The Europeans

The Spaniards were the first group of Europeans to arrive in the Caribbean.  The Spaniards enslaved the early inhabitants and many of them eventually died.
The English and French came after the Spaniards because they wanted some of the lands that Columbus had discovered.
In 1655 after a long battle between the English and the Spaniards, the English won and took control of Jamaica. The island of Jamaica remained a colony of England until 1962 when Jamaica became an independent nation. There were other countries that the English also fought the Spaniards for and eventually took control of them.  Some of these countries are still colonies of England. These are Anguilla, Montserrat, British virgin islands, Turks and Caicos and Cayman Islands.
The French also  gained control of some of the lands such as Martinique, Guadeloupe Haiti.
The Dutch took over lands of Bonaire, Curacao, St, Maarten and Aruba.
The following shows the territories controlled by the English, Spanish, Frnech and Dutch until their independence. Some are still colonies.
Country                                             Date of Independence
Anguilla                                            none (still a colony of the UK)
 
Antigua and Barbuda                         1 November 1981 (from UK)
 
Bahamas, The                                             10 July 1973 (from UK)
 
Barbados                                            30 November 1966 (from UK)
 
Belize                                                   21 September 1981 (from UK)
 
Bermuda                                            none    (still a colony of the UK)
 
Dominica                                                3 November 1978 (from UK)
 
Grenada                                                      7 February 1974 (from UK)
 
Guyana                                                                26 May 1966 (from UK)
 
Haiti                                                             1 January 1804 (from France)
 
Jamaica                                                               6 August 1962 (from UK)
 
Montserrat                                                 none (still a colony of the UK)
 
Saint Kitts and Nevis                                   19 September 1983 (from UK)
 
Saint Lucia                                                         22 February 1979 (from UK)
 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines                     27 October 1979 (from UK)
 
Suriname                                       25 November 1975 (from The Netherlands)
 
Trinidad and Tobago                                                  31 August 1962 (from UK)