The Story Of Spanish Town

By Dr. Rebecca Tortello

1509, five years after having been marooned for 347 days in the northeastern town of Sevilla la Nueva, what is now known as St. Ann`s Bay, Christopher Columbus bequeathed Jamaica to his heirs.

For some 30 years early Spanish colonists settled in or near to St. Ann`s Bay until they realized that these locations were plagued by swamps.
They looked south to a town on a wide fertile plain, a town they named Villa de la Vega (Town of the Plain). Now known as Spanish Town, it was founded in 1534 and became the capital in 1538. Having been a Taino settlement beginning close to 500 AD, and subsequently the seat of Spanish and British colonial governments for some 333 years, Spanish Town is the oldest continuously occupied city in the Western Hemisphere. Its history is largely the history of early Jamaica.

In general, Spanish Jamaica was poor and badly governed. Its economy was based on cow hides and lard. It never prospered and was more of a burden than a benefit to Spain (Black, 1965). Indeed, Spanish governors were rarely present and many of the settlers became discouraged and abandoned the island, frustrated that they had no luck finding the gold they so desired. Spanish Town, however, was a good choice for a capital because for the first time since arriving in Jamaica the Spanish chose a site where the land was good for farming.

Spanish Town`s proximity to the Rio Cobre was considered important in terms of health, and its closeness to a major waterway, the Kingston Harbour, important in terms of safety. The town`s inland location meant an added level security against marauding invaders † a significant problem in the late 16th and early 17th centuries as other nations sought to weaken Spanish dominance in the region. Jamaica`s main use was as a supply depot (in the conquest of Mexico and lands to its south); its immense agricultural resources and strategic value were unrecognized and it was left virtually defenseless, its coasts often unprotected, making it a prime target for attack. English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was well aware of this fact and unlike the Spanish, he realized the strategic and political value of the Caribbean islands, particularly Jamaica, which, with its location close to Central and South America was to Cromwell, a `dagger pointed at Spain`s soft underbelly`.

Captured

On the morning of May 10, 1655 two Spanish fishermen said to be out searching for turtles off Port Morant looked up and in shock saw a fleet of 38 ships with large cannons moving towards them. The British had arrived. Turtles forgotten, the fishermen spread the word and messengers set off for Villa de la Vega to warn the settlers. Close to 9000 men were said to have disembarked from those 38 ships † some 3000 more than the actual population of the island at the time. The capital city fell within days. Yet when the British realized that many Spaniards had fled to Cuba taking their valuables with them, they burned many buildings in anger. Much of Spanish Town was later rebuilt but during that time Port Royal acted as the unofficial capital, and the pirates based there protected the island from invasion until the devastating 1692 earthquake.

Under the British

From the 1500s to the early 1600s, Spanish Town, renamed such by the British, was the only settled town in Jamaica. It remained the capital under the British until 1872 when the young city of Kingston assumed that honour. In 1670, after years of war with Spain, Jamaica was officially given to Britain by the Treaty of Madrid.

The checkerboard plan the Spanish adopted in 1534 still largely influences the layout of the town today. The original Spanish plaza was located near to where the Anglican Cathedral now stands and slightly to the north, where the ruins of Old King`s House now stands, was the Spanish Governor`s house. Under the British, the Square was rebuilt in the mid-1700s following a grid-like plan by John Pitcairne and was replete with Georgian architrecture. It is now considered one of the world`s finest Georgian Squares.

For some 180 years Spanish Town Square was the home of the British colonial seat of government, the Parish Council and House of Assembly, the island`s archives, the Supreme Court and the first King`s House, residence of many colonial governors. Built in the mid-1700s and burnt in a fire in 1925, the colonnaded portico and facade of King`s House are all that remain. In 1838 the proclamation of the Abolition of Slavery was read from the steps of King`s House. King`s House is also linked with a number of secret underground passages that many now say existed for drainage purposes. One story holds that a passage connected King`s House with the Assembly, another connected it with the river.

from: old.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0049.htm

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