White Jamaicans are

Jamaican people Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora. The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ance ...

whose ancestry lies within the continent of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, most notably

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. There are also communities of people who are descendants of people who arrived from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and to a lesser extent the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and other West European countries.

Overview

Initially, the Spanish colonized the island in 1494 and, subsequently, the English began taking an interest in it. Following a failed attempt to conquer

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, Admiral

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

and General

Robert Venables Robert Venables (c. 1613 – 10 December 1687) was an English soldier from Cheshire, who fought for Parliament in the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and later served under the Commonwealth of England. When the Anglo-Spanish War bega ...

successfully led an invasion of Jamaica in 1655. After defeat, the Spanish left, aside from the

Spanish Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the fe ...

, and were eventually replaced by a predominately English and Irish white population. By the 1670s, Jamaica had brought in more enslaved Africans to work on sugar plantations, which then made up the majority of the island’s population. During the

First Maroon War The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by Indigenous Jamaicans who helped Africans to set ...

, Jamaicans who escaped from slavery fought against British colonialists, leading to another decline in Jamaica's white population. The White population would dramatically decrease during the 1800s, making up only 4% of the population at a peak. According to the most recent study by the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

, Jamaica, 3.2% of Jamaica's population is considered White, while 15.1% is of Afro-European descent (2024 est.). Over half of the White population lives in the Saint Andrew Parish.

Terminology

A number of Jamaicans have fair or light skin, European features, and majority European ancestry. In colonial times, it was common for such people to identify simply as "white" or "

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

", but since independence it has been more common for them to identify as "brown" or "mixed". For instance, some Jamaican heads of government (

Norman Manley Norman Washington Manley (4 July 1893 – 2 September 1969) was a Jamaican statesman who served as the first and only Premier of Jamaica. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate o ...

Alexander Bustamante Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante (born William Alexander Clarke; 24 February 1884 – 6 August 1977) was a Jamaican politician and Jamaica Labour Party leader, who, on Independence Day, August 6th, 1962, became the first prime minister ...

Edward Seaga Edward Philip George Seaga ( ; 28 May 1930 – 28 May 2019) was a Jamaican politician and record producer. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005.

Donald Sangster Sir Donald Burns Sangster ON GCVO (26 October 1911 – 11 April 1967) was a Jamaican solicitor and politician, and the second Prime Minister of Jamaica. Early life Donald Burns Sangster was born in Black River in the parish of St. Elizab ...

and

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1980, and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...

) had a light-skinned appearance and majority European ancestry, but were not generally considered "white" within Jamaica. Foreign writers applying their own countries' racial standards would sometimes identify them as white– writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof wa ...

observed that a ''"95 per cent black population elected a white man –

– as its prime minister"''. However, Seaga was born to a Lebanese father and a

mixed-race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

mother.

Demographic history

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

, the first European to arrive in Jamaica, claimed the island for Spain on May 3, 1494, during his second voyage to the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. The

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

ruled Jamaica for 161 years, thus the proportion of white people among the overall population varied considerably since the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement in 1509 by

Juan de Esquivel Juan de Esquivel (c. 1480 – c. 1513) was a Spanish colonist and first governor of the Colony of Santiago, now Jamaica. Biography Conquistador Juan de Esquivel was a native of Seville, the son of Pedro de Esquivel and Constanza Fernandez de ...

. By 1600, a vast majority of the native

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

people were decimated, resulting in the island's population being predominantly European. Jamaica became a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of England in 1655, and a census in 1662 recorded 3,653 whites (87% of the population) and 552 blacks (13% of the population). However, by 1673 there were 7,768 whites (45% of the population) and 9,504 blacks (55% of the population). By the end of the century only about 7,000 out of a total population of 47,000 (or 15%) were white. Most white immigrants were British, many coming voluntarily from other North American colonies or as refugees from colonies like

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

and

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, which were captured by other European powers. By 1734, the proportion of white people had decreased to below 10% of the overall population of Jamaica.Historical Background
Jamaican Family Search. In 1774, Edward Long estimated that a third of Jamaica's white population were Scottish, mostly concentrated in

Westmoreland Parish Westmoreland () is the westernmost parish in Jamaica, on the south side of the island. It lies south of Hanover, southwest of Saint James, and northwest of Saint Elizabeth, in the county of Cornwall. The chief town and capital is Savanna-la- ...

