I | INTRODUCTION |
Jamaica, island country, situated in the Caribbean Sea
south of Cuba. With its lush mountains and pristine beaches, the island is known
for its beautiful natural surroundings and is a popular tourist destination.
Jamaica became a British colony in 1670. During the 18th century, planters began
importing African slaves to work on the sugar plantations. Today the island’s
culture and customs blend its British and African roots. Jamaica gained its
independence from Britain in 1962 and maintains a strong two-party political
system. The island is named after the Native American word Xaymaca,
meaning “land of wood and water.”
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
Jamaica is the third largest island of the
Greater Antilles of the West Indies. The island has a maximum length, from east
to west, of 235 km (146 mi); the maximum width is approximately 80 km (about 50
mi). The total area of the country is 10,991 sq km (4,244 sq mi). Kingston is
the capital and largest city of Jamaica and also a large commercial
seaport.
The terrain is mountainous, except for several
tracts of lowlands in the southern coastal area. The principal range, situated
in the eastern section of the island, is the Blue Mountains, of which Blue
Mountain Peak (2,256 m/7,402 ft) is the highest point on the island. A series of
lesser mountains, with many transverse spurs, extends generally west to the
extremity of the island, surmounting an extensive plateau. The coastline, 1,022
km (635 mi) long, is irregular, particularly in the south, and the island has a
number of excellent natural harbors, including those at Kingston, Saint Ann’s
Bay, Montego Bay, and Port Maria.
Thermal springs occur in various areas. No
other volcanic phenomena are apparent, but the island is subject to severe
earthquakes. Many small unnavigable rivers traverse the island.
A | Climate |
Tropical climatic conditions prevail in the
coastal lowlands of Jamaica. The mean annual temperature in this region is 27°C
(80°F). Northeastern trade winds frequently moderate the extremes of heat and
humidity. Mean annual temperatures in the plateau and mountain areas average
22°C (72°F) at elevations of 900 m (3,000 ft), and are considerably less at
higher levels. Annual precipitation is characterized by wide regional
variations. More than 5,100 mm (more than 200 in) of rain are deposited annually
in the mountains of the northeast; in the vicinity of Kingston the annual
average is 810 mm (32 in). The months of maximum precipitation are May, June,
October, and November. The island is subject to hurricanes in late summer and
early autumn.
B | Natural Resources |
The bauxite deposits in the central section
of the island are among the richest in the world. Other mineral deposits in
Jamaica include gypsum, lead, and salt. Rich soils are found on the coastal
plains.
C | Plants and Animals |
Jamaica has a high degree of biodiversity.
Three thousand species of plants grow on the island, and about one-quarter of
them are found nowhere else on Earth. More than 200 species of flowering plants
have been classified. Among indigenous trees are cedar, mahoe, mahogany,
logwood, rosewood, ebony, palmetto palm, coconut palm, and pimento (allspice).
Introduced varieties, such as the mango, breadfruit, banana, and plantain, also
flourish on the island and are widely cultivated.
The Jamaican animal life, as that of the
West Indies generally, includes highly diversified birdlife. Parrots,
hummingbirds, cuckoos, and green todies are especially abundant. No large
indigenous quadrupeds or venomous reptiles exist.
D | Environmental Issues |
The absence of a clear environmental
policy combined with a steadily growing population has brought about an
inevitable ecological deterioration of the island. Soil degradation and water
shortages are common. Coastal waters are polluted by industrial waste, sewage,
and oil spills. Automobile traffic in Kingston causes significant air pollution.
Safe drinking water is generally available, although access to sanitation is
still low.
Jamaica’s biodiversity has suffered with
environmental deterioration. Natural habitats are threatened by rapid
deforestation. Government policy encourages conversion of “idle” land into
fields and pasture. Once completely forested, about 31 percent of Jamaica’s
surface was forested in 2005. The deforestation rate at 0.1 percent per year
during 1990–2005 was high, pushing the remaining stands of trees into small
mountain enclaves. In the late 1980s the country began to work with
nongovernmental and foreign-aid organizations to consolidate potential protected
areas into national parks.
