Blue Mountain Host Communities

Global Volunteers began working with Blue Mountain community leaders in Jamaica in 1984, and the same communities host our volunteers today. Residents of the Blue Mountains are strong and resourceful people, and in recent years, have developed approaches to attract tourists from the legendary beaches and into their rural villages. Life here can be adventurous, so the easy-going, optimistic nature of Blue Mountains society has become more than a way of life. Their resiliance is legendary.

JAMAICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY
Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Jamaica during his second voyage, and it became a Spanish colony in 1509. Saint Jago de la Vega (now Spanish Town) was founded about 1523, but colonization was slow under Spanish rule.

The island was captured by an English naval force under Sir William Penn in 1655, and formally transferred to England in 1670. Jamaica then became a world center for slavery, which lasted until 1838. Independence for Jamaican slaves in the early 19th century brought great unrest for the island's white population. Both societies co-existed for several decades before conditions reached the boiling point. In October 1865, an insurrection occurred at Port Morant. Imposing martial law, the government speedily quelled the uprising and inflicted brutal reprisals. Jamaica was made a crown colony, thus losing the large degree of self-government it had enjoyed since the late 17th century. Representative government was partly restored in 1884. On August 6, 1962, the island gained independence.

Jamaica is the third largest island of the Greater Antilles of the West Indies, (about the size of Connecticut in the United States). Its maximum length, from east to west, is 235 km (146 mi), and its maximum width is approximately 80 km (about 50 mi). The fabled Blue Mountains dominate the eastern end of the island, and create perfect growing conditions for high-quality coffee. Large-scale plantations as well as local farms throughout the mountains employ villagers year-round in planting, growing, harvesting, drying and processing renown Blue Mountains coffee. Read more about Jamaican culture and people.