Marching into Villa de la Vega...
During the 17th century the Spanish in the Caribbean had to deal with other aggressive Europeans. The French, the Dutch and the British were plundering the islands in the region. The Spanish got more and more into serious trouble.
The take-over
Officially the 1654 mission from Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables was to take Santo Domingo, the capital city of Hispaniola. It was part of the 'Western Design', a plan by Oliver Cromwell, ruler of Great Britain. With Santo Domingo in British hands, it would be easy to strike al Spanish possessions in the Caribbean area.
With 'Western Design' in their pocket, Penn, Venables and 8000 men sailed to the coast of Hispaniola.
Unfortunately, Santo Domingo was well defensed by the Spanish. And because the city walls were 37 miles away from the landing spot, in stead of the calculated 10 miles, the city has never been reached by the British. The operation failed completely.
Hard times for Penn and Venables, who were afraid to tell the ambitious Cromwell that the mission failed. Venables suggested Penn to take over Jamaica as compensation. Penn accepted and on May 10, 1655 the English landed at Caguaya (Passage Fort).
After they got on land, they fired a few cannons, marched easily into Spanish Town and took over the place without lost of any man.
Oliver Cromwell was not amused. After Penn and Venables returned to Great Britain and offered 'second price' Jamaica, Cromwell throwed both men into London's feared Tower for six weeks.
Slow start
In spite of the fact that Cromwell was not interested in Jamaica in the first place, the British development of the island started in December 1656 with the establishment of 1600 British colonists in the area around Port Morant. The swamp area was a bad choice, soon most of the first colonists died because of disease and exhaustion.
The Spanish did not give up either. In 1658 new troops arrived in Rio Nuevo on Jamaica's north coast. Under authority of Cristóbal Arnaldo de Ysassi a new fort was build.
But when the British commander Edward D'Oyley was informed about this renewed settlement of the Spanish, he immediately went to Rio Nuevo. There he offered Ysassi a cease-fire and a safe-conduct to Cuba. Ysassi refused and one of the most important battles in Jamaican history took place. The Spanish lost more than 300 men and fled into the hills. The Spanish resistance was broken.
The Spanish officially ceded Jamaica to the British in 1670, under the Treaty of Madrid.
Edward D'Oyley became the first British governor of Jamaica, but soon he got his first problems. Internal dissent threatened the island. Raymond and Tyson, two commanders of local regiments, led insurgent troops at Guayanoba Bay, 14km outside Spanish Town.
Nobody knew the reasons for this rebellion, but is is assumed that a desire to end the military status of the island to settle down as colonist and the hard and brusque attitude of D'Oyley were enough for the uprising.
D'Oyley first tried to solve the problems diplomatic. But when that didn't work out, he suppressed the revolt with force. Raymond and Tyson were executed in public.
Prosperity
Besides some internal affairs and the threat of war in the Caribbean, Jamaica under D'Oyley became relative thriving.
The sugar production grewed day after day, and cattle breeding and the cultivation of coffee and wood became more lucrative.
The English colonial government left Spanish Town and established a new settlement in the Liguanea Plain. The called the new harbor Kings Town and the city saw a spectacular rise in size. In 1872 it was the capital of Jamaica.
In popular speech Kings Town soon became Kingston.
the english 
