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Deeside: The Forgotten Root of Jamaica’s Deep Past
By Fabian Stennett – Special to TIME
Once upon a time in Jamaica—before reggae pulsated through Kingston streets and before sugar plantations scarred the hillsides—there existed a world far richer than many history books will admit. This world was not born of European conquest but of indigenous depth, African memory, and a cultural fusion that predated Columbus by millennia.
At the heart of this legacy lies Deeside, a quiet, lush area in Trelawny nestled within Jamaica’s famed Cockpit Country. Today, it may seem like just another rural district, but dig beneath the fertile soil and you’ll uncover a tapestry of civilizations—Tainos, Moors, Ashanti Hebrews, and the early Maroons—each leaving their mark on Jamaica’s soul.
A Cradle of Indigenous Civilization
Long before the Spanish flags pierced the soil of Xaymaca (the Taino name for Jamaica), three dominant peoples inhabited the land: the Tainos, the Ciboney-Ashanti Hebrews, and the Moors. Their footprints remain visible not only in ancient middens and sacred river paths but also in Jamaica’s living culture.
Sites like White Marl and Guanaboa Vale in St. Catherine, Alligator Pond in Clarendon, and the mountainous middens at Williamsfield near Kempshot, St. James, serve as archaeological anchors of a world too often dismissed. And the Martha Brae River, born from underground streams in the Cockpit's rugged terrain, snakes through this cultural memory—its waters flowing from Roper Sink in Tangle River to Deeside, carrying the whisper of ancient tongues.
Diego Pimento: Jamaica’s First Guerrilla Hero
When the British arrived in 1655, fresh from their conquest of Spanish Town, they met unexpected resistance. On August 4, at the Rio Cabana crossing of the Black River, a fierce defender named Diego Pimento stood in their way. A Spanish Creole of African and indigenous lineage, Pimento led a local militia that outmaneuvered and humiliated the British, delaying their advance into the west.
His story—rarely told in classrooms—is a critical link in Jamaica’s tradition of resistance and self-determination. Pimento’s defiance lit the flame of a movement that would later inspire figures like Samuel Sharpe during the 1831 Christmas Rebellion, rooted in places like the historic Tulloch Castle Estate.
Maroons, Moors, and the Ashanti Hebrews
The Maroons—often portrayed simply as runaway slaves—were far more than fugitives. They were descendants of Ciboney-Ashanti Hebrews, Tainos, and Moors, armed with ancient wisdom, mountain strategies, and spiritual traditions. Their baking of unleavened cassava bread, ritual drumming, and herbal medicine point to deep African and Hebrew roots, linked to civilizations of the Nile Valley—Ethiopia, Sudan, and ancient Kemet (Egypt).
As historians like Don Carter Henry and Paramount Chief O.G. Francis have argued, these people did not just resist slavery—they preserved a worldview rooted in astronomy, agriculture, spiritual science, and artistic expression. Jamaica’s daily “livity,” from its music to its crafts, echoes these ancestral vibrations.
The Nile Flows Through Deeside
Modern Jamaica, in its rhythms and resilience, is a living museum of African Renaissance. Pottery, drum types, woodwork, and symbols used by today’s Rastas and Revivalists trace back not only to West Africa but to the ancient empires of Thebes (Nowe), Memphis, and Dongola.
The fall of Granada in 1492, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, coincided with Columbus’s infamous voyage. In that same year, black Jews and Moors were expelled from Iberia. Columbus sailed west not into the unknown—but into lands already populated by familiar people, ones the Spanish Empire viewed as obstacles to be eliminated. That plan—to eradicate Moorish, Ashanti, and Taino civilizations in the Caribbean—was executed with genocidal precision.
A Call to Remember
Deeside, and places like it, are not simply rural communities—they are time capsules. Each cave, river, and ruin offers evidence that Jamaica’s history is not a tale that begins with slavery, but a story of civilization, interruption, and resurgence.
The challenge now is preservation. These oral histories, hidden sites, and ancient rituals are fading fast. Yet they hold the key to Jamaica’s true identity—one far older and richer than colonial textbooks admit.
As global calls to decolonize education and history grow louder, Deeside and the Cockpit Country may finally take their rightful place on the world stage—not just as natural wonders, but as sacred sites of human continuity.