. In 1787, there were only 12,737 whites out of a total population of 209,617. There was a flow of French refugees to Jamaica after the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...

, though not all remained in the country. In the 1830s, over 1,000

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

immigrated to Jamaica to work on Lord Seaford's estate. The 1844 census showed a white population of 15,776 out of a total population of 377,433 (around 4%). According to the 1871 census, at least 25% of the population was coloured (having mixed black and white ancestry). The 1960 census recorded a white population of 0.77 percent, which decreased to 0.66 in 1970, 0.18 in 2001, and 0.16 in 2011. As with most Anglo-Caribbean countries, most Jamaicans who are of mixed ancestry self-report as 'black'. According to the University of the West Indies study (2024 est.), the population of Jamaicans who are of European, as well as, mixed Afro-European ancestry is approximately 18.3%.

Notable White Jamaicans

* Samantha Albert (b. 1971), equestrian *

Gerry Alexander Franz Copeland Murray Alexander OD (2 November 1928 – 16 April 2011), known as Gerry Alexander, was a Jamaican cricketer who played 25 Test matches for the West Indies. He was a wicket-keeper who had 90 dismissals in his 25 Test appearances ...

OD (1928–2011), West Indies cricket captain *

Monty Alexander Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander OJ CD (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican American jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was in ...

OJ (b. 1944), jazz pianist * Ivan Barrow (1911–1979), cricketer * Peter Beckford (1672–1735), politician * William Beckford (1709–1770), plantation owner, Lord Mayor of London * Isaac Mendes Belisario (1795–1849), artist *

Martine Beswick Mary Rose Penso Beswick (born 26 September 1941) is a Jamaican-born British actress and model perhaps best known for her roles in two James Bond films, '' From Russia with Love'' (1963) and '' Thunderball'' (1965), who went on to appear in seve ...

(b. 1941), actress, Bond girl *

Blaise Bicknell Blaise Bicknell (born 26 November 2001) is an American–Jamaican tennis player. Bicknell has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 314 achieved on 4 March 2024. He also has a career high doubles ranking of No. 1,211, achieved on 8 Aug ...

(b. 2001), tennis player *

Blanche Blackwell Blanche Blackwell (; 9 December 1912 – 8 August 2017) was a Jamaican heiress, mother of Chris Blackwell, and an inspirational muse to Ian Fleming and Noël Coward. Early life Blanche Lindo was born on 9 December 1912 in San José, Costa R ...

(nee Lindo) (1912–2017), heiress, mother of

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...

and

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

's muse *

(b. 1937), record producer and the founder of

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

Cindy Breakspeare Cynthia Jean Cameron Breakspeare (born October 24, 1954) is a Canadian-Jamaican jazz singer, musician and beauty queen. Breakspeare was crowned Miss World 1976. Breakspeare is the mother of reggae musician Damian Marley, a result of her affair w ...

(b. 1954), model, Miss World 1976 *

Lady Colin Campbell Georgia Arianna Campbell, Lady Colin Campbell (née Ziadie; born 17 August 1949), also known as Lady C, is a White Jamaicans, British Jamaican author, socialite, and television personality who has published seven unauthorised books about the Br ...

(b. 1949), socialite and writer * Frederic G. Cassidy (1907–2000), editor of the ''Dictionary of Jamaican English'' and the ''

Dictionary of American Regional English The ''Dictionary of American Regional English'' (''DARE'') is a record of regional variations within American English, published in five volumes from 1985 to 2012 and based on data mostly collected in the 1960s. It differs from other dictionarie ...

