Hotel in Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres in length and as much as 80 kilometres in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated.

Hotels in the island nation of Jamaica are often required for tourists who require short term accommodation in the nation. Some may want to go to the nation for a vacation or to work or study on the nation. Some may want to have a holiday in the nation to see the beaches and rural regions of the nation. Some may want to see the culture, history, tourist attractions and society of the nation. Some may want to see the cities and towns of the nation. Some may want to get a hotel that has good views and good scenery. Some may want a hotel that has good views and good entertainment. Some may want a hotel that has a decent reputation. Some may want a hotel that has access to culture and to entertainment. Some may want a hotel that has good parking and to entertainment.

Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the Land of Wood and Water, or the Land of Springs. Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British West Indies Crown colony of Jamaica. It is the third most populous anglophone country in North America, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm.

Tainos from South America had settled in Jamaica at around 1,000 BC and called the land Xamayca, meaning a land of springs. After Christopher Columbus' arrival in 1494, Spain claimed the island and began occupation in 1509, naming the island Santiago (St. James). The Arawaks were exterminated by the Spanish. Some also committed suicide, presumably to escape. Spain brought the first slaves to Jamaica in 1517.

On Jamaica one outspoken man, Bartolomé de Las Casas, worked for the protection of the Taino population. It was also he who suggested, and later came to regret, the importation of slaves from Africa. De Las Casas was a Spanish priest, and wrote several books about the poor treatment of the natives by Spanish conquistadors. He believed that the Spanish should work to convert the Tainos to Christianity.

The settlers later moved to Villa de la Vega, now called Spanish Town. This settlement became the capital of Jamaica. By the 1640s many people were attracted to Jamaica, which had a reputation for stunning beauty, not only when referring to the island but also to the natives. In fact, pirates were known to desert their raiding parties and stay on the island. For 100 years between 1555 and 1655 Spanish Jamaica was subject to many pirate attacks, the final attack left the island in the hands of the English. The English were also subject to pirate raids after they began their occupation of the island.

In May 1655, British forces in the form of a joint expedition by Admiral Sir William Penn (father of the founder of Pennsylvania), and General Robert Venables seized the island. In 1657 the Governor invited buccaneers to base themselves at Port Royal to deter Spanish aggression. In 1657 and 1658 the Spanish, sailing from Cuba, failed at the battles of Ocho Rios and Rio Nuevo in their attempts to retake the island, and in 1657 Admiral Robert Blake defeated the Spanish West Indian Fleet.

The British extended colonisation in 1661 and gained formal recognition of possession from other European powers through the Treaty of Madrid in 1670. However part of the Island remained in the hands of the Maroons with whom they signed a treaty on 1 March 1738. Although much of the Spanish capital, Villa de la Vega, was burned during the conquest, the English renamed it Spanish Town and kept it as the island's capital. For some time, however, Port Royal functioned as the capital while Spanish Town was being rebuilt.

The island was a major base for pirates, especially at Port Royal before it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1692. After the disaster, Kingston was founded across the harbour, one of the largest natural havens in the world, and rapidly became the major commercial centre of the island.

The cultivation of sugar cane and coffee by African slave labour made Jamaica one of the most valuable possessions in the world for more than 150 years. The colony's slaves, who vastly outnumbered their white masters by a ratio of 20:1 in 1800, mounted over a dozen major slave conspiracies and uprisings throughout much of the 18th century, including Tacky's revolt in 1760. Escaped slaves known as Maroons established independent communities in the mountainous interior that the British were unable to inhabit, despite major attempts in the 1730s and 1790s; one Maroon community was expelled from the island after the Second Maroon War in the 1790s and those Maroons eventually became part of the core of the Creole community of Sierra Leone. The colonial government enlisted the Maroons in capturing escaped plantation slaves. The British also used Jamaica's free people of color, 10,000 strong by 1800, to keep the enslaved population in check. During the Christmas holiday of 1831, a large scale slave revolt known as the Baptist War broke. It was organised originally as a peaceful strike by Samuel Sharp. The rebellion was suppressed by the militia of the Jamaican plantocracy and the British garrison ten days later in early 1832.

Because the loss of property and life in the 1831 rebellion, the British Parliament held two inquiries. The results of these inquiries contributed greatly to the abolition of slavery as of August 1, 1834 throughout the British Empire. However the Jamaican slaves remained bound to their former owners' service, albeit with a guarantee of rights, until 1838 under what was called the Apprenticeship System. The freed population still faced significant hardships, marked by the October 1865 Morant Bay rebellion led by George William Gordon and Paul Bogle. It was brutally repressed. The sugar crop was declining in importance in the late 19th century and the colony diversified into bananas.