Because once upon a time in Jamaica…
We were not broken.
We were builders.
Jamaica our Sunshiny Island paradise do possesses a rich history worthy to be highlighted on the international world stage. As once upon a time in Jamaica's rich history the Tainos used to reside in Jamaica , aswell as the Ciboney Ashanti Hebrews and the moors. Jamaica and it's rich anthropogenical history provides clear evidence of these three indigenous groups of people even until this day. The cultural practices of the maroons who still baked the unleven cassava bread, suggestive of their Hebrew connections and there religious practices utilizing the drums etc are even further evidence. The historical sites at white marl and Guanaboa in St.Catherine,Alligator pond in Clarendon and the Middens at williamsfield in the hilly mountainous terrains of Kempshot in St.James suggest the presence of the Tainos. The Martha Brae River in Trelawney as an underground streams through the cockpit area of Vaughansfield ,St James . Starting at Roper in Tangle River and disappeared into the Rota sink hole locally called Roper Sink and travels to Deeside in Trelawney and serves as the upper main tributary for the Martha Brae River. On the other side is the queen of Spain Valley and the Montego River. The Historical TulLoch Castle Estate and it's pivotal role in the Baptist Christmas rebellion known as the Samuel Sharpe's Kensington Rebellion in 1831 suddenly comes to mind. The cultural importance of the maroons, the bravery of Diego Pimento and other significant documentations reveals that the Cockpit Country is a natural evidence of its people: the Tainos,The Maroons, the slaves and the peasant all retaining a revered inner silences comparable to the deep underground water of the Cockpit Country as, Reknown Historians Don Carter and Paramount Chief O.G.Francis Stated,when stirred up, becomes embroiled and vulnerably dangerous, because the hoisting of the Spanish flags by the Spanish invaders reset the island's unbroken pattern of peace and tranquillity thus setting the pattern for resistivity against colonial occupations and the massive lootings, savageries and plunderings that comes along with the Euro-invaders. And it was also written once upon a time in jamaica of a man called Diego pimento."Diego Pimento the first of them all .He was a Spanish Creole defender against the attack of the English invaders in 1655. On August 4, 1655 the English invaders after conquering Spanish Town were prevented from crossing the fording of the Rio Cobana on the Black River. On that day Diego Pimento and his army taught the British invaders a lesson never to be forgotten. This gave rise to a national spirit to cast off the foreign yoke of demonizing tyranny. People like Juan Debola and Juan Sisiera rose to prominence.Juan Debola was ambushed and killed in a raid against the Ciboney Ashanti Hebrew often referred to as Maroons. Our history now and once upon a time in Jamaica suggested that the original people of Jamaica are offsprings of the original Ethiopians ,Sudanese and Egyptians: often referred to as the Abyssinian Highland or the Nile Valley .This area is unquestionably the The cradle of Civilization. Therefore it is safe to say that cultural civilization such as writing ,science, religion, medicine astronomy,agriculture as well as wood, stones and metals,the music and creative artworks of the Jamaican people depicts it African Renaissance interms of the types drums,symbols,pottery carvings and day to day cultural practices and livity. The history of Jamaica dates back and clearly connected to the original Ethiopian/Egyptian civilization which existed long before the biblical tower of Babel ,the Egyptian towers and the founding of the ancient Babylon by the Sumerians and goes back to the beginning of recorded times and the Ethiopian cradle of world culture in ancient kemet. Great Ethiopian empires like Dongola, Memphis and Thebes play a great contribution to the development of Jamaica and its Ashanti Hebrew people. Thebes was known to the ancient Hebrew as Nowe and was the most influential and powerful city in the ancient world. Therefore the skills, craftsmanship, and competency of the Jamaican people reflects their derivative and ancestral lineage. Between the 13th and the 15 century AD . In 1492 the last moorish stronghold of Spain fell to the rise of white power in this same year the black Jews were expelled from Spain. The cruel institution called slavery was in its inception as Spain was Jealous over the Portuguese conquest and early occupation of the so called new world. After analyzing the empirical anthropogenical historical evidence it is as clear as daylight that Columbus was aware of these original Moorish ,Tainos,Hebrew Ashanti people who resided in Caribbean and setted out from day one to persecute, destroy and annihilate these people by any means necessary.
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