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Independence Day
Jamaica

Independence Day 2024, 2025 and 2026 in Jamaica

On 6 August, Jamaica celebrates its independence from the British Empire, which took place on that date in 1962.

YearDateDayHoliday
20246 AugTueIndependence Day
20256 AugWedIndependence Day
20266 AugThuIndependence Day
Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates.

Jamaica was long inhabited by Arawak and Taino peoples, but the Spanish wiped out most of them within 50 years of making Jamaica a Spanish colony in the early 1500’s. After the local Indian labour was depleted in this way, the Spanish imported African slaves to take their place. However, Jamaica remained mostly an outlying military base for the Spanish rather than a “major” colony.

The British invaded Jamaica in 1655 and seized it from Spain. In all the confusion, large numbers of slaves escaped and fled to the forests and mountains of the interior, where they joined up with and intermarried with surviving Taino Indians. This was how the “Maroons” came to exist. It took two wars before raids by Maroons were finally put to an end by the British rulers.

Later, in 1834, slavery was abolished in the British Empire. However, it took decades more before black Jamaicans gained equal rights. After World War II, an independence movement sprang up, which culminated in the granting of independence by the British on 6 August, 1962.

On Independence Day, Jamaicans take part in huge street parades, don clothing coloured like the Jamaican flag, and put on all manner of cultural displays. The overall event is termed “Jamaica Festival”.

Previous Years

YearDateDayHoliday
20236 AugSunIndependence Day
7 AugMonIndependence Day Holiday
20226 AugSatIndependence Day
20216 AugFriIndependence Day
20206 AugThuIndependence Day
20196 AugTueIndependence Day
20186 AugMonIndependence Day
20176 AugSunIndependence Day
7 AugMonIndependence Day Holiday