Jamaica

Jamaica

Here you will find facts about our country, hope you have fun and learn something new!

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles. The island is located in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometers south of Cuba and 190 kilometers west of Haiti.
Capital: Kingston Languages: English (official) Jamaican Patois Government: Parliamentary and Democracy Independence: 6 August 1962, from United Kingdom Currency: Jamaican Dollar Population: 2,825,928

Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes, which are grouped into three historic counties.


 * |||| **[|Cornwall County]** |||| **[|Middlesex County]** |||| **[|Surrey County]** ||


 * 1 || [|Hanover] || 6 || [|Clarendon] || 11 || [|Kingston] ||
 * 2 || [|Saint Elizabeth] || 7 || [|Manchester] || 12 || [|Portland] ||
 * 3 || [|Saint James] || 8 || [|Saint Ann] || 13 || [|Saint Andrew] ||
 * 4 || [|Trelawny] || 9 || [|Saint Catherine] || 14 || [|Saint Thomas] ||
 * 5 || [|Westmoreland] || 10 || [|Saint Mary] ||  ||   ||   ||

History
In 1494 came Christopher Colombus to the islands for the first time. In that period there were about 100 000 peaceful Arawak- Indians on the island, who came there 700 BC. The Hispanics showed up around 1510 and started farming, mostly cattle and pigs. They also came with two items that would definitely affect the islands future; sugar and slaves. When disease wiped out the Arawak Indians, black slaves were imported from Africa to work on the sugar plantations. The British were consistently harassed by the Maroons, armed bands of freed slaves roaming the countryside, during the 17th and 18th century. In 1865 Jamaica became a Crown colony and the conditions improved considerably. Introduction of bananas reduced their independence on sugar. The British were consistently harassed by the Maroons, armed bands of freed slaves roaming the countryside, during the 17th and 18th century. In 1865 Jamaica became a Crown colony and the conditions improved considerably. Introduction of bananas reduced their independence on sugar. By the beginning of the 19th century, Jamaica’s heavy reliance on slavery resulted in blacks outnumbering the whites by a ratio of almost 20 to 1. England made importation of slaves illegal, but still there were someone who smuggled them into the colonies. The instruction included banning of use of whips in the field, on flogging the women and that the slaves were to be allowed religious instruction. The slaves should also be given an extra day off during the week so they could sell their products on the Sunday markets. After a referendum, Jamaica became independent on August 6 1962; this is also the year when Kingston became the capital instead of Spanish Town. Michael Manley, of the socialist People’s National Party, became prime minister in 1972. Strong economic growth marked the first ten years of independence under conservative governments which were lead successfully by Prime Ministers Alexander Bustamante, Donald Sangster and Hugh Shearer.

Social Conditions
Jamaica has a mixed economy with both enterprises and private sector business. Major sectors of the Jamaican economy include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism and financial and insurance services. GDP pr citizen: $8,967 JMD. Tourism plays an important part in Jamaica’s economy. In the end of 1970s this nutrition has been affected by effects of political and social unrest in the country. The tourism found its way back in the 80s, and under 10 years the number of tourists increased from 833 000 to 1, 6 million visitors a year.

Culture
Jamaicas culture are a result of a lot of elements, we have picked a few to describe. The Jamaican people are a mixture of immigrants from middle east, Uk colonists and native people. The Jamaican culture are affected by all different people living there. Here are some examples: FOOD Carribian and Jamaican food are a fantastic mixture of spices from middle east, carribean and meditorranian area. Its hot, fusion and not nordic at all. Some of the most known dishes are: Jerk – a spicy sauce and marinade used to flavour meat and sea food dishes. Jamaica are a island and it is easy for them to bring fresh seafood on the table. They also have some strange dishes wich includes foot of cow stew or again soup based on goat head. MUSIC The most known expression of Jamaican culture worldwide are perhaps the music, I am thinking about reggea music, which are from Jamaica. Reggea are layzy, laidbackmusic that reminds people about summer, holiday and nice days. The most famous artist of this music were Bob Marley. He had several world hits and are still played all around the world in radio and ipods.

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Sport is an integral part of national life in Jamaica and the island's athletes tend to perform to a standard well above what might ordinarily be expected of such a small country. While the most popular local sport is football, on the international stage Jamaicans have tended to do particularly well at sports which involve a significant reliance on explosive power.=====

- **Usain St. Leo Bolt**, Was born 21 August 1986 and he is a Jamaican sprinter and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He holds the world record for the 100meters, the 200 meters and, alongwith his teammates, the 4x100 metres relay. He also holds the Olympic record for all three of these races. At the 2008 summer olympics, Bolt became the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. In 2009 he became the first man to hold the 100 and 200 m world and Olympic titles at the same time.

Famous people
Bob Marley Lennox Lewis Mike Mccallum Patrick Ewing