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Dutty Boukman

(died November 1791)  Dutty Boukman  was a  Jamaican -born  Haitian  slave who was one of the most visible early leaders of the  Haitian Revolution . According to some contemporary accounts, Boukman may have conducted a religious ceremony in which a freedom covenant was affirmed;  this ceremony would have been a catalyst to the slave uprising that marked the beginning of the  Haïtian Revolution . Dutty Boukman may have been a self-educated slave born on the island of  Jamaica . Some sources indicate that he was later sold by his British master to a French  plantation  owner after he attempted to teach other Jamaican slaves to read, who put him to work as a  commandeur  (slave driver) and, later, a coach driver. His French name came from his English  nickname ,  "Book Man,"  which some scholars, despite accounts suggesting that he was a Vodou  houngan , have interpreted as meaning that he may have ...

Brief history of Jamaica

Brief history of Jamaica before, doing and after the Europeans invaded, occupied, colonized and enslaved the Island by the way of Christopher Columbus. You might call this the testing ground for the enslavement of Africans in what we now call the USA. Pre-Colombian Jamaica Prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1494, Jamaica was inhabited by Arawaks, living in simple communities based on fishing, hunting, and small scale cultivation of cassava. The impact of the contact with the Spanish was traumatic, and these communities disappeared in 70-80 years. Plunder, disruption of economic activities, new diseases, and migration decimated the indigenous population. Only a few artifacts-facts, examples of which are on display at the small museum at White Marl, and a few Spanish corruptions of place names (such as Ocho Rios) remain from this period. Otherwise, there is no Arawak influence on the subsequent development of life on the island. The Spanish Occupation, 1494-1655 Disappointed...