KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Alando Terrelonge has welcomed recent international media reports which credit the innovation behind mass-produced iron and the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe to 76 Jamaican workers in the 18th century.

“The knowledge and skill to mass produce wrought iron remains one of the greatest innovations in creating our modern world. The academic paper authored by Dr Jenny Bulstrode, a lecturer in history of science and technology at the University College London (UCL), testifies to the innovative and resourcefulness of Jamaicans in iron production, which led to Britain becoming an industrial and economic superpower in the late 1700s,” Minister Alando Terrelonge stated.

“This revelation further strengthens the reparations movement, as the expertise to mass produce wrought iron from scrap iron which was practised by our highly skilled and innovative forefathers on sugar plantations here in Jamaica was subsequently taken to Britain. It was this transfer of technology and ingenuity from Jamaica that propelled Britain to its leadership role across the world in the Industrial Revolution. And this can be quantified,” Minister Alando Terrelonge stated.

The Minister, who last month participated in Windrush Day – June23 – activities in London, England and who gave the keynote address at the seventh UK – Jamaica Diaspora Regional Conference, in the same city, reiterated his commendations to the Windrush generation and their descendants, lauding them for their ‘stellar contribution’ to the growth and development of a vibrant and multicultural modern UK, while also contributing to nation building in their homelands across the Caribbean, including Jamaica.

The Minister, who also has responsibility for Diaspora Affairs, cited the Guardian article and the related study as “further evidence of the global impact that Jamaicans have had wherever they call home. We have a duty to ourselves and successive generations of Jamaicans at home and abroad, to tell our story. To tell the history of our mighty people and their everlasting contributions to advancing the welfare of the whole human race.”

He also made special reference to the presence and contribution of Jamaicans to innovation, growth and development throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including countries like Panama, Colombia, Honduras, Belize and Costa Rica.