III | PEOPLE |
Jamaica is a multiracial society, with a
population primarily of African or mixed African-European origin. Many people
are descended from slaves brought to the island between the 17th and 19th
centuries. Among the established minorities are East Indians, Europeans, and
Chinese.
The population of Jamaica (2008 estimate) was
2,801,544, giving the country an overall population density of 259 persons per
sq km (670 per sq mi). The annual rate of population increase, formerly high,
declined to 0.75 percent by 2008. Emigration, primarily to the United States,
Britain, and Latin America, has been substantial.
A | Political Divisions and Principal Cities |
Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes. Of
these, 12 parishes are administered by popularly elected councils, and the
remaining parishes are administered by elected commissions.
The population of greater Kingston in 2001
was 577,623 and the population of Spanish Town was 131,060. In 2005, 52 percent
of the population lived in urban areas.
B | Language and Religion |
English is the official language, although
many Jamaicans speak a local dialect of English that incorporates African,
Spanish, and French elements. Among the Christian majority, the Church of God,
Baptists, Anglicans, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostalists, and Roman
Catholics predominate. Several well-established Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu
communities exist. A number of popular sects, such as Pocomania and
Rastafarianism, are a significant and famous feature of the national religious
life.
C | Education |
School attendance by children between the
ages of 6 and 11 is nearly universal, and 84 percent of all 12- to 18-year-olds
attend secondary institutions. In 2000 the enrollment in primary schools was
328,500.
A major institution of higher learning
for the entire Caribbean region is the University of the West Indies, Mona
Campus (1948), located at Kingston. Jamaica also has a number of vocational and
technical schools, teacher-training colleges, and a college of arts, science,
and technology.
D | Culture |
The position of Jamaica as a dependency
of Britain for more than 300 years is reflected in both language and customs.
However, Jamaica also has a rich tradition of Africa-derived popular culture.
This tradition appears strongly in music and dance. Reggae, a distinct style of
Jamaican music, much of it highly political, is popular throughout the island.
This music and its well-known performers, especially the late singer Bob Marley,
have achieved enormous international success. Calypso and soca (soul-calypso)
music, both also of Caribbean origin, are popular as well. See also
Caribbean Literature.
IV | ECONOMY |
Since its independence in 1962, Jamaica has
worked to diversify its economy. Traditionally agricultural, the economy now
includes strong mining, manufacturing, and tourism sectors. In the early 2000s,
however, the Jamaican economy became stagnant due to the effects of a worldwide
economic slowdown, especially in the United States. Jamaica also suffers from
high unemployment.
Annual budget figures for 2006 showed about
$3.93 billion in revenues and $3.88 billion in expenditures. In 2006 Jamaica’s
gross domestic product (GDP) was $10.02 billion, or about $3,757.90 per capita.
These GDP numbers are substantial underestimates because they do not include the
illegal drug trade, including the production and sale of marijuana and the
transport of cocaine grown in South America to other regions. Marijuana, or
ganja as the islanders call it, brings in hundreds of millions of dollars
each year.
A | Tourism |
Tourism is vital to the Jamaican economy
and provides a large portion of foreign-exchange earnings. In 2006, 1.7 million
people visited the island, contributing $1.9 billion to the economy. The peak
tourist season in Jamaica is December through April.
B | Agriculture |
Some 18 percent of the total Jamaican
labor force is engaged in agricultural production. The chief crop is sugarcane;
the harvest in 2006 was 1.9 million metric tons. Other leading agricultural
products are bananas, citrus fruits, tobacco, cacao, coffee, coconuts, corn,
sweet potatoes, hay, peppers, ginger, mangoes, potatoes, and arrowroot. Jamaica
grows nearly the entire world supply of allspice. In 2006 the livestock
population included 430,000 cattle, 440,000 goats, and 85,000 pigs.
C | Mining and Manufacturing |
The bauxite and alumina (enriched bauxite
ore) industries are a mainstay of the Jamaican economy. In 2004 annual
production of bauxite amounted to 13.3 million metric tons.
