Jamaica << juh MAY kuh >> is an island nation in the Caribbean region. Jamaica lies about 480 miles (772 kilometers) south of Florida and is the third largest island in the Caribbean Sea. Only Cuba and Hispaniola are larger. The Arawak, who were the first people to live in Jamaica, named the island Xaymaca, which means land of wood and water. Kingston is the capital, largest city, and chief port.
Jamaica’s pleasant climate and its beautiful beaches and mountains attract large numbers of tourists each year. But the Jamaican economy does not depend chiefly on tourism. Jamaica is among the world’s leading producers of bauxite, the ore from which aluminum is made. The island also produces bananas, sugar, and various manufactured goods.
Jamaica was a British colony for about 300 years, until 1962. Today, it is an independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations.
Government
of Jamaica is a constitutional monarchy. The prime minister, who leads the majority party in Parliament, is the chief executive. Cabinet members head the ministries (executive departments) of the government. The British monarch appoints the governor general of Jamaica on the advice of the prime minister. The governor general represents the monarch but has few governing powers.
The Jamaican Parliament consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The governor general appoints the 21 senators, 13 of them on the advice of the prime minister and 8 of them on the advice of the leader of the opposition (minority party) in Parliament. The voters elect 63 people to five-year terms in the House of Representatives. All Jamaicans at least 18 years old may vote.
Jamaica is divided into 14 units of local government called parishes. Each parish has a governing council with members elected by the people. The parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew are administered by the same governing council.
People.
More than 90 percent of Jamaica’s people are of African or Afro-European (African and European) descent. The country’s minority groups include Asians, most of whom are Chinese and Indians; Europeans; and Syrians. Most Jamaican business and professional people are Europeans and Afro-Europeans. Numerous Chinese and Syrian people also operate businesses. Large numbers of people of African and South Asian ancestry work as farm laborers. See Life expectancy (table: Life expectancy at birth for selected countries).
Jamaica’s official language is English. But most Jamaicans speak a dialect (local form) of English that differs from the English that is spoken by Americans and English people. About two-thirds of the people are Christians. Christian groups include Baptists, members of the Church of God, Roman Catholics, and Seventh-day Adventists.
Tens of thousands of Jamaicans belong to a religious and political movement called Rastafarianism. The name Rastafarian comes from Ras Tafari, a title held by Haile Selassie I, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1974. Many early Rastafarians considered Haile Selassie to be a god. In addition, they adopted many of the beliefs of Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican who died in 1940. During the 1920’s in the United States, Garvey preached that all Black people should consider Africa their home and live there (see Garvey, Marcus). After Haile Selassie’s death in 1975, Rastafarians changed some of their beliefs about Africa. Today, some look forward to a spiritual return to Africa rather than to actually living there. See Rastafarians.
Loading the player...
Jamaican popular music
The government provides free elementary schools for children from 6 to 15 years old. Almost all Jamaican children go to primary school. However, only about two-thirds attend high school. The largest university in Jamaica is the University of the West Indies at Mona, on the outskirts of Kingston. Most Jamaicans 15 years of age or older are able to read and write.
Land and climate.
Jamaica is part of the Greater Antilles, a group of islands in the Caribbean. The island has three land regions: coastal plains, central hills and plateau, and eastern mountains. The Blue Mountains rise to 7,402 feet (2,256 meters) at Blue Mountain Peak. Limestone formations in northwestern Jamaica include a large number of deep depressions called cockpits, and the area is called the Cockpit Country. Jamaica has many springs, streams, and waterfalls. Swift-flowing rivers run north and south from the mountains.
Jamaica has a hot, humid climate that is eased by ocean winds. The average temperature in the winter is 75 °F (24 °C) and in the summer 80 °F (27 °C). Temperatures in the mountains can drop to 40 °F (4 °C). The rainy seasons extend from May through June and September through November. The rainiest months are May and October. The yearly rainfall varies from about 30 inches (76 centimeters) along the coast to about 200 inches (510 centimeters) in the mountains.
Economy.
Jamaica is a developing country. The country has a high rate of unemployment and underemployment. Foreign aid and remittances (money sent home) from Jamaicans working abroad are helpful sources of national income. Tourism also provides much income for the nation. The leading tourist centers in Jamaica include Kingston, Montego Bay, Negril, and Ocho Rios.
About a sixth of Jamaica’s people work in agriculture. Sugar cane is the most important crop. Other crop products include bananas, citrus fruits, coconuts, coffee, and yams. Farmers raise beef cattle, chickens, goats, and hogs. But the nation’s farms do not produce enough food for all the people, and so Jamaica must import much of its food.
