The colony of **Jamaica gained independence** **from Britain** on 6 August 1962. In Jamaica, this date is celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday.

The colony of **Jamaica gained independence** **from Britain** on 6 August 1962. In Jamaica, this date is celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday.


The island became a Spanish colony in 1509. The Spanish carried out ethnic cleansing operations against the indigenous Taino people.

In 1655, British forces took the island and it became a British colony.  The British brought many thousands of slaves from Africa and forced them to work on British plantations in Jamaica.

Over the years, some slaves escaped and joined the Taino in the mountains, forming a society which the British called “Maroons”.

The Maroons won a war against the British (1728–1740), but lost a second war (1795–1796).

In 1834, slavery was abolished, although life for the 300,000 Jamaican slaves changed very little as the British still held all the land, wealth, power and privileges.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the economy was changing; sugar declined and the banana trade grew. Many old sugar plantations went bankrupt. A land reform, of sorts, allowed some Jamaican small farmers to purchase limited amounts of land. However, most land was bought up by the British firm *Tate and Lyle*.

Between the wars, there was growing anti-colonial unrest. During the Great Depression, Jamaican workers protested the low wages, inequalities and poor living conditions. By the 1940s, new unions and political parties began pressing for change and there was a growing sense of Jamaican nationalism.

After World War II, Jamaican leaders pushed for independence. In 1962, Alexander Bustamante (who was White) won election and became premier. That same year, the UK granted Jamaica its independence, and Bustamante became prime minister.

Jamaica kept the British monarch as Head of State.

The picture below shows Jamaican women wearing different varieties of Jamaican national dress during the country's independence celebrations.

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