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For centuries Jamaica’s riches and resources have been, and still are being, plundered and squandered by many … for greed and personal gain.
The Tainos, who came from South America over 1000 years BC, are considered to be our original inhabitants. They spoke the Arawak language and called the island Xaymaca … land of wood and water.
Then In 1494, plundering Spanish invaders, led by an Italian, Cristoforo Colombo, “discovered” her, as European history likes to record it. This was the beginning of the end for our Taino population in Jamaica.
Some survived in the hills of central Jamaica, and joined with the Maroons, runaway slaves who thrashed the British Army, and got their independence and sovereign rights to the lands they still hold today.
These Spanish invaders, landed in what we now call Discovery Bay, and called the island Santiago.
In 1665, the British captured her from the Spanish, and she has since been known as Jamaica, often mis-spelt … Jaimaca, Jamaca, Jamaic, Jamajca, Jameica, Jamicia, Jamica, Jamacia, Jamiaca, Jaimaica … but “No Problem Mon” still Jamaica.
In 1962 Jamaica gained her independence from Britain, but has remained a part of the British Commonwealth, and maintains the Queen as Head of State.