jamaican declared that the fifth day of May was "Taino Day". This action was to let Jamaican people don't forge Taino culture.
 
Sources
1. Lesley-Gail Atkinson, Taino Influence on Jamaican Folk traditions, 2010. http://www.jnht.com/download/influence.pdf
2. Peter Mason, Jamaica: a guide to the people, politics, and culture, Page 13
3. Robert R. Howard, New Perspective On Jamaica Archaeology, 1965. page 250
4. Gleen Woodley, The Taino of Jamaica, 2001, page 50
5. Geoffrey symcox and Blair Sullivan, Christopher Columus and the Enterprise of the Indies, Press: University of Califorma, Los Angeles.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

The Original Migration to Jamaica

      Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean sea and there were thousands of indigenous inhabitants when Christopher Columbus "discovered " the island in 1494 AD. What were the original Jamaican inhabitants and how did they settle on the island?
      According to Irving Rouse, the professor of anthropology at Yale, there were four main cultures exist in the different stages of the development of Caribbean culture:  Ciboney, Early Arawak Indians from Orinoco Vallley, sub-Taino and Taino. Besides, Sub-Taino was similar to the Taino.
      The first tide of migration to Caribbean was around 5000-2000 BC and the first migrants were called Ciboney Inidans. They probably came from Florida or Yucatan and migrated southward to the Greater Antilles through a now submerged chain of small islands that used to run from the eastern Yucatan  to Cuba and Jamaica. The Ciboney people  were cave dwelling people, and used basic tools for fishing and gathering. The culture was called preceramic culture because there were no ceramics found during this period. There were no clear evidence to prove the existence of Ciboney clture in Jamaica until Robert Howard's time (1960s). However, Howard and many other scholars believed that the similar site to Cuba Ciboney would be found in Jamaica, for the Ciboney occupation in the other Greater Antilles islands is confirmed and the "archaeology provides no obviou s explanation for the bypassing of Jamaica by the Meso-Indian migrants (Ciboney people)." (Howard, 1965).
       The second migration tide was from 400 to 200 BC. The culture was called Saladoid culture for the peculiar forms of ceramics and the prosperity of the culture was from 250 BC to 500 BC. The Saladoid culture was created by early Arawak Indians who came from Orinoco Valley in South Ameridca. They went north to the Lesser Antilles and then went west to the Greater Antilles. The typical work of the culture was Cuevas-Ostinoes found in Puerto Rico (400-600). According to Howard, the site of the culture in Jamaica is Little River, which located on the north-central coast of the island. The site, which was created around 500 AD, is directly on the coast and there are few materials survived. Nevertheless, Irving Rouse indicated that the potteries found in the Little River were similar to the Cuevas-Ostinoes in Puerto Rico. It represents that the Jamaican saladoid inhabitants probably came from west islands such as Puerto Rico.
       The third migration wave mighe appear from 650 to 1000 AD. This time came the Taino who met Spainish in the late fifteenth century. Taino also came from the Orinoco region and they reached Jamaica via the Dominican Republic. The Taino site in Jamaica is White Marl founded in 900 AD. In many Spanish documents, Taino was described as peace and mild people. However, some documents declared that Taino people enslaved previous Saladoid people. The enslved Saladoid people were called Naborias by Spainish.
        In a conclusion, there were about three waves of migration in Caribbean including Jamaica. The Ciboney people arrived at Jamaica about 4000-2000 BC who came from north or central America. The Saladoid and Taino were both Arawak Indians and they came from south America. The ancient migrants went to Caribbean by sea and they settled islands after islands.

Sources: 1. Robert R. Howar, New perspectives on Jamaica Archaeology, Society For American Archaeology Press:1965. (http://www. jstor.org/pss/2693993)
               2. Lesley-Gail Arkinson, Taino Influence On Jamaican Folk traditions, (http://www. jnkt-com/download/influence.pdf)
               3. Marian BeWolf, Excavation in Jamaica, Society For American Archaeology Press:1953( http://www.  jstor.org/pdd/277038)