In the early 16th century, Spanish settlers arrived in Jamaica, forever altering the island’s trajectory and laying the groundwork for a new approach to land use and ownership. Under the leadership of the Spanish Crown, these settlers established the first European colony on the island, driven by the pursuit of wealth and the expansion of Spanish influence in the New World. They introduced the encomienda system, which granted large tracts of land to Spanish colonists, along with control over the labor of the indigenous Taino people. This system marked the beginning of a significant shift in Jamaica’s real estate practices, moving from communal land stewardship to a model based on private ownership and exploitation. The Spanish settlers’ efforts to cultivate the land for agriculture, particularly in sugarcane and livestock, laid the initial framework for Jamaica’s future plantation economy, a model that would later be expanded under British rule. As these colonial practices took root, …
