- "I think he and his crew were captured more times than he actually set sail."
"Smith..."
"Oh, I'm not making it up, am I? Your biggest haul was a boatload of bananas on its way from Jamaica!" - ―Laura Smith and Torrents
Jamaica was an island situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is the third largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean, and located northeast of the Central American mainland. Founded by the English, Port Royal was a bustling harbor town situated on the eastern tip of Jamaica. Appointed by the King of England, Weatherby Swann was the proud Governor of the British colony at Port Royal on the vibrant and prosperous island of Jamaica.
History[]
Spanish colony[]
Jamaica was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1494. The first Spanish settlers arrived on the island in 1510. The Spaniards grew sugar and bananas on Jamaica but it remained mainly a re-supplying stop between Central America and Spain. Meanwhile the native people, Arawaks, were decimated by European diseases. They were also enslaved. Eventually the native population was almost wiped out. From 1517 the Spaniards imported African slaves to work in Jamaica.
British colony[]
Port Royal in the 1720s.
In 1655, the island was captured by an English expedition led by Admirals Penn and Venables. A few years after the capture of Jamaica, the English colonists on the island continued importing African slaves on large scale for sugar plantations. Such activities brought prosperity to the island's plantation owners, who exported the sugar produced to Europe. Plantations dominated economic, political and cultural life on the island.
In 1657 Jamaica became a base of operations for English buccaneers, pirates and privateers, including Captain Henry Morgan. Port Royal was an infamous pirate locale, though this was countered through the efforts of individuals such as Governor Weatherby Swann and Commodore James Norrington of the British Royal Navy. Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company set himself up in Jamaica, and from there spearheaded a war against piracy across the Seven Seas.
Behind the scenes[]
- Jamaica first appeared with the bustling harbor town of Port Royal in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,[6] though the island was originally identified by name in the 2003 junior novelization,[1] and the location being in the Caribbean Sea described in the 2006 junior novelization.[2] The island of Jamaica has since been associated with Port Royal, notably in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and The Complete Visual Guide[4] as well as A. C. Crispin's novel The Price of Freedom.[3] For The Curse of the Black Pearl, scenes in Port Royal, Jamaica were primarily filmed in St. Vincent in the Grenadines, part of the Windward Islands in the south Caribbean, was the production base in the southern Caribbean. The Port Royal harbour was built at Wallilabou Bay on St. Vincent (the dock and a facade have been left), and the small town set (which has now gone) at Chateaubelair.[9] Since the completion of the first film, there had been some damage to the dock, which had to be rebuilt for Dead Man's Chest; while the church for the opening wedding scene was constructed in Palos Verdes, on the coast south of Los Angeles, the same location where the original Port Royal set had been built for the first film.[citation needed]
- In Terry Rossio's 2012 screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales. Following the Battle for the Fountain of Youth, Philip Swift would part ways with Syrena, eventually becoming a cartographer's apprentice in Kingston, spending years in search of a legendary mermaid treasure called the Mermaid Trove, hoping to be reunited with his love.[10]
- In Jeff Nathanson's 2013 early draft of the Dead Men Tell No Tales script, Jamaica was featured as the main British location, a role which was played by Saint Martin in the final version of the script.[11]
- Jamaica was meant to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, a video game which was scheduled to be released in 2011. But since that game was cancelled, it is unknown if its appearance in the game is canon or not.
- Jamaica appears in Tim Powers' novel, On Stranger Tides, which was used as the basis for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
- Sanya Hughes, who played an unnamed mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, was born in Kingston, Jamaica.
Appearances[]
- Jack Sparrow: Bold New Horizons (Mentioned only)
- The Price of Freedom
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
- Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (video game)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- The Guardians of Windward Cove
- Smoke on the Water
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
- The Buccaneer's Heart! (Non-canonical appearance)
- Breakout!
- The Escape of Pintel and Ragetti!
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Sources[]
External links[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Price of Freedom
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
- ↑ The Guardians of Windward Cove
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, p. 17
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pirates of the Caribbean production notes, accessed Dec 9, 2006
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio
- ↑ Dead Men Tell No Tales script by Jeff Nathanson, second draft, 5/6/2013