Who Was The First Prime Minister Of Jamaica?

Alexander Bustamante served as independent Jamaica's first prime minister, from 1962 to 1967. Bustamante was a progressive politician who challenged colonialism during the  1930s and 1940s and paid a political price when he was imprisoned in 1940 for two years, after he was found guilty of subversion.

Bustamante established the Jamaican Labour Party in 1943, only a year after his relase from prison, and was elected to the House of Representatives, holding a number of key portfolios, such as Minister for Communications and then Chief Minister in 1953. He also served as the Mayor of Kingston, Jamaica's capital city.

Over the years, Bustamante became an opponent of the Federation of the West Indies, an anti-colonial supranational organization, which existed from 1958 to 1962, of which Jamaica was also a member. The Federation had become increasingly unpopular among Jamaicans, who felt marginalised and who were upset that Kingston had not been named the Federation's capital city.

Bustamante became Jamaica's prime minister in 1962 and remained in office until 1967, even though he became increasingly inactive during the second half of his mandate. Bustamante died in 1977.