The dissemination of culture in Jamaica since the British conquest.
Introduction
Jamaica is an island located in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba. Its culture represents a rich blend of cultures which inhabited the Greater Antilles Island in Jamaica. Before they were conquered by the Spanish in 1509, Jamaica was inhabited by the Arawak natives. Afterwards the British took the Island in 1655 and the Spanish tried to retake the island in 1670 but they failed. This essay will explain how multiple conquests ended the regional culture, as they have become and how the mixing factor altered traditions and beliefs of these civilizations. We will also investigate about important history moments created the Jamaican culture today.
The pre-conquest period in Jamaica.
The Europeans called America “The New World” however only because they didn’t know about its existence. In fact, the Caribbean islands were populated 10,000 years before the Europeans discovered it.
Jamaica was inhabited by the Arawak natives, also known as the Tainos (Arawak), came from the Antilles and they arrived to Jamaica around 650 A.D, after they settled, their lives were interrupted by another tribe called the “Carib” tribe, this Carib Indians were warlike and gained his name from the Spanish word cannibal, for this reason they were extremely feared in throughout the region. They attacked Jamaica’s Tainos (Arawak) tribe repeatedly times before the Spanish arrived.
There’s no written evidence of the Tainos (Arawak) culture, the only facts that we know is that the Tainos (Arawak) were extremely peaceful and nature lovers of nature, as other pre-Hispanic tribes they were polytheists and also they led a predominantly seafaring lifestyle and much of their food came from the sea.
Although there is a lack of information about these tribes, we know that they had their own religious organization. They also had politics and other social structures-albeit, but, not as complex as in the actual Jamaica. And also the Arawak had their own language.
Also the Arawak tribe inhabited the Haitian isle of Quisqueya (The mother of the lands), Santo Domingo de Guzmán today, located in the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. They were a nomad tribe and they were populating almost 50% of the Caribbean isles.
The Arawak people were primitive but they had an appreciation of art and culture represented by their achievements in simple graphical recreations (drawings and primitive sculptures). They also had religious ceremonies which included games, dances, guttural songs and primitive percussion music. One of these games is the Areyto, it was a similar game to soccer and they played in the Batéy (an arena-like field flanked with big stones depicting images of the Arawak religion).They drank alcohol made from fermented corn, and used tobacco in religious or important ceremonies.
Men and Women decorated their bodies with natural oil paints and they wore jewelry made of gold, stone, bone and shell. The women were physically attractive; they were slim and athletic, with voluminous bodies. The Arawak people used a loincloth adorned with images and stylish forms.
The Arawak developed the hammock (hamaca), an object which is known to have developed in Mesoamerican tribes, which was first encountered by the Spaniards on the island they subsequently named Hispaniola. This object was made of cotton and was easily to wash if it was soiled or to carry in long- time journeys.
In the lectures of ethnology in 1851 by Robert Gordon Latham he said:
The Pe-i-man is the Arawak Shaman. He it is who names the children – for a consideration. Failing this, the progeny goes nameless; and to go nameless is to be obnoxious to all sorts of misfortunes. Imposture is hereditary; and as soon as the son of a conjuror enters his twentieth year, his right ear is pierced, he is required to wear a ring, and he is trusted with the secrets of the craft."[1]
The cultural richness of these tribes is very broad but the limitations of this essay may restrict us to cover all of the aspects and subjects.
The Spanish conquest and the consequences.
Before the Spanish conquered Jamaica they conquered Haiti and they called Espanola, arriving in Port Navidad, where the Arawak people had also settled, although a peaceful people, the Taino did not simply sit around waiting for the Spaniards to bring about their destruction. In fact, it did not take long after Columbus’s arrival for the Haitian Taino to revolt against the Spanish conquest of the island. The first offensive reaction of the Taino against their invasion was carried out as early as 1492 by the destruction of the Fort Navidad following Columbus’ return to Spain.
The Spanish have settled in Jamaica in 1509 near St. Anne’s Bay, but earlier, Christopher Columbus settled on the island from 1503 to 1504, for 1517 the Arawak were almost eradicated by illness, slavery and violent treatment. In 1534 the Spanish moved their settlement to a place they have named Villa de la Vega, renamed for the British as Spanish Town, when they conquered the island on 1655, this territory served as a capital to both, Spanish and British Jamaica from its foundation in 1534 until 1872 when the capital was moved to Kingston. Spanish Jamaica was known for the numerous privateer attacks. And between this dates the Spanish were importing African slaves to practically all the world.
The Spanish started forgetting Jamaica because they were more focused on the American colonies, because Jamaica did not have the wealth of the new territories.
The British conquest and the consequences.
In 1655 the British took the island. There were numerous Spanish attempts to retake the island since 1670 but they never did.
Oliver Cromwell dispatched a fleet commanded by Admiral Penn to the West Indies, with troops commanded by General Venables, with the order to conquer Hispaniola from the Spanish. Hispaniola turned out to be too strongly defended, so Penn took his fleet to Jamaica.
The Spanish fortifications were weak and the Spanish outnumbered the English. Penn issued an ultimatum; the Spanish liberated their slaves, trained them in Guerilla warfare and left Jamaica for Cuba. The English marched into a deserted island capital, Spanish Town. This nowadays changed to be Kingston.