'' * Alexander J. Dallas (1759–1817), U.S. Secretary of the Treasury *

Jacob De Cordova Jacob Raphael De Cordova (6 June 1808 – 26 January 1868) was the founder of the ''Jamaica Gleaner''. He settled in Texas in 1839 and lived in Galveston. After living in Galveston, De Cordova moved to Houston, Texas, where he was elected ...

(1808–1868), founder of the '' Jamaica Daily Gleaner'' newspaper * H. G. de Lisser (1878–1944), author and journalist * R. James deRoux CD (1930–2012), businessman and Custos Rotulorum * Keanan Dols (b. 1998), swimmer * George Ellis (1753–1815), writer *

Gloria Escoffery Gloria Escoffery OD (22 December 1923 – 24 April 2002) was a Jamaican painter, poet and art critic that contributed to post-colonial arts and culture during the mid-to-late 20th century. Biography Born in Gayle, Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, ...

OD (1923–2002), painter * Tom Tavares-Finson (b. 1953), attorney-at-law and President of the

Senate of Jamaica The Parliament of Jamaica () is the legislative branch of the government of Jamaica. Officially, they are known as the Houses of Parliament. It consists of three elements: The Crown (represented by the Governor-General), the appointed Senate ...

* Henry Fowler CD (1915–2007), educator, chairman of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation *

Mark Golding Mark Jefferson Golding (born 19 July 1965) is a Jamaican politician who has been Opposition Leader of Jamaica and President of the People's National Party since November 2020, following the 2020 Jamaican general election, 2020 general election. ...

(b. 1965), attorney-at-law, Opposition Leader of Jamaica and President of the People’s National Party since 2020 * Carolyn Gomes OJ (b. 1958), doctor, human rights activist and co-founder of Jamaicans for Justice * Thomas J. Goreau (b. 1950), biogeochemist and marine biologist * Joni Van Ryck De Groot (b. 1955), tennis player * Anthony Keith Edmund Hart OJ CD (1932–2020) businessman, philanthropist and politician *

Guy Harvey Guy Harvey (born 16 September 1955) is a Jamaican marine wildlife artist and conservationist. His depictions of sealife, especially of sportfish such as marlin, are popular with sportfishermen and have been reproduced in prints, posters, T ...

(b. 1955), conservationist and artist * Perry Henzell (1936–2006), film director * Lewis Hutchinson (1733–1773), serial killer * Samantha J (b. 1996), singer * Francis Moncrieff Kerr-Jarrett (1885–1968), businessman *

William Knibb William Knibb, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (7 September 1803 in Kettering – 15 November 1845) was an English Baptist minister and missionary to Jamaica. He is chiefly known today for his work to free enslaved Africans. In 1988, on the 150th ...

(1803–1845), Baptist missionary, first white man to receive Jamaican Order of Merit * Abraham Alexander Lindo (1775–1849), merchant and developer * Alexander Joseph Lindo (1799–1867), merchant, planter, Member of

House of Assembly of Jamaica The House of Assembly was the legislature of the British colony of Jamaica. It held its first meeting on 20 January 1664 at Spanish Town. Cundall, Frank. (1915''Historic Jamaica''.London: Institute of Jamaica. p. 15. As a result of the Morant B ...

and Custos rotulorum of St. Mary *

Archie Lindo Archie Lindo OD (20 January 1908 – 2 April 1990) was a Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbe ...

(1908–1990), photographer, actor, author, playwright and radio show broadcaster * Cecil Vernon Lindo (1870–1960), banker, industrialist, planter and philanthropist * Frederick Lindo (1821–1882), merchant, publisher and Member of the Legislative Council * Percy Lindo (1877–1946), banker, planter, industrialist and Member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica * Roy Lindo (1910–1962), industrialist, planter, political economist, politician and Member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica * Edward Long (1734–1813), writer, author of the ''History of Jamaica'' *

Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe Susan Agnes Macdonald, 1st Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe (née Bernard; 24 August 1836 – 5 September 1920), was the second wife of John A. Macdonald, Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. Early life Agnes was born i ...