Mining provides much of Jamaica’s income. Jamaica is one of the world’s largest producers of bauxite. Plants near some of the bauxite mines remove a mineral compound called alumina from the bauxite ore. Jamaicans also mine gypsum and lime.
Manufacturing plays a relatively small role in Jamaica’s economy. Jamaica has plants that produce cement, chemicals, fertilizer, molasses, petroleum products, and rum. Data entry and software programming are growing parts of the economy.
Jamaica imports more than it exports. The country imports chemicals, crude oil and petroleum products, food, machinery, and motor vehicles. Leading exports include alumina, coffee, petroleum products, rum, and sugar. Jamaica’s chief trading partner is the United States. Jamaica belongs to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), an economic organization of Caribbean nations. (see Caribbean Community (CARICOM)).
History.
Indigenous (native) Arawak people lived in Jamaica when the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus arrived there in 1494 and claimed the island for Spain. The Spaniards enslaved the Arawak and later brought Africans to the island and enslaved them as well. Disease and overwork killed almost all the Arawak. The Spaniards used Jamaica as a supply base. Because Jamaica had no gold, they did not try to settle or develop the island. See Arawak.
The British invaded Jamaica in 1655, and they gained formal possession in 1670. But they continued to fight enslaved Africans called Maroons, who had escaped into the hills when the British arrived. The British and the Maroons signed a peace treaty in 1738. During the 1670’s, British pirates in the Caribbean used Jamaica as a base to attack Spanish ports and ships (see Morgan, Sir Henry).
Jamaica prospered in the 1700’s. Sugar became the major crop, and the island ranked as the most important slave market in the Western Hemisphere. But in 1833, the British Parliament freed the enslaved people. The end of slavery hurt the Jamaican sugar industry because the plantation owners lost thousands of laborers.
In 1865, disputes between planters and workers led to a peasant revolt called the Morant Bay Rebellion. Paul Bogle, a Baptist deacon, led the workers. British troops put down this uprising. For the previous 200 years, Jamaicans had elected a governing body, the House of Assembly, to help the British rule. After the revolt, Jamaica became a crown colony, governed directly by the United Kingdom.
During the 1930’s, Jamaican labor leaders urged the British Parliament to give the Jamaican people more political power. In 1944, the United Kingdom gave Jamaica a new constitution that provided for some self-government. Jamaica was a member of the West Indies Federation from 1958, when the federation was established, until it was dissolved in 1962. Later in 1962, Jamaica became a fully independent nation and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Jamaica joined the United Nations in 1962 and the Organization of American States in 1969.
In the 1970’s, Jamaica faced severe economic problems. Michael Manley of the People’s National Party (PNP) became prime minister of Jamaica in 1972. He sought to improve the economy by adopting socialistic policies. He also called for a policy of nonalignment with other nations. Edward Seaga of the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) became prime minister in 1980. He adopted economic policies that emphasized the role of private business and encouraged foreign investment and good relations with Western nations. In 1983, Jamaica and several other Caribbean nations joined the United States in invading Grenada to overthrow its Marxist government (see Grenada (History and government). In 1988, a major hurricane struck Jamaica. It killed 45 people and caused widespread property damage.
Michael Manley became prime minister again in 1989. He followed a moderate course in economic and foreign relations policies. Manley resigned as prime minister in 1992. The People’s National Party elected Percival J. Patterson as party head, and he became prime minister. The PNP won the most seats in parliamentary elections in 1993, 1997, and 2002. Patterson remained prime minister until retiring in 2006. That year, the PNP elected Portia Simpson Miller as party president, and she was sworn in as Jamaica’s first woman prime minister.
In a 2007 general election, the Jamaica Labour Party defeated the People’s National Party, which had governed for 18 years. Bruce Golding served as prime minister from 2007 to 2011, when he resigned. Andrew Holness then became leader of the JLP and the country’s youngest prime minister.
In late 2011, amid economic troubles, the PNP won a general election. In early 2012, Portia Simpson Miller became prime minister for the second time. Jamaica’s economy improved somewhat under Simpson Miller. However, the JLP won general elections in 2016 and in 2020, during a global outbreak of the respiratory disease COVID-19. Andrew Holness became prime minister again in 2016.
In 2015, Jamaica’s Parliament decriminalized the possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana and established an agency to regulate medical marijuana. Marijuana plays a role in the Rastafarian religion.
