Editing Jamaica (section)

===Spanish rule (1509–1655)===
{{main|Colony of Santiago}}

[[File:Cristobal Columbus20231003 115330.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Cristopher Columbus]] in [[St. Ann Parish]]]]
Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Jamaica, claiming the island for Spain after landing there in 1494 on his second voyage to the Americas.<ref name="EBJH"/> His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called [[Discovery Bay, Jamaica|Discovery Bay]],<ref name="columbus">{{cite web |url=http://www.columbusnavigation.com/cctl.shtml|title=A Christopher Columbus Timeline |last=Pickering |first=Keith A. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060421053355/http://www.columbusnavigation.com/cctl.shtml |archive-date=21 April 2006 |url-status=dead |access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref> and [[Saint Ann Parish|St. Ann's Bay]] was named "Saint Gloria" by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. He later returned in 1503; however, he was shipwrecked and he and his crew were forced to live on Jamaica for a year while waiting to be rescued.<ref>[[Samuel Eliot Morison]], ''Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus'', 1942, pp. 653–54. [[Samuel Eliot Morison]], ''Christopher Columbus, Mariner'', 1955, pp. 184–92.</ref>

One and a half kilometres west of St. Ann's Bay is the site of the first Spanish settlement on the island, [[Sevilla la Nueva (Jamaica)|Sevilla]], which was established in 1509 by [[Juan de Esquivel]] but abandoned around 1524 because it was deemed unhealthy.<ref name="JNHT">{{cite web |title=History of Jamaica |url=http://www.jnht.com/jamaica/hist_spanish.php |publisher=Jamaica National Heritage Trust |access-date=30 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926083214/http://jnht.com/jamaica/hist_spanish.php |archive-date=26 September 2010}}</ref> The capital was moved to [[Spanish Town]], then called ''St. Jago de la Vega'', around 1534.<ref name="EBJH"/><ref name="Spanish town">{{cite web |title=Spanish Town |url=http://www.jnht.com/heritage_site.php?id=217 |publisher=Jamaica National Heritage Trust |access-date=30 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925160737/http://jnht.com/heritage_site.php?id=217 |archive-date=25 September 2010}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Taínos began dying in large numbers, both from introduced diseases and from enslavement by the Spanish.<ref name="EBJH"/> As a result, the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa to the island.<ref name=discja>{{cite web|title=Jamaican History I|url=http://www.discoverjamaica.com/gleaner/discover/geography/history1.htm|publisher=Discover Jamaica|access-date=23 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805083846/http://www.discoverjamaica.com/gleaner/discover/geography/history1.htm|archive-date=5 August 2013}}</ref>

Many slaves managed to escape, forming autonomous communities in remote and easily defended areas in the interior of Jamaica, mixing with the remaining Taino; these communities became known as [[Jamaican Maroons|Maroons]].<ref name="EBJH"/> [[History of the Jews in Jamaica|Many Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition]] to live on the island.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Portuguese Jews of Jamaica |author=Arbell, M. |isbn=9789768125699 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-35vXOgop6QC |year=2000 |publisher=Canoe Press}}</ref> They lived as [[conversos]] and were often persecuted by the Spanish rulers, and some turned to [[Jewish pirates|piracy against the Spanish Empire's shipping]].<ref>
Kritzler, Edward, ''The Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean,'' Anchor, 2009, p. 15, {{ISBN|0767919521}}</ref>

By the early 17th century it is estimated that no more than 2,500–3,000 people lived on Jamaica.<ref name="EBJH"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Parker |first=Matthew |date=2011 |title=The Sugar Barons}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2019}}