Jamaica Colonial Records

Spanish Colonization
Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain when he landed in 1494. Great Britain invaded Jamaica, conquering in the 1660s.

British Colonization (1660s-present)
Great Britain gained control of Jamaica in the 1660s. Jamaica became an English colony in 1866, and in 1958 it became a province in the Federation of the West Indies. Jamaica gained independence in 1962.