In November 1509, Juan de Esquivel's seventy man party established the settlement of Seville la Nueva near present day St. Ann's Bay. The Spanish settlers soon found that Jamaica had little gold or silver, and as a result the island would remain a backwater of the empire. Esquivel did establish a ship building yard to repair galleons destined for more important colonies, and in addition, he established several sugar plantations, vineyards and cotton fields. Despite these efforts by Juan de Esquivel, Jamaica would never figure prominently in Spanish colonial efforts because it possessed no precious metals. The island remained underdeveloped, poor, and sparsely populated throughout the Spanish period, with most colonists surviving at a subsistence level. Esquivel's immediate successor, Francisco de Garay proved to be cruel, avaricious and arrogant towards colonist and Arawak alike. Upon reaching Jamaica, he immediately instituted the very same system of slavery that had systematically exterminated thousands of Indians in Cuba and Haiti, with similar results. His successor, Don Pedro de Esquimel continued and expanded the enslavement of the Indians, and in response the Arawaks attacked the Spanish colonists, forcing them to relocate their settlement far to the south. The new town was given the name of St. Jago de la Vega, and became a visible symbol of Spanish colonial authority with a central market place anchored by the church and governor's office. .
The growth of St. Jago was slow during the entire period of Spanish colonization; most of the structures built were for governmental or religious functions and reflected the "top-down" administration of the Spanish crown. Spanish expansion in the New World was centered on the extraction of precious metals, conversion of the indigenous population to Catholicism and obtaining strategic positions to protect Spanish interests.