By 1659, two hundred houses and commercial establishments were constructed around the English forts, but by 1692, the town was completely destroyed by an earthquake that took place. Jamaica became the most important possession for the English because it was the bigger producer of sugar cane and coffee by African slaves. This fact was negative after 150 years because the population of Jamaica was in extraordinary masses composed by slaves and this brought numerous slave conspiracies. In 1834 the BritishEmpire took the decision of the abolition of slavery, but it was not until the guarantee of rights in 1838 that they had more liberty, however, this fact, and these promises were broke repeatedly times marked by the Morant Bay rebellion led by Paul Bogle. After all these riots and struggles finally Jamaica had his independence in august 6, 1962.
Jamaica Today.
The culture in Jamaica is a blend of many civilizations starting with the Arawak settlers, and continuing with the Spanish and English conquerors that brought African slaves; this last civilization became the dominant cultural force of the island today. In Jamaica the predominant language is the English, however, there are local languages as the Patois or better known as the Jamaican Creole that consists in a series of dialects conformed by the African language and the standard English, the dialect became an official local language when Claude McKay published his job Poems of Jamaica, conformed by a code switching style.
In religion, the population inclines to the Christian faith, but it exist other dominant religion that is the Baha’i Faith in Jamaica begins with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, in 1916 as Latin America being among the places Baha’is should take the religion to. [2] The community of the Baha’is begun in 1942 with the arrival of Dr. Malcolm King. [3] The first Baha’i Local Spiritual Assembly of Jamaica, in Kingston, was elected in 1943.
Although, there is a movement that is considered a religion and it’s the Rastafarian movement, originated in 1930, particularly expressed in reggae music, in the 1970s, Bob Marley was the biggest exponent of this movement, starting a whole new perspective about life, philosophy and faith. Today the reggae music is centered in the protests subjects and the vision of a free world, this religion is based on the old and new testament from the bible, but particularly in the book of revelations. Some of the Rasta cultural traditions include wearing dreadlocks and eating unprocessed foodstuffs but one of the most controversial tradition is to smoke cannabis or ganja, this substance is completely prohibited by many governments in the world what make this fact the reason why the Rasta were attacked repeatedly times by police officers or anti-drugs movements.
The dancing in Jamaica is very important prehistorically, and also in the present Early folk rhythms and movements often enhanced Christian religious celebrations, or were associated with Christian holidays. More recently, dances have become associated with the music of Jamaica, particularly dancehall styles.
More than 30 distinctive Jamaican dances have been identified. According to the National Library of Jamaica, traditional Jamaican dances fall roughly under three categories: African derived, European derived and Creole.[4] The Africa derived dance tradition is divided into two types: religious dances and social dances. Religious African dances, such as the ritualistic Kumina, Myal and Pocomania, are integral parts of worship ceremonies. The aim is to bring the dancers into the realm of the spiritual and heighten their readiness for possession. This part of Jamaica's African heritage has mainly been preserved by the Maroon Communities.
In the movie industry Jamaica is not as well know as might be others, but they have a wide catalog were we can enjoy some of their biggest works asThe Harder They Come, Shottas, Third World Cop, "Rockers", "Countryman" and Dancehall Queen, few of the best-known Jamaican movies. However, many popular Hollywood movies have also been filmed in Jamaica. A short list includes The Blue Lagoon, Cocktail, Cool Runnings and James Bond films, Dr. No and Live and Let Die.
Jamaica's leading annual film event The Reggae Film Festival takes place each February in Jamaica's capital city, Kingston. Members of Jamaica's film industry gather here to make new links and many new projects have grown from the event.
The government in Jamaica is consists of the Prime Minister, the Honorable Bruce Golding, and a minimum of thirteen other Ministers of Government, who must be members of one of the two Houses of Parliament. However, not more than four members of the Cabinet may be members of the Senate. The Minister of Finance must be an elected member of the House of Representatives.
Conclusion
Jamaica is a perfect example of the dissemination of cultures, its richness in the first civilization was destroyed in an abrupt and rude way, this blend of cultures had made Jamaica what is today, but the ancient civilizations are vanishing, like other civilizations as the Indians in Canada or the Mayans on Central America.
The British Empire in his false search of freedom corrupted and raped the rights of many natives. The aim of this essay was to inform and give a detailed investigation of a culture that was forgotten by the society.
In my opinion, the British Empire played the role of the fascist oppressors, but they globalized the English language and this form of oppression was perfect for the conquering and war methods.
References and bibliography:
1. Latham, Robert Gordon, (1851). The ethnology of the British colonies and dependencies – Indians of British Guiana, London: John van Voorst, pp.259.
2. Abbas, `Abdu'l-Bahá; Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, trans. and comments (April 1919), Tablets, Instructions and Words of Explanation
3. Bridge, Abena (2000-07-05), "Divine rites - Uncovering the faiths", Jamaican Gleaner News
4.A b c the National Library of Jamaica (2003). Dances. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
Internet
http://www.native-languages.org/arawak_culture.htm
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