Martin Henry THIS COLUMN is sandwiched between Emancipation Day and Independence Day. As we enjoy a bit of emancipation and independence from office, factory and farm, join me in a bit of historical roving. The 20th direct descendant of the man who started off the whole thing recently passed through setting off the usual mixed response to Christopher Columbus. The Government feted Cristobal Colon de Carvajal, Duke of Veragua, and welcomed him to Spanish Town in a civic ceremony replete with citation, proclamation and key to the city.
AGE OF GLOBALISATION
Meanwhile, across a big swathe of the old Spanish and English capital, thousands of fellow Jamaicans are crying out for emancipation from an enforced One Order to lead independent lives. While segments of the population railed against the modern Columbus, many went out to hail Columbus. The original Don Cristobal is one of those facts of history which are simply there. At the end of the 15th century, with Renaissance curiosity running high and an Age of Exploration dawning on what was then the most advanced continent, if it weren't Columbus it would be somebody else sailing West with pretty much the same results, negative and positive. In a real sense, Columbus launched the Age of Globalisation, which has been running these 500 years.
It is just about as futile to fight globalisation as it is to curse Columbus. The modern Colum-bus speaks English. In one of those odd twists of history, the lingua franca of the globalised world of the 21st century is not the Spanish of the European power that stumbled upon the other half of the world, but the English of the little upstarts who wrested Jamaica from them. Go to http:// www.yale.edu/glc. You will find the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Aboli-tion which was established at Yale University by private endowment a few years ago. And whose head is the logo for the Center? Nanny of the Maroons, National Hero of Jamaica!
KNOWLEDGE OF ISLAM
The Director of the Center, David Brion Davis, described as "the pre-eminent authority on the history of slavery", has just put out a new book, 'In the Image of God: Religion, Moral Values, and Our Heritage of Slavery'. I hope to get my hands on it soon. Salaam aleikum. Take another look at Edna Manley's statue of Paul Bogle. Look at Bogle's belt! I am not sure what the great 'Negro aroused' artist had in mind, nor do I know what she used as model. But could that be the crescent moon of Islam forming the buckle of the Baptist deacon's belt? The controversial scholarship of Sultana Afroz has sought to establish an Islamic presence in Jamaica. Wouldn't it be absolutely amazing if slaves from West and Central Africa did not come here with knowledge of Islam? The Maroons would have retained any Islamic influences better than plantation slaves and were in contact with the hill people of St. Thomas after Emancipation. Also, after the British slave trade was abolished, thousands of African destined for the slave markets of other countries were intercepted by the British navy on the high seas and set free. Some were released in Jamaica, quite a few of them in St. Thomas. More African retentions there than in many other parishes. Perhaps this is the real reason.
Some historical records, not widely enough known, attribute to the free Africans a leading role in the Morant Bay Uprising. Another curious observation is the use of the word 'bongo' now very popular with Rastafarians.
I see the Tacky High School in St. Mary, "poised for greatness" is advertising for a principal. Tacky led the greatest slave uprising in Jamaica (1760) before Daddy Sharpe's (1831). A slave betrayed the complete surprise achieved and the Black warriors found that raw courage and obeah were not sufficient to beat the white militia and their Maroon allies. We could have been ahead of Haiti! Another renegade of roughly the same period was Three-Finger Jack. Set in another context, Jack Mansong was rather like today's 'don'. He has a monument on the St. Thomas Road overlooking one of my favourite bays.
The Chinese community put out last Thursday a Gleaner supplement marking the 150th anniversary of first arrival. The Indians started arriving nine years earlier, both to provide post-Emancipation plantation labour. So we are all here trying to make a go at independence from the colonial rule which got us here, post-Columbus.
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.
