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  he
vast majority of Jamaicans are of African descent or mixed
race. Other groups include East Indians, Chinese and European.
Hence the national motto, "Out of Many, One People." The current
population is estimated at 2.5 million.
In
the past the population growth has been modified by emigration
to North America or the U.K. Currently, due to tough economic
conditions in those countries, many Jamaicans are repatriating.
ARAWAKS
The
original inhabitants of Jamaica were gentle, pleasure loving
people who liked dancing and playing ball games. They believed
in an afterlife and sometimes strangled a dying chief to speed
him into paradise. They hunted, cultivated a few crops and
fished. Their canoes were made by burning and chiselling out
the trunks of silk cotton trees, a method that is still used
today. Another legacy of the Arawaks is bammy, a thick pancake
made from cassava and delicious fried with fish.
MAROONS
 The
name comes from the Spanish "cimmaron" meaning wild or untamed.
When the British invaded the island in 1655 the African slaves
of the Spanish colonists escaped into the hills and lived
a wild, free life. Some of them helped their former masters
in guerilla warfare against the British. One such was Juan
de Bolas, whose subsequent defection to the British side hastened
the final exodus of the Spaniards.
In
time the Maroons came to control large areas of the interior
and would swoop down from the hills to raid the plantations
and kidnap women. Runaway slaves also found a refuge with
them. The two main groups were the Trelawny Town Maroons led
by Kojo (alias Cudjoe) and the Windward Maroons led by Queen
Nanny and later by Quao. The Maroons were skilled hunters
and fierce fighters and the British Army and local militia
were unable to control or conclusively defeat them. Indian
hunters and their dogs had to be imported from Central America
to track them in the bush.
The
first Maroon War ended with a treaty that ceded large areas
of land to the Maroons. In turn, they had to promise to recapture
and return all runaway slaves and help the government in the
event of an invasion. The land ceded to the Maroons was around
Flagstaff in Trelawny and was named Trelawny Town, and at
Accompong in St. Elizabeth. Accompong
remains Maroon territory to this day, but after the Second
Maroon War, the Trelawny Town land was taken away and most
of the male Maroons exiled to Canada and then to Africa. The
remnants of their families settled nearby in a district now
known as Maroon Town. The land given to the Windward Maroons
was around Moore Town, Charles Town and Scott's Hall. Of these,
Moore Town is the only sizeable Maroon settlement left. Maroon
land is held in common and they are not required to pay taxes.
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