"[4] To add nutrients to the soil, the Taíno burned local bushes and trees and heaped the ash into large mounds, into which they then planted yuca cuttings.

[4] Most Taíno lived in large circular buildings (bohios), constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves.

Some words used by them, such as barbacoa ("barbecue"), hamaca ("hammock"), kanoa ("canoe"), tabaco ("tobacco"), yuca, batata ("sweet potato"), and juracán ("hurricane"), have been incorporated into both Spanish and English.

In the meantime, Columbus allegedly mesmerized the natives by correctly predicting a lunar eclipse for February 29, 1504, using the Ephemeris of the German astronomer Regiomontanus.

[11] In 1505 Juan de Guzman, Duke of Medina Sidonia, in an agreement with Columbus proposed a project to populate the island but King Ferdinand turned it down.

"[12] In the so-called Admiral's map of 1507, the island was labeled as "Jamaiqua"; and in Peter Martyr's first tract from the Decades of the New World (published 1511—1521), he refers to it as both "Jamaica" and "Jamica.

[13] At this time, Columbus's son, Diego, instructed conquistador Juan de Esquivel to formally occupy Jamaica in his name.

[citation needed] Starting in 1510, a Jewish community sprang up in Jamaica, mainly comprising traders and merchants who were looking to avoid religious persecution back home.

[citation needed] In 1597, English privateer Anthony Shirley landed on Jamaica and plundered the island, marching on St Jago de la Vega with the help of a Taino guide.

[citation needed] In 1611, the population of Spanish Jamaica was 1,510, including 696 Spaniards, 107 free people of color, 74 Tainos, 558 black slaves, and 75 "foreigners".

[21] That census, however, did not include those Taino who had fled to the mountainous interior, where they mingled with freed and run-away African slaves, and became the ancestors to the Jamaican Maroons of Nanny Town.

[24] Disappointed in the lack of gold on the isle, the Spanish mainly used Jamaica as a military base to supply colonizing efforts in the mainland Americas.

[27][28][29] Weakened by fever and looking for an easy victory following their defeat at Santo Domingo, the English force then sailed for Jamaica, the only Spanish West Indies island that did not have new defensive works.

The English army, led by the British Admiral Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, soon overwhelmed the small number of Spanish troops.