25-674: White Jamaicans are Jamaican people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe , most notably Great Britain and Ireland . There are also communities of people who are descendants of people who arrived from Spain , Germany and Portugal . Initially, the Spanish colonized the island in the 1600s and, subsequently, the English began taking an interest in it. Following a failed attempt to conquer Santo Domingo on Hispaniola , Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables successfully led an invasion of Jamaica in 1655. After defeat,
50-542: A "95 per cent black population elected a white man – Edward Seaga – as its prime minister". Seaga was born to a Lebanese father and a mixed-race mother. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus was the first European to visit Jamaica. He claimed the island for Spain on May 3, 1494, during his second voyage to the New World. The proportion of white people among the overall population in Jamaica has varied considerably since
75-517: A significant percentage of the population. According to the official Jamaica Population Census of 1970 , ethnic origins categories in Jamaica include: Black (Mixed) ; Chinese ; East Indian ; White ; and 'Other' (e.g.: Syrian or Lebanese ). Jamaicans who consider themselves Black (according to the United States' One-drop rule definition of Black), made up 92% of the working population. Those of non-African descent or mixed race made up
100-657: A third round. In 1832, Ellis was in Jamaica during a slave rebellion led by Samuel Sharpe , the Baptist War resulted in Ellis suffering losses on his sugar plantations to the tune of about £41,000. Lord Seaford left Jamaica for Britain in the middle of 1834, just before the Apprenticeship period was implemented following the emancipation of the slaves. According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at
125-712: Is disproportionately held by the White Jamaicans, Chinese Jamaicans and the Afro-European (or locally called the Brown Man or Browning Class) - i.e. despite being a minority group(s) (less than 25% of the country's population) controls most of the country's wealth. Responses of the 2011 official census . A more precise breakdown of the Responses of the 2011 official census by the University of
150-741: The County of Sussex . In the Parliament of the United Kingdom , Ellis was a prominent defender of slavery in the West Indies plantations . He was for many years considered to be the head of West India Interest , the lobby of planters and merchants in the British parliament who opposed the abolitionists . Ellis served as his colleague and friend Foreign Secretary George Canning 's second in his duel with Secretary of State for War and
175-907: The University College London , Seaford was awarded compensation in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837 . Seaford was awarded over £18,000 compensation for the emancipation of 146 enslaved people on Shettlewood Pen, 70 in Crawle Pen, 153 in Caymanas, 276 in New Montpelier, and 373 in Old Montpelier. A total of 1,018 enslaved people were freed from Seaford's estates. Lord Seaford
200-655: The 1800s, making up only 4% of the population at a peak. According to the 2011 Census of Population and Housing for Jamaica, 0.2% of Jamaica's population is considered White. Over half of the White population lives in the Saint Andrew Parish . A number of Jamaicans have light skin, European features, and majority European ancestry. In colonial times it was common for such people to identify simply as "white", but since independence it has been more common for them to identify as "brown" or "mulatto". For instance, four of
225-478: The British government emancipated the slaves in the 1830s, Charles was compensated for his liberated slaves to the tune of over £18,000. Charles Ellis was elected to the House of Commons for Heytesbury in 1793, a seat he held until 1796, and then represented Seaford from 1796 to 1806 and from 1812 to 1826 and East Grinstead from 1807 to 1812. In 1826 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Seaford , of Seaford in
250-542: The CIA World Factbook estimated that the population of Jamaicans who are of mixed European and African ancestry is at about 96%. Jamaicans Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora . The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ancestry. The bulk of
275-651: The Colonies Viscount Castlereagh in 1809. The duel occurred because both Canning and Castlereagh wished to succeed the Duke of Portland as Prime Minister and because Castlereagh blamed Canning for his impending dismissal from the War Office . After two rounds in which Canning was wounded and Castlereagh was grazed by a bullet, Ellis and Castlereagh's second the Earl of Yarmouth intervened to stop
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#1732768967371300-791: The Jamaican diaspora resides in other Anglophone countries , namely Canada , the United States and the United Kingdom . Jamaican populations are also prominent in other Caribbean countries , territories and Commonwealth realms , where in the Cayman Islands , born Jamaicans, as well as Caymanians of Jamaican origin, make up 26.8% of the population. Outside of Anglophone countries, the largest Jamaican diaspora community lives in Central America, where Jamaicans make up
325-633: The Newry plantation in St Mary , and the Palm estate in St Thomas-in-the-Vale . When John's brother George died young, he ran his estates on behalf of his young nephew, George Rose Ellis. However, the younger George Ellis (poet) would later complain to his maternal uncle, Edward Long , about John's avarice. Across his six Jamaican estates, John owned over 1,200 slaves, and he was ranked among