In 1872 the capital was moved to Kingston, as the port city had far outstripped the inland Spanish Town in size and sophistication.

In 1866 the Jamaican legislature renounced its powers, and the country became a crown colony. Some measure of self-government was restored in the 1880s, when islanders gained the right to elect nine members of a legislative council.

The establishment of Crown Colony rule resulted over the next few decades in the growth of a middle class of low level public officials and police officers drawn from the mass of the population whose social and political advancement was blocked by the colonial authorities.

The Great Depression had a serious impact both on the emergent middle class and the working class of the 1930s. In the spring of 1938 sugar and dock workers around the island rose in revolt. Although the revolt was suppressed it led to significant changes including the emergence of an organized labour movement and a competitive party system.

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica and is located on the southeastern coast of the island country. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island.

Neighbourhoods and Districts

Six Miles, New Haven, Duhaney Park, Patrick Gardens, Pembroke Hall, Washington Gardens, Olympic Gardens, Constant Spring, Liguanea, Beverly Hills, Cross Roads, Molynes Gardens, Three Mile, Four Mile, Havendale, Port Royal, Cockburn Gardens, Waterhouse, Newport West, Delacree Park, Trench Town, Whitfield Town, Greenwich Town, Hannah Town, West Kingston, Jones Town, New Kingston, Kencot, Richmond Park, Vineyard Town, Mountain View Gardens, Meadowbrook, Eastwood Park, Seaview Gardens, Grants Pen, Barbican, Cherry Gardens, Jack's Hill, Norbrook, Mannings Hill, Red Hills, Hope Pastures, Mona Heights, Beverly Hills, Rollington Town, Bournemouth Gardens, Norman Gardens, Harbour View, Denham Town, Maxfield, Cassava Piece, Hughenden, Bull Bay, Shooters Hill, Cooreville Gardens, Rockfort/ Rennock lodge

Cities and towns in the island of Jamaica include or have included ; Above Rocks, Accompong, Aeolus Valley, Airy Castle, Alligator Pond, , Black River, Boscobel, Brown's Town, Bull Bay, Cattawood Springs, Chapelton, Clarendon Park, Cotterwood, Darliston, Discovery Bay, Duckenfield, Ensom City, Falmouth, Free Villages, Green Island, Haddersfield, Kingston, Lacovia, Liguanea, Linstead, Lucea, Lucky Hill, Malvern, Mandeville, Mavis Banks, May Pen, Mona, Moneague, Montego Bay, Morant Bay, Nanny Town, Negril, New Kingston,N cont., Nine Mile, Norbrook, Ocho Ríos, Petersfield, Port Antonio, Port Maria, Port Morant, Port Royal, Portmore, Richmond, Roxborough Manchester, Runaway Bay, Sandy Bay, Santa Cruz, Savanna-la-Mar, Spanish Town, Trenchtown, Whitehouse, Wood Hall


Find a Villa from Across Europe

Grand World Villas - Find a Villa from anywhere in the world

Grand Global Villas - Find Villas from Around the Globe

Planet Villas

An Index with links to almost all our sites

Holiday to - Great places to go on Holiday to
Holiday to 2 - More Great places to go on Holiday to

Holiday to 3 - More places to go on Holiday to

Holiday to 4 - More places to go on Holiday to

Hotel in 6

Hotel in 7

Hotel in 8

Hotel in 9

Hotel in 10

Hotel in 11

Hotel in 12

Hotel in 13

Hotel in 14

Hotel in 15

Hotel in 16

Hotel in 17

Hotel in 18

Hotel in 19

Hotel in 20

Hotel in 21

Hotel in 22

Hotel in 23

vacation exotic

Holidays in 2

Holidays in 3

Holidays In

vacations

Villas in the Algarve

Ibiza Villas

Villas in Tuscany

Villas in Italy

Orlando Villas

Holiday to Portugal

Gold Coast Accommodation

Condo in Florida

Flights New York

Find a Cottage in Britain or Ireland

Find more Cottages in Britain, Ireland, North America or the world

Hawaii Vacation

Holiday Homes in France

Villas to Rent

Villas with Pools

Holiday Villas

Cheap Villas

Banks - A page on Financial Affairs