Jamaica
Land of Wood and Water
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean, covering 10991 sqkm. It is the third-largest island in the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean, after Cuba and the island of Hispaniola. Jamaica lies about 145 km south of Cuba, 191 km west of Hispaniola (the island containing Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and 215 km southeast of the Cayman Islands (a British Overseas Territory). With million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas and the fourth-most populous country in the Caribbean. Kingston is the capital and largest city.
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Kingston
- Region
- Caribbean
- Languages
- English, Jamaican Patois
- Currency
- Jamaican dollar
- Official language
- English
- Independence year
- 1962
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. 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 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. Jamaica has a global influence that belies its small size; it is the birthplace of the Rastafari religion and reggae music, along with the associated musical genres of dub, ska, and dancehall; and it is internationally prominent in sports, including cricket, sprinting, and athletics. Jamaica has sometimes been considered the world's least populous cultural superpower.
Reader's Guide
Etymology: The Indigenous peoples, the Ciboney, called the island Xaymaca in their language, meaning the 'Land of Wood and Water' or the 'Land of Springs'. Yamaye has been suggested as a possible early Taíno name for the island as recorded by Christopher Columbus. Jamaicans often refer to their home island as 'yaad' – the Jamaican Patois word for yard, meaning home. Other colloquial names such as 'Jamrock', 'Jamdown' ('Jamdung' in Jamaican Patois), or briefly 'Ja' are also widely used. History: Prehistory: There is no archaeological evidence of any human presence on Jamaica until about 500 CE. A group known as the 'Redware people' after their pottery arrived circa 600 CE, followed by the Taíno circa 800 CE, who most likely came from South America. They practised an agrarian and fishing economy, and at their height are thought to have numbered some 60,000 people, grouped into around 200 villages headed by caciques (chiefs). The south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. Though often thought to have become extinct following contact with Europeans, the Taíno in fact still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655. Some fled into interior regions, merging with African Maroon communities. The Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any remaining evidence of the Taíno. Spanish rule (1509–1655): Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Jamaica, claiming the island for Spain after landing there in 1494 on his second voyage to the Americas. His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay, and St. Ann's Bay was named 'Saint Gloria' by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. He later returned in 1503. He was shipwrecked and he and his crew were forced to live on Jamaica for a year while waiting to be rescued. One and a half kilometres west of St. Ann's Bay is the site of the first Spanish settlement on the island, Sevilla, which was established in 1509 by Juan de Esquivel but abandoned around 1524 because it was deemed unhealthy. The capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Meanwhile, the Taínos began dying in large numbers, both from introduced diseases and from enslavement by the Spanish. As a result, the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa to the island.
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