(1836–1920) *

Edna Manley Edna Swithenbank Manley, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (28 February 1900 – 9 February 1987) is considered one of the most important artists and arts educators in Jamaica. She was known primarily as a sculptor, although her oeuvre included ...

(1900–1987), sculptor and mother of Prime Minister

Justin Masterson Justin Daniel Masterson (born March 22, 1985) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. Drafted by the Red Sox in the second round of the 2006 MLB draft from San Diego State University, he made his MLB debut two years later ...

(born in 1985 to American parents in Kingston, after a few years raised in the US) * Fraser McConnell (b. 1998), national rally driver * Keble Munn OJ (1920–2008), politician, agriculturalist and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran * Paul Nash, (b. 1943), swimmer * Brendan Nash (b. 1977), cricketer and son of Paul Nash * Karl Nunes (1894–1958), inaugural West Indies cricket captain and president of the West Indies Cricket Board of Control * Evelyn O'Callaghan (b. 1954), professor of West Indian literature at the University of the West Indies *

Alex Powell Alex Powell (born 18 September 2007) is an American and Jamaican racing driver, who competes in the Italian F4 Championship for R-ace GP. He has been a member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2019. He previously contested the 2025 F4 Middle E ...

(b. 2007), racing driver *

Arthur William Savage Arthur William Savage (May 19, 1857 – September 22, 1938), was a British businessman, inventor, and explorer. He is most famous for inventing the Savage Model 99 lever-action rifle, which remained in production for over 100 years, and foundin ...

(1857–1938), founder of

Savage Arms Savage Arms is an American gunmaker based in Westfield, Massachusetts, with operations in Canada and China. Savage makes a variety of Rimfire ammunition, rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns. The comp ...

and inventor of radial tyres as well as new production methods * Adam Stewart (b. 1981), businessman *

Butch Stewart Gordon Arthur Cyril "Butch" Stewart OJ CD (6 July 1941 – 4 January 2021) was a Jamaican hotelier and businessman. He was the founder, owner, and chairman of Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, and their parent company Sandals Resorts Inter ...

OJ CD (1941–2021), businessman, founder of

Sandals Resorts Sandals Resorts is a Jamaican operator of All-inclusive resort, all-inclusive couples resorts in the Caribbean. The company is a part of Sandals Resorts International (SRI), which also operates Beaches Resorts, Fowl Cay Resort, and several privat ...

and Beaches Resorts * Betsy Sullivan, (b. 1956), first Jamaican diver to compete at the 1966

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

and 1972

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

* Ronald Thwaites (b. 1945), attorney-at-law and former Minister of Education from 2012 to 2016 *

Gail Vaz-Oxlade Gail Vaz-Oxlade (born June 18, 1959) is a Jamaican Canadians, Jamaican-Canadian financial screenwriter, writer and television personality. Vaz-Oxlade hosts the Canadians, Canadian television series ''Til Debt Do Us Part'', ''Princess (TV series), ...

(b. 1959), financial writer and television personality * White Yardie, stage name of Harry Gregory, British comedian and social media personality * David Weller (b. 1957), cyclist and bronze medallist at the 1980

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

* Cicely Williams OM (1893–1992), medical researcher, discoverer of

kwashiorkor Kwashiorkor ( , is also ) is a form of severe protein malnutrition characterized by edema and an enlarged liver with fatty infiltrates. It is thought to be caused by sufficient calorie intake, but with insufficient protein consumption (or lac ...

Jenna Wolfe Jenna Wolfe (born Jennifer Wolfeld; February 26, 1974) is a Jamaican-born Haitian and American journalist and personal trainer. From 2007 to 2014, she was a correspondent for NBC's ''Today'' and Sunday co-anchor from 2007 to 2012 and news anchor ...

(b. 1974), American journalist born in Jamaica and raised in Haiti *

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

(b. 1973), Musician

References

{{White people Ethnic groups in Jamaica

Overview

Terminology

Demographic history

Notable White Jamaicans

See also

References