Jamaica’s story unfolds like the layered construction of an old house—each era leaving its imprint on the island’s landscape, culture, and people. Long before European ships appeared on the horizon, the island—known to its earliest inhabitants as Xaymaca, “the land of wood and water”—was already home to thriving communities whose lives were closely shaped by the rhythms of sea, soil, and forest (Black & Britannica Editors, 2026).
The First Settlers
The earliest known inhabitants likely arrived from islands to the east in two separate migrations. Around the 7th century, a group now known to archaeologists as the Redware people settled here. They left behind little more than fragments of distinctive pottery—simple artefacts that hint at lives once lived along the island’s shores.
By about the 9th century, the Taíno, an Arawakan-speaking people, had established themselves across the island. Their villages were organised under leaders known as caciques, and their economy relied on fishing an…
