The History of Jamaica: From its Discovery by Christopher Columbus to the Year 1872 (Cass Library of West Indian Studies,)

523 Pages·2004·2.94 MB·English

by  William Gardner

CASS LIBRARY OF WEST INDIAN STUDIES No. 17
A HISTORY OF JAMAICA
CASS LIBRARY OF WEST INDIAN STUDIES
No. 9. Henry H.Breen
St. Lucia: Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive (1844).
New Impression
No. 10. Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk
A Description of British Guiana, Geographical and Statistical;
exhibiting its resources and capabilities, together with the present
and future condition and prospects of the colony (1840).
New Impression
No. 11. Richard Ligon
A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes. Illustrated
with a Map of the Island, as also the Principal Trees and Plants
there, set forth in their due Proportions and Shapes, drawn out by
their several respective scales. Together with the Ingenio that
makes the Sugar etc., etc. (1657; 1673).
New Impression of the Second Edition
No. 12. Edward Long
The History of Jamaica, or General Survey of the Antient and
Modern State of that Island; with Reflections on its Situation,
Settlements, Inhabitants, Climate, Products, Commerce, Laws, and
Government (1774).
With a new introduction by George Metcalf
New Edition
No. 13. E.L.Joseph
History of Trinidad (1838).
New Impression
No. 14. Alfred Caldecott
The Church in the West Indies (1898).
New Impression
No. 15. C.S.Salmon
The Caribbean Confederation. A plan for the union of the fifteen
British West Indian Colonies, preceded by An Account of the Past
and Present Condition of the European and the African Races
Inhabiting them, with a true explanation of the Haytian Mystery
(1888).
New Impression
iii
A HISTORY OF JAMAICA
FROM ITS DISCOVERY BY
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
TO THE YEAR 1872
Including an
Account of its Trade and Agriculture;
Sketches of the Manners, Habits, and Customs of all Classes
of its Inhabitants;
and a Narrative of the
Progress of Religion and Education in the Island
BY
W.J.GARDNER
FRANK CASS & CO. LTD. 1971
Published by
FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
67 Great Russell Street, London WCIB 3BT
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or
Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to
www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
First edition 1873
Second impression 1909
Third impression 1971
ISBN 0-203-98823-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0 7146 1938 8 (Print Edition)
NOTE TO NEW EDITION
IN connection with this new edition of Rev. W.J. Gardner’s
“History of Jamaica,” it will probably interest readers to know
something of his life and work.
The Rev. W.J.Gardner was born November 21, 1825, at
Cheltenham, England, was trained for missionary work at
Bedford, and after his ordination, which took place at Lower
Street Chapel, Islington, sailed with his young wife on November
24, 1849, for Jamaica, where he was appointed to take charge of
the Mission station at Chapelton. He removed from thence to
Kingston on January 8, 1856, where he became pastor of the
North Street Congregational Church. Here he took an important
share in promoting the social and religious improvement of the
island, the history of which he has told so ably in the volume
which he prepared and carried through the press when visiting
England in 1873.
Mr. Gardner founded the first building society in Jamaica, also
the Society for Promotion of Pure Literature. He was an earnest
missionary, and his object was, from the first, to educate his
people in the duty and privilege of providing from their own
resources for the maintenance of the gospel in their midst. His
efforts were not in vain, for at the time of his death he presided
over a large and influential Church which had attained the
honourable position of self-support.
Mr. Gardner died in Jamaica at the comparatively early age of
forty-nine on November 25, 1874. He was buried in the
churchyard of North Street Congregational Church, having just
completed twenty-five years of missionary work in Jamaica. His
death was a great loss, not only to his church, but to the island at
large.
ASTON W.GARDNER.
KINGSTON, JAMAICA.
PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL
EDITION
No work has been published, attempting to give a detailed and
systematic history of Jamaica, since the year 1828, when the Rev.
G.W.Bridges printed his “Annals.” Thirty-five years before, Mr.
Bryan Edwards had published his compendious “History of the
West Indies;” and as early as 1774, the elaborate work of Mr.
Long appeared.
Nearly half a century having elapsed since the date of the latest
of these publications, during which time important events have
occurred, there was ample room for another history, which, while
not neglecting the records of the past, should faithfully register
those of more recent days.
The books above alluded to were written by men who were
identified with slavery, and looked upon all public events as they
affected the maintenance of that system. Mr. Edwards was the
most liberal in his views, but Mr. Bridges, though a clergyman,
was one of its most determined advocates.
The history of the colony naturally presents itself under a very
different aspect, to men of the present day, to what it did to those
writers. And yet the fierce struggle for emancipation is so far an
event of the past, as to allow a calm and dispassionate estimate to
be made of the character of men who, trained amid the influences
of slavery, struggled to uphold a system now almost universally
condemned.
In writing the history of the colony during the days of slavery,
the author has availed himself of the labours of those who have
preceded him, but the sources from which they derived their
information have been carefully investigated. The public records of
the colony have been searched, and a great mass of books and
pamphlets, published from time to time, examined. In fact, no
source of information to which it was possible to gain access has
been neglected. Whether the writer has succeeded in eliciting the
viii
truth, so often obscured by party strife, his readers must
determine. He can honestly say that such has been his endeavour.
The sketches of the habits, manners, and customs of the people
will, it is hoped, illustrate the progress which has taken place in the
social life of the island; while the history of religion and education
has been penned in a spirit of kindly sympathy with all earnest
Christian workers.
If in any quarter complaint may be made that the work does not
enter so largely into certain recent occurrences as might be desired,
it must be borne in mind that what is still the subject of
controversy can hardly be said to belong to the domain of history;
and yet the hope is expressed that the statements made may be
accepted as facts, and thus prove of value in forming a correct
judgment of the true character of those painful events.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PERIOD I DlSCOVERY BY COLUMBUS, AND
SPANISH OCCUPATION
CHAPTER I THE DISCOVERY OF JAMAICA 1
First visit of Columbus—Exploration
of southern coast—Shipwreck
and detention on island.
CHAPTER II SPANISH OCCUPATION 7
Assigned to Alonzo de Ojeda—Claimed
by Diego Columbus,
who appointed Juan de Esquivel
governor—Erection of and
early desertion of the city of Sevilla—Francisco
de Garay—Don
Pedro de Esquimel—Spanish
town built—Invasions by
English buccaneers—Condition of
island during Spanish
occupation
CHAPTER III ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 17
Origin—Appearance—Dress—Dwellings
—Food—Agriculture—Fishing
—Amusements—Government—Religious
ideas—Idols—Priests.