The Caribbean Island of Jamaica was initially inhabited in approximately 600 AD or 650 AD by the Redware people, often associated with redware pottery. By roughly 800 AD, a second wave of inhabitance occurred by the Arawak tribes, including the Tainos, prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1494. Early inhabitants of Jamaica named the land "Xaymaca", meaning "land of wood and water". The Spanish enslaved the Arawak, who were ravaged further by diseases that the Spanish brought with them. Early historians believe that by 1602, the Arawak-speaking Taino tribes were extinct. However, some of the Taino escaped into the forested mountains of the interior, where they mixed with runaway African slaves, and survived free from first Spanish, and then English, rule.
Saint Thomas, once known as Saint Thomas in the East, is a suburban parish situated at the south eastern end of Jamaica, within the county of Surrey. It is the birthplace of Paul Bogle, designated in 1969 as one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes. Morant Bay, its chief town and capital, is the site of the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865, of which Bogle was a leader.
Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which Blackwell was inducted in 2001, he is "the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music." Variety describes him as "indisputably one of the greatest record executives in history".
St. James is a suburban parish, located on the north-west end of the island of Jamaica in the county of Cornwall. Its capital is Montego Bay. Montego Bay was officially named the second city of Jamaica, behind Kingston, in 1981, although Montego Bay became a city in 1980 through an act of the Jamaican Parliament. The parish is the birthplace of the Right Excellent Samuel Sharpe, one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes.
Jepther McClymont OD, better known as Luciano, is a Jamaican second-generation roots reggae singer.
Goldeneye is the original name of novelist Ian Fleming's estate on Oracabessa Bay on the northern coastline of Jamaica. He bought 15 acres (6.1 ha) adjacent to the Golden Clouds estate in 1946 and built his home on the edge of a cliff overlooking a private beach. The three-bedroom structure was constructed from Fleming's sketch, fitted with wooden jalousie windows and a swimming pool. Fleming's visitors at Goldeneye included actors, musicians, and filmmakers. As of 2010 the property operates as Goldeneye Hotel and Resort, consisting of Fleming's main house and several cottages.
Tacky's War, Tacky's Revolt, or Tacky's Rebellion was a widespread fight for their freedom by enslaved people in the British Colony of Jamaica in the 1760s. Led by Akan people -- tribes including Ashanti, Fanti, Nzema and Akyem, -- it was loosely led by a Fanti royal and warlord called Tacky (Takyi) in eastern Jamaica, and Dahomean war chief or coastal headman Apongo in the western end of the island.
Free Villages is the term used for Caribbean settlements, particularly in Jamaica, founded in the 1830s and 1840s with land for freedmen independent of the control of plantation owners and other major estates. The concept was initiated by English Baptist missionaries in Jamaica, who raised funds in Great Britain to buy land to be granted to freedmen after emancipation. The planters had vowed not to sell any land to freedmen after slavery was finally abolished in the Empire in 1838; they wanted to retain freedmen as agricultural workers. The Free Villages were often founded around a Baptist church, and missionaries worked to found schools as well in these settlements.
Runaway Bay is a town in Saint Ann Parish on the northern coast of Jamaica and is considered one of the most naturally beautiful places on the island. It is a notable tourist destination located 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Ocho Rios, and slightly east of Discovery Bay, where Christopher Columbus landed in 1494. Ocean View Beach is a private beach situated at Runaway Bay. It consists of a series of hotel resort complexes and beaches.
Ian Fleming International Airport (IFIA) is an international airport located in Boscobel, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Ocho Rios, in northern Jamaica. The airport historically provided service to the United States and to other Caribbean islands. It is named for Ian Fleming, the creator of the James Bond novels, whose Goldeneye estate is located in St. Mary parish.
Port Maria is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary.
Pan Head was a ragga/dancehall deejay.
Oracabessa is a small town in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica 10 miles (16 km) east of Ocho Rios. Its population was 4,108 in 2009. Lit in the afternoons by an apricot light that may have inspired its Spanish name, Oracabeza, or "Golden Head", Oracabessa's commercial district consists of a covered produce market and a few shops and bars. The main street is a narrow promenade with a number of well-maintained buildings in the early 20th-century Jamaican vernacular tradition.
Golden Clouds was the name given by Ruth Bryan Owen, the first female US ambassador, to her house in Oracabessa, Jamaica. It is situated between Goldeneye, where Ian Fleming wrote many of the James Bond novels, and Noël Coward's Firefly Estate. The ocean front 12-bedroom estate is on 7 acres (2.8 ha) of manicured lawn and gardens with over 500 feet (150 m) of shoreline and its own private beach.
Firefly Estate, located 10 km (6 mi) east of Oracabessa, Jamaica, is the burial place of Sir Noël Coward and his former holiday home. It is now listed as a National Heritage Site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. Although the setting is Edenic, the house, built in 1956, is surprisingly spartan, considering that he often entertained jet-setters and royalty. The building has been transformed into a writer's house museum.
Fort Haldane is located near Port Maria in the parish of St Mary, Jamaica and was erected in 1759. It was named after General George Haldane, then Governor of Jamaica. The fort was constructed to protect the harbour of Port Maria from Spanish raids. It was also used as a garrison to keep the enslaved and working classes of St. Mary under control.
Fort George is situated on the Titchfield Peninsula in the town of Port Antonio, in the parish of Portland, Jamaica. The proposal for a fort in Port Antonio was first discussed in 1728, when a committee of the House of Assembly met to consider measures to be taken in the face of a possible Spanish invasion. In 1729, Christian Lilly was assigned the task of building a fort which, after being built, became known as Fort George in honour of King George I of Great Britain. Lilly had built some of the walls at the Royal Citadel, Plymouth, and the bastion at Fort George was designed as a smaller version of the Citadel.
Santiago was a Spanish territory of the Spanish West Indies and within the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in the Caribbean region. Its location is the present-day island and nation of Jamaica.
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. Jamaica was granted independence in 1962.
