Initially, the Spanish colonized the island in 1494[11] and, subsequently, the English began taking an interest in it. Following a failed attempt to conquerSanto Domingo onHispaniola, AdmiralWilliam Penn and GeneralRobert Venables successfully led an invasion of Jamaica in 1655. After defeat, the Spanish left, aside from theSpanish Jews, and were eventually replaced by a predominately English and Irish white population.[12]
By the 1670s, Jamaica had brought in more enslaved Africans to work on sugar plantations, which then made up the majority of the island’s population. During theFirst Maroon War, Jamaicans who escaped from slavery fought against British colonialists, leading to another decline in Jamaica's white population.[13][14]
The White population would dramatically decrease during the 1800s, making up only 4% of the population at a peak.[15]
A number of Jamaicans have fair or light skin, European features, and majority European ancestry. In colonial times, it was common for such people to identify simply as "white" or "mulatto"; however, since independence, it has been more common for them to identify as "brown" or "mixed". For instance, some Jamaican heads of government (Norman Manley,Alexander Bustamante,Edward Seaga,Donald Sangster andMichael Manley) had a light-skinned appearance and majority European ancestry, but were not generally considered "white" within Jamaica.[17] Foreign writers applying their own countries' racial standards would sometimes identify them as white– writing forThe New York Times,Nicholas Kristof observed that a"95 per cent black population elected a white man –Edward Seaga – as its prime minister".[17] However, Seaga was born to a Lebanese father and amixed-race mother.[18][19]
Christopher Columbus, the first European to arrive in Jamaica, claimed the island for Spain on May 3, 1494, during his second voyage to theNew World.[11]TheSpaniards ruled Jamaica for 161 years,[11] thus the proportion of white people among the overall population varied considerably since the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement in 1509 byJuan de Esquivel. By 1600, a vast majority of the nativeTaíno people were decimated, resulting in the island's population being predominantly European.[20]
Jamaica became acolony of England in 1655,[20] and a census in 1662 recorded 3,653 whites (87% of the population) and 552 blacks (13% of the population). However, by 1673 there were 7,768 whites (45% of the population) and 9,504 blacks (55% of the population). By the end of the century only about 7,000 out of a total population of 47,000 (or 15%) were white. Most white immigrants were British, many coming voluntarily from other North American colonies or as refugees from colonies likeMontserrat andSuriname, which were captured by other European powers.[21]
By 1734, the proportion of white people had decreased to below 10% of the overall population of Jamaica.[22] In 1774,Edward Long estimated that a third of Jamaica's white population were Scottish, mostly concentrated inWestmoreland Parish.[23] In 1787, there were only 12,737 whites out of a total population of 209,617.[22] There was a flow of French refugees to Jamaica after theHaitian Revolution, though not all remained in the country. In the 1830s, over 1,000Germans immigrated to Jamaica to work onLord Seaford's estate. The 1844 census showed a white population of 15,776 out of a total population of 377,433 (around 4%).[22] According to the 1871 census, at least 25% of the population was coloured (having mixed black and white ancestry).[24]
The 1960 census recorded a white population of 0.77 percent, which decreased to 0.66 in 1970, 0.18 in 2001, and 0.16 in 2011.[25] As with most Anglo-Caribbean countries, most Jamaicans who are of mixed ancestry self-report as 'black'.[26][27] According to the University of the West Indies study (2024 est.), the population of Jamaicans who are of European as well as mixed Afro-European ancestry is approximately 18.3%.[1]
^Mavis Campbell,The Maroons of Jamaica 1655–1796: a History of Resistance, Collaboration & Betrayal (Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey, 1988), p. 105.
^Bev Carey,The Maroon Story: The Authentic and Original History of the Maroons in the History of Jamaica 1490–1880 (Kingston, Jamaica: Agouti Press, 1997), pp. 315–355.