350-630: The Spanish left, aside from the Spanish Jews , and were eventually replaced by a predominately English and Irish white population. By the 1670s, Jamaica had brought in more enslaved Africans to work on sugar plantations, which then made up the majority of the island’s population. During the First Maroon War , Jamaicans who escaped from slavery fought against British colonialists, leading to another decline in Jamaica's white population. The White population would dramatically decrease during
375-829: The West Indies Many Jamaicans now live overseas and outside Jamaica, while many have migrated to Anglophone countries, including over 400,000 Jamaicans in the United Kingdom , over 300,000 in Canada and 1,100,000 in the United States . There are about 30,500 Jamaicans residing in other CARICOM member including the Bahamas , Antigua & Barbuda (12,000), Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago . There are also communities of Jamaican descendants in Central America, particularly Costa Rica , Nicaragua , and Panama . Most of Costa Rica's Afro-Costa Rican and Mulatto population, which combined represents about 7% of
400-564: The country. In the 1830s, over 1,000 Germans immigrated to Jamaica to work on Lord Seaford 's estate. The 1844 census showed a white population of 15,776 out of a total population of 377,433 (around 4%). According to the 1871 census, at least 25% of the population was coloured (having mixed black and white ancestry). The 1960 census recorded a white population of 0.77 percent, which decreased to 0.66 in 1970, 0.18 in 2001, and 0.16 in 2011. As with most Anglo-Caribbean countries, most Jamaicans who are of mixed ancestry self-report as 'black'. In 2011,
425-411: The establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement in 1509 by Juan de Esquivel . The native Taíno people were virtually extinct by 1600 and the island's population of about 3,000 was then overwhelmingly European. However, over the next century a significant numbers of African slaves were brought to the island. Jamaica became a colony of England in 1655 and a census in 1662 recorded 3,653 whites (87% of
450-416: The first six Jamaican heads of government ( Norman Manley , Alexander Bustamante , Edward Seaga , and Michael Manley ) had a light-skinned appearance and majority European ancestry, but were not generally considered "white" within Jamaica. Foreign writers applying their own countries' racial standards would sometimes identify them as white – writing for The New York Times , Nicholas Kristof observed that
475-477: The population) and 552 blacks (13% of the population). However, by 1673 there were 7,768 whites (45% of the population) and 9,504 blacks (55% of the population). By the end of the century only about 7,000 out of a total population of 47,000 (or 15%) were white. Most white immigrants were British, many coming voluntarily from other North American colonies or as refugees from colonies like Montserrat and Suriname , which were captured by other European powers. By 1734,
500-553: The proportion of white people had decreased to below 10% of the overall population of Jamaica. In 1774, Edward Long estimated that a third of Jamaica's white population were Scottish, mostly concentrated in Westmoreland Parish . In 1787, there were only 12,737 whites out of a total population of 209,617. There was a flow of French refugees to Jamaica after the Haitian Revolution , though not all remained in
525-400: The remaining 8% of the population. But according to a more precise study conducted by the local University of the West Indies - Jamaica's population is more accurately 76.3% African descent or Black, 15.1% Afro-European (or locally called the Brown Man or Browning Class), 3.4% East Indian and Afro-East Indian, 3.2% Caucasian, 1.2% Chinese and 0.8% Other. Wealth or economic power in Jamaica
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#1732768967371550-399: The top one percent of wealthy sugar planters in Jamaica. In 1782, John and his wife Elizabeth boarded a ship from Jamaica to England, but the ship was lost at sea, and Charles inherited his father's wealthy properties in Jamaica. George Rose Ellis married Anne, the daughter of Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet , but George died without issue in 1815, and his property passed to Charles. Charles
575-484: The total population, is of Jamaican descent. Charles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford Charles Rose Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford (19 December 1771 – 9 July 1845) was a British politician, planter and peer. Charles was the second son of John Ellis of Jamaica , who acquired a significant amount of wealth from sugar and slavery at a number of estates, including Montpelier, Jamaica in Saint James Parish ,
600-515: Was educated at Christ Church, Oxford , and he became an absentee planter based in England. Charles inherited the Montpelier estate, while his older brother, also named John, inherited their father's properties in the parishes of St Mary and St George. John married another daughter of Parker, named Antoinette, but died heavily in debt in 1832, and his properties were acquired by Charles. When
625-667: Was not convinced that the Apprenticeship would work, and he was a great believer in encouraging white European immigration to Jamaica. To this end, he donated land from his Montpelier estate, which was used to create a village for recently arrived German immigrants, called Seaford Town, Jamaica after him. Lord Seaford died 9 July 1845. He had married the Hon. Elizabeth Catherine Caroline Hervey, daughter of John Hervey, Lord Hervey , eldest son of Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol , in 1798. She died in January 1803, aged 22. They had 2 sons and
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