Jamaica began its modern history as a Spanish Colony May 4, 1494 when Christopher Columbus came across the island on his second voyage to the Americas. Although 60,000 Arawak Indians lived here at the time, he claimed the island in the name of the King and Queen of Spain.

The Spaniards made slaves of the Arawaks and they eventually died out. The Spaniards mainly used the island as a raiding base to plunder South America for gold and silver.

In 1655, the British landed at Kingston Harbour and drove most of the Spaniards off the island to Cuba. A small Spanish contingent remained in the north and they fought sporadic battles with the British for control of the island until 1660. The last of the Spanish soldiers then headed for Cuba. Hereafter, Jamaica remained a British colony and today is the largest English-speaking island in the Caribbean.

Between the late 17th and early 19th centuries, Jamaica became an integral part of the Triangular Slave Trade. Slaves were vital to the production of sugar, which brought great wealth to English landowners. Captured and sold in Africa, the slaves were brought to Jamaica to produce sugar that was then sold in England. In 1838, the slaves were emancipated.

Since these Africans in the New World now had to be paid for their labour, and with sugar in decline, it led to the diversification of crops in Jamaica such as coffee and bananas. It also led to the formation of labour unions. One of them, the Bustamante Industrial Trades Union soon became the Jamaica Labour Party and was led by Alexander Bustamante. The JLP was the first independent government to rule Jamaica starting in 1962. Since then, the island has maintained a Westminster-style government with the British Queen being represented by the Governor General.

The first ten years of independence for the island was marked by prosperity, with the economy growing by six percent annually. There was strong investment in bauxite, alumina and tourism. In the 1970s urban poverty gave rise to crime, failed social programmes and national debt. Political power has since been alternating between the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party.

In March 2007, Jamaica got its first female Prime Minister, Mrs. Portia Simpson-Miller. Her reign was a brief one though as eight months later for the first time in more than two decades, the Jamaica Labour Party was chosen to lead the country. The current Prime Minister is the Hon. Bruce Golding.