Important Dates in the History of Jamaica

NATURAL DISASTERS AND EVENTS IN JAMAICA

Compiled 21 September,1988 by Madeleine E. Mitchell. Amended November 18, 1996

  1. 1494 3 May Columbus discovered Jamaica
  2. 1655 10 May British Capture Jamaica from Spanish
  3. 1662 Oct Population 3,653 Whites, 552 Negros, total 4,205
  4. 1663 Year Jews started settling in Jamaica under British
  5. 1664 Jun Four hundred planters came from Barbados
  6. 1664 Jul Sir Thomas Modyford came with 200 planters
  7. 1670 Year There were 70 Sugar Works in Jamaica
  8. 1673 Year Population 7,768 Whites, 9504 Negros, total 17,272
  9. 1675 1 Sep 1100 Surinam Settlers Arrived (to St Elizabeth)
  10. 1678 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, Caused by prolongation of martial law
  11. 1684 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, first serious one
  12. 1686 Year Jamaica, Rebellion,sanguinary, at Chapelton, Clarendon
  13. 1690 Year Slave Rebellion, Chapelton, Clarendon
  14. 1691 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, many White people murdered
  15. 1692 7 Jun Earthquake, destroyed Port Royal
  16. 1693 Jun Kingston was laid out
  17. 1702 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, eastern districts
  18. 1704 9 Jan Fire destroyed Port Royal
  19. 1711 Jun Hurricane, Westmoreland, Property destroyed
  20. 1712 28 Aug Hurricane, All Island
  21. 1712 28 Aug Earthquake
  22. 1714 29 Aug Hurricane
  23. 1717 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, repeated attempts, causing great alarm
  24. 1722 28 Aug Free School founded at Walton, St Ann
  25. 1722 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, Musquito Indians introduced to quell it
  26. 1722 28 Aug Hurricane, All Island and Earthquake
  27. 1726 22 Oct Storm
  28. 1728 Jun Coffee introduced in Jamaiaca from French West Indies by Sir Nicholas Lawes at Temple Hall, St Andrew.
  29. 1729 Year Wolmers Free School Established
  30. 1734 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, the negro town Nanny taken
  31. 1738 1 Mar Jamaica, Rebellion, under Cudjoe
  32. 1739 Year There were 429 Sugar Works in Jamaica
  33. 1739 Jun Jamaica, Rebellion, under Quaco, in Trelawney
  34. 1740 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, speedily subdued
  35. 1744 20 Oct Earthquake & Hurricane, Sav-La-Mar destroyed, Kingston & Port Royal badly damaged
  36. 1745 Year Jamaica, conspiracy to assassinate the whites
  37. 1746 Year Slave Insurrection
  38. 1751 2 Sep Storm
  39. 1754 7 Dec Moravian Mission Founded
  40. 1755 Year Kingston became the capitol
  41. 1758 Year Spanish Town restored as capitol
  42. 1758 Year Jamaica, Rebellion in Trelawney
  43. 1760 Easter Mon Jamaica, Rebellion, under Tackey; Port Maria,60 Whites,400 Negroes killed
  44. 1764 Year Population 166,454 (146,454 Slaves)
  45. 1765 Year Jamaica, Rebellion,Coromantees the insurgents
  46. 1766 Year Jamaica, Rebellion in Westmoreland
  47. 1766 Year Hurricane, Western End of the Island
  48. 1768 Year There were 651 Sugar Works in Jamaica
  49. 1768 Oct Drought to May 1770
  50. 1769 Year Jamaica, conspiracy discovered in Kingston
  51. 1771 Year Jamaica, conspiracy; assembly of 500 surprised by the militia
  52. 1773 2 Oct Hurricane
  53. 1775 Year Population 209,617 (12,737 Whites, 4,093 Free Coloured, 192,787 Slaves)
  54. 1777 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, followed by thirty executions
  55. 1780 3 Oct Hurricane, Sav-La-Mar destroyed, Westemoreland devasted
  56. 1781 1 Aug Hurricane, 120 vessels wrecked in Kingston
  57. 1782 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, St Mary's under Three-fingered Jack
