Jamaica Top 50: Number 46

As we continue our countdown of the 50 most significant events and people in Jamaica history, today we are at number 46. Today day I will share with you a series of events that help shape Jamaica and also shape world history, slavery was a big part of the “New World” the Spanish and English fought for the lands in the Caribbean because of the great amount of natural resources here.

Thousands of slaves survived the trip from Africa to Jamaica; they were brought here to work on the sugar cane plantations, slaves were scattered all over the island. They worked from sun up to sundown on the plantations and they lived in some of the most humane conditions and to top it off they did not receive compensation for all that hard labor. The slaves came together and decide they have enough, considering they outnumbered their plantation owners 20:1 it did not take long for the slaves to start revolting.

At the beginning of the 18^th century Jamaica was producing a lot of Sugar and coffee and that made Jamaica a very valuable place, this made it more difficult for the slaves. They did not receive anything for all their hard work, this lead to the start of many revolts. It started with the Maroons, then the Baptist War which was lead by Samuel Sharp, the Morant bay riot which was lead by Paul Bogle and the revolt in the 1930’s which was lead by sugar workers and dock workers.

The slave revolts signifies to me that when it comes to making a change people will not whatever it takes to make it happen, after years of being abuse and mistreated they finally work together to change things around, a lot of lives were lost during the slave uprising but at the same time change occur and it lead to that epic day on August 1, 1838. August 1^st is celebrated as emancipations day in Jamaica, this signifies the celebration of all the slaves coming together and knowing this is a new beginning and they are not owned by everyone.

The courage all those slaves who fought so that one day they will be free is one of the great landmark in Jamaica history and I am glad to share it. When the bird is caged up for a very long time and he is finally free, he will fly with excitement and joy but in the back of his mind all he knew was being caged up so his new found freedom will be an adjustment and that is the same for the slaves. The next phase for the slaves is how we deal with this new found freedom; we will explore the next phase at a later date.

Jamaica is a land full of prideful and very determine people and the slave rebellion is the root of that and that is why it made the top 50.