when did spanish town become jamaica's capital
1534
title: History of Jamaica text: the Higüey massacre of 1503. In 1534 the capital was moved to Villa de la Vega (later Santiago de la Vega), now called Spanish Town. This settlement served as the capital of both Spanish and English Jamaica, from its founding in 1534 until 1872, after which the capital was moved to Kingston. The Spanish enslaved many of the Taino; some escaped, but most died from European diseases and overwork. The Spaniards also introduced the first African slaves. By the early 17th century, when virtually no Taino remained in the region, the population of the island was about 3,000, including a title: Spanish settlement in Jamaica text: Vega or Villa de la Vega (place that took the new name English Spanish Town when they conquered the island in 1655). Here the oldest cathedral was built Jamaica. Eventually the Spanish founded elsewhere across the island (as was the case of Las Chorreras 5 or Eight rivers, and Santa Cruz), but that city was chosen as the capital of Jamaica. The settlers, as they used to do in the colonies in which they settled, took the island crops (such as sugar cane and banana) and pets (including dogs, cats and horses), where these animals most currently on Jamaiica. Most title: Jamaica text: landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay, and St. Ann's Bay was named "Saint Gloria" by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. One and a half kilometres west of St. Ann's Bay is the site of the first Spanish settlement on the island, Sevilla, which was established in 1509 and abandoned around 1524 because it was deemed unhealthy. The capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called "St. Jago de la Vega", around 1534 (at present-day St. Catherine). Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean. The Spanish were forcibly evicted by title: Independence of Jamaica text: landed in the Kingston Harbour on 10 May 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish War. The English, who had set their sights on Jamaica after a disastrous defeat in an earlier attempt to take the island of Hispaniola, marched toward Villa de la Vega, the administrative center of the island. Spanish forces surrendered without much fight on 11 May, many of them fleeing to Spanish Cuba or the northern portion of the island. British colonial jurisdiction over the island was quickly established, with the newly renamed Spanish Town named the capital and home of the local House of Assembly, Jamaica's directly elected title: Spanish Town text: la Vega. Indigenous Taino had been living in the area for approximately a millennium before this, but this was the first European habitation on the south of the island. When the English conquered Jamaica in 1655, they renamed the settlement as Spanish Town. Since the town was badly damaged during the conquest, Port Royal took on many administrative roles and functioned as an unofficial capital during the beginning of English rule. By the time Port Royal was devastated by an earthquake in 1692, Spanish Town had been rebuilt and was again functioning as the capital. Spanish Town remained the capital