The site of Seville Great House is where the Tainos Indians, Jamaica's first inhabitants, established their largest town, called Maima.   These Arawak-speaking Amerindians discovered the island Xaymaca some 1500 years ago. On the evening of May 5, 1494, the lives of the Tainos would change forever and Jamaica would never be the same.  Christopher Columbus, the Spanish explorer, landed at Maima and became the firs European to tread upon Jamaican soil.  He lived at Maima for over a year.
	In 1655, the British came, capturing the island from the Spanish.  They established a sugar plantation which they called Seville.  Enslaved Africans were imported to work the plantation, grind the sugar, and produce the rum.  The Tainos indians and their civilization were virtually destroyed.  The Seville Great House is the site where the cultures of three worlds -- Amerindian, African, and European -- had their first encounters and gave birth to modern Jamaica.
Photographs by Dan DuFlo