Jamaica

Lore & Background

The Indigenous Ciboney people of the island gradually came under Spanish rule after the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the Indigenous people either were killed or died of diseases, after which the Spanish brought large numbers of Africans to Jamaica as slaves. The island belonged to Spain under the name Santiago until 1655, when England, part of what would become the Kingdom of Great Britain, conquered it and named it Jamaica. It became an important part of the colonial British West Indies. Under Britain's colonial rule, Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on continued importation of African slaves and their descendants. The British emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British began using Chinese and Indian indentured labourers for plantation work. Jamaica achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962.

In Their Own Story

As the sun melted into the Caribbean horizon, painting the sky in bruised violets and burnt oranges, Kingston's pulse quickened. In a modest concrete yard, an old radio hissed to life, locking onto the steady, heartbeat thump of a one-drop rhythm. The air grew thick with the intoxicating haze of smoking jerk chicken—charred allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers mingling with the salty breath of the distant coast. An elder watched with a knowing smile as his grandchildren spun barefoot on the warm pavement, their laughter weaving seamlessly into the bassline that seemed to rise from the earth itself, vibrating through their soles.

Reader's Guide

Jamaica is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with power vested in the bicameral Parliament of Jamaica, consisting of an appointed Senate and a directly elected House of Representatives. Andrew Holness has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since March 2016. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Charles III as its king; the appointed representative of the Crown is the Governor-General of Jamaica, the office having been held by Patrick Allen since 2009. Because of a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, there is a large Jamaican diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Most Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, with significant European, East Asian (primarily Chinese), Indian, Lebanese, and mixed-race minorities. Jamaica is an upper-middle-income country with an economy heavily dependent on tourism, including popular resorts. It has an average of 4.3 million tourists a year.

Did You Know?

• Jamaica is the birthplace of the Rastafari religion and reggae music, along with dub, ska, and dancehall.
• Jamaica has sometimes been considered the world's least populous cultural superpower.
• The Indigenous Ciboney called the island Xaymaca, meaning 'Land of Wood and Water' or 'Land of Springs'.
• Jamaica lies about 145 km south of Cuba and 191 km west of Hispaniola.