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Contents. Colony 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 ...
5 days ago · The British Parliament abolished the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which increased planters’ costs in Jamaica at a time when the price of sugar was already dropping. Parliament subsequently approved an emancipatory act that gave all enslaved people in British colonies their freedom by 1838.
Jamaicans preferred British culture over American, but they had a tumultuous relationship with the British and resented British domination, racism, and the dictatorial Colonial Office. Britain gradually granted the colony more self-government under periodic constitutional changes.
- Overview
- The independent country
On August 6, 1962, Jamaica became independent with full dominion status within the Commonwealth, under a constitution that retained the British monarch as head of state. Bustamante assumed the title of prime minister. The following year Jamaica joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Bustamante was succeeded in February 1967 by Donald Sangster, who died within about a month of leading the JLP to victory in the elections. Hugh Lawson Shearer, a protégé of Bustamante, succeeded Sangster and served from 1967 to 1972.
From 1962 to 1972 there were important developments in infrastructure and in technical, vocational, and teacher education. Cultural policy promoted Jamaica’s cultural heritage. In 1964 Marcus Garvey was officially declared a national hero, followed by George William Gordon and Paul Bogle in 1965. National honours replaced British honours in 1969.
The Cold War strongly influenced Jamaica’s relations with the United States, which was Jamaica’s major trading partner and the primary investor in bauxite and tourism. Britain continued to offer a protected market for sugar and banana exports. Jamaica established a formal relationship with communist Cuba, but it remained cold. In June 1969 Jamaica became the 24th member of the Organization of American States. That same year it also joined the Non-Aligned Movement, established closer relations with a number of African countries, and supported antiapartheid initiatives.
Investments in tourism, bauxite, and capital-intensive light manufacturing industries fueled economic growth; however, the expanding economy failed to absorb the growing workforce. The bulldozing of squatter communities in West Kingston and the recruitment by both political parties of elements (including criminal elements) of the inner city to fight their political wars increased disaffection and violence in urban communities. In 1967 the government imposed a state of emergency in West Kingston.
In 1972 the PNP won its first major electoral victory since independence, and it chose Michael Manley, the charismatic son of Norman Manley, as prime minister. Manley reasserted the PNP’s democratic socialist ideological foundations through efforts to increase literacy, access to higher education, and home ownership and removed laws that discriminated against women and against children born out of wedlock. In contrast to the policies of the JLP prime ministers who preceded him, he improved relations with socialist and communist countries such as Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union; endorsed anticolonial rebellions in southern Africa; and deepened ties with the Non-Aligned Movement. He also imposed a bauxite levy. Attacks on Manley’s policies as “communist” were accompanied by violence, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency in 1976.
Nevertheless, the government’s social policies were popular among voters, ensuring electoral victory for Manley and the PNP in the 1976 elections. To cope with the oil shocks of the 1970s, the regime signed an accord with Venezuela and Mexico to obtain oil at concessionary rates. Yet, worsening social and economic conditions, increased political violence, and deteriorating relations with the United States brought about Manley’s defeat in the elections of 1980 by the Edward Seaga-led JLP.
On August 6, 1962, Jamaica became independent with full dominion status within the Commonwealth, under a constitution that retained the British monarch as head of state. Bustamante assumed the title of prime minister. The following year Jamaica joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Bustamante was succeeded in February 1967 by Donald Sangster, who died within about a month of leading the JLP to victory in the elections. Hugh Lawson Shearer, a protégé of Bustamante, succeeded Sangster and served from 1967 to 1972.
From 1962 to 1972 there were important developments in infrastructure and in technical, vocational, and teacher education. Cultural policy promoted Jamaica’s cultural heritage. In 1964 Marcus Garvey was officially declared a national hero, followed by George William Gordon and Paul Bogle in 1965. National honours replaced British honours in 1969.
The Cold War strongly influenced Jamaica’s relations with the United States, which was Jamaica’s major trading partner and the primary investor in bauxite and tourism. Britain continued to offer a protected market for sugar and banana exports. Jamaica established a formal relationship with communist Cuba, but it remained cold. In June 1969 Jamaica became the 24th member of the Organization of American States. That same year it also joined the Non-Aligned Movement, established closer relations with a number of African countries, and supported antiapartheid initiatives.
Investments in tourism, bauxite, and capital-intensive light manufacturing industries fueled economic growth; however, the expanding economy failed to absorb the growing workforce. The bulldozing of squatter communities in West Kingston and the recruitment by both political parties of elements (including criminal elements) of the inner city to fight their political wars increased disaffection and violence in urban communities. In 1967 the government imposed a state of emergency in West Kingston.
In 1972 the PNP won its first major electoral victory since independence, and it chose Michael Manley, the charismatic son of Norman Manley, as prime minister. Manley reasserted the PNP’s democratic socialist ideological foundations through efforts to increase literacy, access to higher education, and home ownership and removed laws that discriminated against women and against children born out of wedlock. In contrast to the policies of the JLP prime ministers who preceded him, he improved relations with socialist and communist countries such as Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union; endorsed anticolonial rebellions in southern Africa; and deepened ties with the Non-Aligned Movement. He also imposed a bauxite levy. Attacks on Manley’s policies as “communist” were accompanied by violence, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency in 1976.
Nevertheless, the government’s social policies were popular among voters, ensuring electoral victory for Manley and the PNP in the 1976 elections. To cope with the oil shocks of the 1970s, the regime signed an accord with Venezuela and Mexico to obtain oil at concessionary rates. Yet, worsening social and economic conditions, increased political violence, and deteriorating relations with the United States brought about Manley’s defeat in the elections of 1980 by the Edward Seaga-led JLP.
In the early 1860s, Black Jamaicans suffered from widespread political and socioeconomic difficulties. In 1865, Black Jamaicans rebelled against British rule during the Morant Bay Rebellion. Jamaica became a Crown Colony after the Morant Bay Rebellion. No financial assistance was provided to combat poverty after the Morant Bay Rebellion.
The Constitution took effect on August 6,1962 when Jamaica gained political independence from Britain, after more than 300 years of British colonial rule. While being the first constitution for the politically independent nation, it was not the first legal framework for the island…Read More Download The Architects of the Jamaican Constitution
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2 days ago · The British Parliament abolished the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which increased planters’ costs in Jamaica at a time when the price of sugar was already dropping. Parliament subsequently approved an emancipatory act that gave all enslaved people in British colonies their freedom by 1838.
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