Amerindian settlement in the Caribbean, moving from North and South American mainland

Taino settlement in Jamaica

African slaves and Jewish indentured servants brought by the Spanish

Hakka migration within China to coastal Guangdong

After failed attempt to seize Hispaniola, and to deflect Oliver Cromwell's wrath, English forces capture Jamaica, with an ailing Spanish governor and weak defenses

Spanish resistance and retreat

Free Africans and escaped slaves established palenques led by Lubolo (Juan de Bolas) and Juan de Sierras

Maroon resistance begins

Settlement by buccaneers, soldiers, colonists from Nevis, Suriname, West African slaves; beginning of plantation economy

First Maroon War

Slave rebellions; 400 executed and 600 transported to British Honduras (Belize)

Second Maroon War; captured Maroons transported to Nova Scotia, Canada and Sierra Leone

Emancipation of African slaves in British West Indies; importation of indentured labor from Germany, Scotland, Ireland, England, St. Helena, Sierra Leone

South Asian indentured servants imported from Northern India

Taiping Rebellion led by Hakkas, forcing many of the rebels to flee overseas

First group of 267 Chinese indentured servants arrive from Hong Kong aboard the Epsom; 205 more in two groups are sent from Panama aboard the Gorgona and Theresa Jane in exchange for African-Jamaican workers

Some Jamaican workers settle in Panama and Cuba on completion of their contracts

Punti-Hakka War in Guangdong

200 Chinese settle in Jamaica having completed contracts in Trinidad, British Guiana (Guyana)

Morant Bay Rebellion

Crown Colony government

Chinese begin to leave plantations on completion of contracts, open small shops

Final group of 696 indentured Chinese arrives on the Prinz Alexander; they derive from See-Ip, Dung Guan, Fui Yung and Bao On

First recorded strike in Jamaica by Chinese workers on Duckenfield Estate, St. Thomas; work day reduced from twelve to nine hours

Marcus Garvey born in St. Ann's Bay

Chinese allowed into Jamaica as free immigrants

Chinese Benevolent Society formed; oversees Chinese cemetery, Sanatorium, Home for the Aged

Chang Ah Chun (father) born, Guangdong, China

First immigrants from Palestine and Lebanon arrive

Immigration restrictions imposed on Chinese

Chin Keun Tai (mother) born, Guangdong, China

Anti-Chinese riots in Ewarton; shops burnt

Several groups of Chinese enter as free immigrants

Chang Ah Chun settles in Jamaica

Chang Ah Chun sires 3 sons, 1 daughter (possibly more) with African-Jamaican women

Chang Ah Chun returns to China, marries Chin Keun Tai and brings her to Jamaica; they operate a shop in Brown's Town, St. Ann and have three daughters, Margaret (Su Fong), Lily (Su Lan), Gwen (Su Jin) and a still-born son.

Jamaican government requests Hong Kong to cease Chinese immigration to Jamaica

Chinese immigrants barred

New constitution with ministerial government adopted

Annual quota of 20 Chinese allowed for wives, children

Larry Chang born in Alexandria, St. Ann, fifth and last child of Chang Ah Chun and Chin Keun Tai aka Mary Chang; only son and heir, given Chinese name Ten Sung, Heaven sent

Migration of Jamaicans by banana boat to rebuild war-torn Britain, primarily as nurses and transit workers

Internal self-government

Jamaica Independence; first Chinese, Rupert Chin See, appointed to the Senate

Chang Ah Chun dies

Anti-Chinese riots in Kingston, some Chinese migrate to US, Canada and Britain

LC at art college in Oakland, California

Fearing Michael Manley government's socialism, large-scale migration of middle-class, including Chinese, to Toronto, Canada and Miami, Florida

LC returns to Jamaica, living in Kingston and working as architectural illustrator, designer

LC and five others found Gay Freedom Movement (GFM), leading it as General Secretary and Editor of Jamaica Gaily News until 1981; he's the first Jamaican to come out publicly

With little work due to economic decline, LC explores poetry, writing, painting, gardening, spirituality, yoga, meditation

LC studies Religious Science; qualifies as practitioner intern.

Sixteen men, suspected of being gay, killed in St. Catherine District Prison

LC helps found Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals & Gays J-FLAG

Mary Chang dies

First North American Hakka Conference organized by Chinese-Jamaicans

Brian Williamson, J-FLAG spokesperson, close friend and former business partner, killed.

LC granted political asylum in the US; launches website for asylum seekers http://seekingasylum.bravehost.com

LC addresses Amnesty International rally and joins march on Jamaican Consulate in New York to protest Jamaican government's failure to protect its LGBT citizens

LC launches LangwiJumieka, Jamaican language website

LC publishes Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, an anthology of quotations

Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton sign Reggae Compassionate Act, following years of campaigning by GLAAD, OutRage!, JFLAG, Black Gay Men's Advisory Group and Stop Murder Music; within Jamaica they deny capitulating

Second anthology published, Wisdom for the Soul of Black Folk

LC creates Yes Strings Attached, social network for men who date men

LC granted permanent residence in US

LC initiates EcolocityDC, an environmental initiative to transform Washington into a Transition town