Problem acid soils have a pH* of less than 5.6 and usually below pH 5.0. The low soil pH is associated with a number of soil chemical and biological characteristics that manifest themselves as the components of the problem acid soil syndrome.
History of Jamaica. The island of Jamaica was colonized by the Taino tribes prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1494. The Spanish enslaved the Tainos, who were so ravaged by their conflict with the Europeans and by foreign diseases that nearly the entire native population was extinct by 1600.
The first to colonize the island were the Phoenicians, a seafaring people from the Levant, who arrived around the 8th century BC and established numerous colonies. The island eventually came under the control of Carthage in North Africa, which had become the principal Phoenician city.