The History of Jamaica: Colonization, Resistance, and Cultural Power — Fexingo History

Jamaica 1907: The Kingston Earthquake and the Politics of Ruins

In January 1907, a massive earthquake struck Kingston, Jamaica, leveling much of the city and killing over 800 people. This episode explores not just the disaster itself, but the social and political aftershocks that exposed deep racial and class divisions under British colonial rule. Lucas and Luna walk through the moments of the quake, the failures of relief efforts that favored white and wealthy neighborhoods, the controversial reconstruction plan that displaced poor Black Jamaicans from central Kingston, and the lasting scars on the city's layout. They discuss the role of seismologist John Milne, the vulnerability of tenement yards, and how the disaster accelerated calls for self-government. A story of nature's fury and human inequality. #History #Jamaica #Kingston #1907Earthquake #ColonialJamaica #JohnMilne #TenementYards #RaceAndClass #DisasterRelief #UrbanPlanning #RaeTown #HannahTown #PortRoyal #BritishEmpire #Seismology #CaribbeanHistory #FexingoHistory #NaturalDisaster Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Jamaica 1690: The Rise of Port Royal's Pirate Economy

In the 1690s, Port Royal was the richest and wickedest city in the English Caribbean, a pirate haven built on stolen Spanish silver. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how buccaneers—men like Henry Morgan and Calico Jack Rackham—turned the Jamaican port into a global hub for plunder, trade, and illicit commerce. They discuss the role of privateering during the Anglo-Spanish wars, the infamous pirate republic that operated with de facto impunity, and the city's spectacular demise in the 1692 earthquake. Along the way, they touch on the lives of women pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, the economics of the Spanish treasure fleet, and the legacy of Port Royal as a cautionary tale about wealth built on violence. A must-listen for anyone interested in the golden age of piracy and Jamaica's early colonial history. #PortRoyal #PirateEconomy #HenryMorgan #CalicoJack #AnneBonny #MaryRead #Buccaneers #Privateers #SpanishTreasureFleet #Jamaica1690s #Piracy #CaribbeanHistory #GoldenAgeOfPiracy #Kingston #Treasure #Earthquake1692 #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Jamaica 1795: The Second Maroon War and the Treachery of Trelawny Town

In 1795, twelve years after the end of the American Revolution, a new war erupted in the rugged Cockpit Country of Jamaica. The Trelawny Town Maroons, descendants of the Leeward Maroons who had won their freedom in the 1739 treaty with Cudjoe, found themselves at war with the British colonial government once again. This episode unpacks the causes of the Second Maroon War: the flogging of two Maroons by a slave named Stephen, the demand for their surrender under the Treaty of 1739, the Maroons' refusal, and the brutal counterinsurgency that followed. We follow Major General George Walpole and his campaign to crush the Maroons, the use of bloodhounds imported from Cuba, and the final betrayal when the Maroons surrendered under a treaty of clemency that was broken by the Jamaican Assembly. They were exiled first to Nova Scotia, then to Sierra Leone, where their descendants live today. Along the way, we meet Colonel Quao, the Maroon war chief, and explore the Kromanti language, the abeng, and the lasting scars of imperial duplicity. #Jamaica #SecondMaroonWar #TrelawnyTown #Maroons #CockpitCountry #GeorgeWalpole #Bloodhounds #Kromanti #Abeng #ColonelQuao #SierraLeone #NovaScotia #BritishEmpire #CaribbeanHistory #Resistance #1795 #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Jamaica 1770: The Unseen Empire of the Maroons

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the often-overlooked period of Maroon autonomy between the Treaty of 1739 and the Second Maroon War of 1795. They discuss how the Leeward Maroons, led by Cudjoe, established a de facto independent state in the Cockpit Country, with their own governance, land rights, and treaty-granted autonomy. The conversation delves into the Maroons' role in hunting runaway slaves, the tensions with British authorities, and the cultural flowering of Maroon communities, including the development of the abeng language and Kromanti dance. They also examine the economic and social structures of Maroon towns like Accompong and Trelawny Town, and the gradual erosion of their rights that led to conflict. This episode sheds light on a unique period of Black self-governance in the 18th-century Caribbean. #Maroons #Jamaica #CockpitCountry #Accompong #TrelawnyTown #Cudjoe #Abeng #Kromanti #MaroonTreaty #LeewardMaroons #SecondMaroonWar #18thCentury #CaribbeanHistory #SlaveryResistance #SelfGovernance #BlackHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Jamaica 1938: The Labor Rebellion That Forged a Nation

In May 1938, Jamaica erupted. What began as a dockworkers' strike in Kingston spread like wildfire across the island — sugar estates, banana plantations, the bauxite mines at St. Ann. The spark was a man named Alexander Bustamante, a charismatic moneylender who had never held political office but suddenly found himself leading a mass movement of the poor and landless. On the other side stood the colonial government, the white planter elite, and a young Norman Manley — Bustamante's cousin — who would emerge as the intellectual architect of Jamaican independence. This episode untangles the week-by-week drama of the 1938 labor rebellion: the march on Frome sugar estate, the police shootings at Port Maria, the formation of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), and the dramatic courtroom scene where Bustamante defended himself. We also explore the deeper currents — the aftermath of the 1930s Great Depression, the rise of Rastafari, and the failed West Indies Federation. It's the story of how Jamaica's working class, armed with nothing but cutlasses and courage, forced the British Empire to finally listen. #Jamaica #1938LaborRebellion #AlexanderBustamante #NormanManley #BITU #FromeSugarEstate #KingstonDockworkers #WestIndiesFederation #Rastafari #GreatDepression #StAnnBauxite #PortMaria #ColonialJamaica #JamaicanHistory #CaribbeanHistory #LaborMovement #Decolonisation #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]