England Captures Jamaica from Spain: The Caribbean Reshuffles
The invasion fleet sent to capture Hispaniola got its ass handed to it by Spanish militia. Penn and Venables, humiliated and desperate, pivoted to a backup target nobody in London had asked for: Jamaica. Spain had maybe 1,500 colonists there, mostly cattle ranchers. England took it in days. But here's the thing—the Spanish enslaved Africans fled to the mountains and formed free Maroon communities that would resist British control for over a century. What started as a consolation prize became the crown jewel of Britain's sugar empire. And cost them more blood fighting freed people than Spanish soldiers.
May 10, 1655
371 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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