From Pirates’ Haven to Sugar Island: Anglo-Spanish Rivalry and the Transformation of Jamaica, 1655-1720

David Aworawo

The work explores Anglo-Spanish rivalry in the Caribbean and its impact on Jamaica in the second half of the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century. Shortly after coming to power in the midst of the political crisis that rocked England in the early seventeenth century, Oliver Cromwell dispatched a number of conquering groups to colonize additional territories for Britain. One of the military campaigns was carried to Jamaica where Spain already exercised authority. An intense struggle ensued between Spain and Britain and the latter succeeded in wresting Jamaica from Spain. Up to this time and for many years after, Jamaica was a haven for pirates who used strategically-located Port Royal to attack vulnerable ships. From about 1680, Britain succeeded in establishing administrative structures that led to the gradual transformation of Jamaica from a buccaneer’s haven   to an island dominated by the cultivation of sugar. This study is an analysis of the issues involved in the struggle for Jamaica by Britain and Spain and the social, political and economic transformation of the island between 1680 and 1720.

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