JNHT to launch new museum and guidebook at Rio Nuevo Battle Site
July 15, 2009
The Rio Nuevo River flows into the Caribbean Sea between Ocho Rios and Port Maria. At its mouth is the small village of Rio Nuevo in the parish of St. Mary. Looking today at the beautiful, serene bay of Rio Nuevo it is hard to believe that this was the scene of one of the largest battles in Jamaican history.
It was the final big fight between the English and Spanish for control of the island. On Saturday July 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust in association with the Rio Nuevo Battlesite Citizens Association will open a museum at the site and members of the public are invited to attend. The museum will display artifacts found at the Battle site.
The Spanish had first arrived in Jamaica in 1494 with Christopher Columbus. They controlled Jamaica for over 150 years until the coming of the English in 1655. On the morning of May 10, 1655 the English fleet sailed into what is now Kingston Harbour. The next day they occupied the capital city of Spanish Jamaica, Villa de la Vega (present day Spanish Town). However, the war between the Spanish and the English for control of Jamaica lasted for five years. The Spanish forces sought to eject the 'interlopers' through a combination of internal resistance and external invasion. The Spanish forces in Jamaica were made up of African Jamaicans and Spanish Jamaicans and led by Don Cristobal de Ysassi, a Spanish Jamaican creole. Ysassi based himself in the hills and used guerrilla tactics against the English.
The war very much hung in the balance until the Battle of Rio Nuevo in June 1658. The battle took place over three days on the beach and the battle involved over 1400 men and boys of different nationalities, religions and peoples. The Spaniards, Spanish Jamaican Creoles, their African Jamaican allies and the Mexican troops, were pitted against the English, who emerged victorious.
A thousand years of history
While the village of Rio Nuevo is best known as the site of one of the largest battles in Jamaican history it also contains the remnants of many periods of Jamaican history and the many people who have made this island their home, including the Taíno, the Spaniard, the African and the English. Dating to as far back as 900 A.D. the site has been an important settlement. It is also a site of uncommon geological interest situated, as it is, close to an important fault line under the Caribbean Sea.
In many ways Rio Nuevo is a typical small Jamaican settlement and it has undergone all the changes that Jamaica as a whole has experienced, including: colonial conquest, plantation, slavery, the exportation of cash crops, emancipation, the development of free villages, the decline of the sugar and banana economies, independence, the rise of mass tourism as well as recent urban development. Today, Rio Nuevo is the site of considerable construction with an entire new community being built around the battle site. It is a flourishing community that takes deep pride in its heritage and its role in world history and look forward to sharing that history with the rest of Jamaica.
The museum is made possible through the kind assistance of the CHASE Fund and the Tourism Enhancement Fund.
For further info contact:
Coleen Douglas (886-1849)
Andrea Braham (885-8105)
922-1287-8
922-3990