  58. 1784 10 Jul Hurricane
  59. 1784 30 Jul Hurricane
  60. 1785 27 Aug Hurricane
  61. 1785 Year Population 30,000 Whites,10,000 Free coloured, 250,000 Slaves
  62. 1786 20 Oct Drought, Hurricane, 15,000 lives lost
  63. 1789 19 Jan Dr Thomas Coke Methodist Missionary arrived in Jamaica
  64. 1793 Year 2nd Maroon War
  65. 1794 Feb Breadfruit brought from Tahiti to Jamaica
  66. 1795 Jul Jamaica, Rebellion, Trelawney Maroons
  67. 1795 2 Aug Martial Law, Montego Bay destroyed by fire
  68. 1796 Year Jamaica, Rebellion, Maroon War; 600 transported to Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone
  69. 1798 Year Jamaica, Rebellion,under Cuffee; Trelawney great distruction of rebels
  70. 1803 Year Jamaica, conspiracy to murder the Whites discovered
  71. 1804 Year Two Hurricanes
  72. 1807 Year Population 319,351
  73. 1808 27 May Jamaica, Muntiny of Black Troops, 2nd WIR, Fort Augusta
  74. 1808 Year Jamaica,conspiracy of a very serious character
  75. 1809 Mar Jamaica, conspiracy against the Whites in Kingston
  76. 1812 12-4 Oct Hurricane
  77. 1812 11 Nov Earthquake
  78. 1814 23 Feb Baptist Mission Founded
  79. 1815 13 Jul Fire in Port Royal
  80. 1815 18-9 Oct Hurricane
  81. 1816 Year Methodist Conference started
  82. 1818 20 Nov Hurricane
  83. 1818 Oct Hurricane
  84. 1819 Year Methodists in the Island - 6,540
  85. 1822 Year Severe Drought
  86. 1824 Year Presbyterian Church Founded
  87. 1824 Year Jamaica, insurrection; Portland, St Georges and St Mary
  88. 1824 Year Episcopal See Established
  89. 1830 Year Hurricane
  90. 1831 28 Dec Slave uprising in St James, Trelawney, Hanover,Westmoreland,St Elizabeth, Manchester
  91. 1832 Year Jamaica, Rebellion; 200 killed in the field; about 500 executed
  92. 1832 7 Aug Hurricane
  93. 1834 1 Aug Slavery Abolished
  94. 1834 13 Sep First issue of The Daily Gleaner Newspaper
  95. 1835 Year Jon Wieson Davis laid out a Race Track at Drax Hall, St Ann
  96. 1838 1 Aug Apprenticeship abolished
  97. 1839 Year Drought
  98. 1840 Year Drought
  99. 1841 Spring Drought
  100. 1841 Year Riot in Kingston
  101. 1844 Year Census 377,433
  102. 1844 5 Oct Hurricane Western Parishes
  103. 1845 21 Nov Jamaica Railway established
  104. 1850 Jun Asiatic Cholera epidemic, 32,000 died
  105. 1854 Year 472 Chinese came to Jamaica from Panama
  106. 1865 11 Oct Morant Bay Rebellion
  107. 1871 Year Population 506,154
  108. 1874 Nov Hurricane
  109. 1879 8 Oct Hurricane
  110. 1880 18-9 Aug Hurricane, Damaged Kingston
  111. 1881 Year Population 580,804
  112. 1882 11 Dec Fire, Kingston
  113. 1887 Year Outbreak of Small Pox to 1888
  114. 1889 Year Population 639,491
  115. 1903 11 Aug Hurricane, North Eastern, Jamaica
  116. 1907 14 Jan Earthquake, Destroyed Kingston/Port Royal, Loss 2.0 million pounds
  117. 1912 17-8 Nov Hurricane, Western Parishes
  118. 1915 12-13 Aug Hurricane
  119. 1915 25-6 Sep Storm
  120. 1916 15 Aug Hurricane, All Jamaica
  121. 1916 16 Aug Hurricane, All Jamaica
  122. 1917 May Women won the right to vote
  123. 1917 23 Sep Hurricane
  124. 1933 14 Aug Flood in Kingston/St Andrew
  125. 1933 15 Aug Flood in Kingston/St Andrew
  126. 1939 1 Apr Telephone connected in Jamaica
  127. 1944 20 Aug Disastrous Hurricane
  128. 1951 17 Aug Hurricane Charlie, Kingston/Port Royal/Morant Bay damaged
  129. 1957 1 Mar Earthquake, 8 on Richter Scale, epicenter Hanover, St James
  130. 1962 6 Aug Independence from Britain
  131. 1963 5 Oct Hurricane Flora
  132. 1963 6 Oct Hurricane Flora
  133. 1963 7 Oct Hurricane Flora
  134. 1988 12 Sep Hurricane Gilbert, winds 120 mph, entire South Coast, 80% Houses damaged or destroyed