Beginning in the 1950s manufacturing
became an increasingly important part of the Jamaican economy. Although it
declined in the 1990s, it still accounts for 13 percent of gross domestic
product. The government has granted concessions, such as duty-free importation
and tax-relief programs, to further industrialization. Along with established
food and beverage industries, the country manufactures products such as printed
fabrics, clothing, footwear, paints, agricultural machinery, cement, transistor
radios, and fertilizers. A petroleum refinery in Kingston produces fuel
sufficient to meet about half the national demand.
D | Banking and Foreign Trade |
The unit of currency is the Jamaican
dollar, consisting of 100 cents (65.70 dollars equal U.S.$1; 2006 average). The
Bank of Jamaica, established in 1960, is the central bank and bank of issue.
Several commercial banks are also in operation.
Among the chief exports are alumina,
bauxite, sugar, rum, clothing, and coffee, and all exports were valued at $1.1
billion in 2002. Leading purchasers are the United States, the United Kingdom,
Canada, Norway, and Japan. Food and animal products, chemicals, textiles,
machinery, and petroleum are major imports; the value of all imports amounted to
$3.5 billion. Chief sources are the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, the
United Kingdom, Japan, Venezuela, and Canada.
E | Transportation and Communications |
In 2004 Jamaica had 20,996 km (13,046 mi)
of roads; of these, about one-fourth were paved. Most of the railways in Jamaica
are privately owned and used to transport bauxite. Numerous international
airlines and Air Jamaica serve the island, and internal flights are provided by
Trans-Jamaican Airlines.
Jamaica has two broadcasting companies,
one public and one privately owned. In 1998 the country had 766 radio receivers
and 187television sets for every 1,000 residents. In 2005 there were 129
telephone mainlines per 1,000 people.
F | Labor |
In 2006 the employed labor force exceeded
1.2 million. However, Jamaica suffers from high unemployment; in 2004 the
country’s unemployment rate was 11.4 percent. Many people are employed in
seasonal work such as those who work on sugar plantations or in tourist
facilities.
The main trade unions included the
National Workers’ Union of Jamaica (NWU) and the Bustamante Industrial Trade
Union (BITU). Each union was closely identified with one of the two main
political parties: the NWU with the People’s National Party and the BITU with
the Jamaica Labour Party.
V | GOVERNMENT |
The Jamaican constitution, promulgated in
1962, established a parliamentary system of government patterned after that of
Britain. The prime minister is the head of the government. Jamaica recognizes
the British monarch as its own monarch and head of state. The monarch is
represented by the governor-general, who is appointed on the advice of the prime
minister.
A | Executive |
Executive power in Jamaica is vested in a
cabinet. The cabinet consists of 17 ministers and is headed by the prime
minister. The prime minister is the leader of the majority party and is
appointed from the House of Representatives by the governor-general. The prime
minister chooses the ministers of the cabinet.
B | Legislature |
Legislative authority is vested in the
bicameral Parliament. The 60 members of the House of Representatives are
popularly elected to terms of up to five years. The governor-general appoints
the 21 members of the Senate, 13 in accordance with suggestions by the prime
minister, and the remaining 8 on the advice of the leader of the opposition
party.
C | Judiciary |
The legal and judicial system is based on
English common law and practice. The judicature comprises the supreme court, a
court of appeals, resident magistrates’ courts, petty sessional courts, and
other courts.
D | Political Parties |
Jamaica has two main political parties: the
People’s National Party (PNP), which is socialist in orientation, and the
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which supports free enterprise in a mixed economy.
Minor parties include the National Democratic Movement, Natural Law Party, and
United People’s Party.
VI | HISTORY |
Members of the Arawak tribe, an important
group of the Arawakan linguistic stock of Native North Americans, were the
aboriginal inhabitants of Jamaica (the Arawakan word Xaymaca, meaning
“isle of springs”). Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his second
voyage, and it became a Spanish colony in 1509. Saint Jago de la Vega (now
Spanish Town), the first settlement and, for the ensuing 350 years, the capital,
was founded about 1523. Colonization was slow under Spanish rule. The Arawak
quickly died out as a result of harsh treatment and diseases. African slaves
were imported to overcome the resultant labor shortage.
A | British Colony |
Jamaica was captured by an English naval
force under Sir William Penn in 1655. The island was formally transferred to
England in 1670 under the provisions of the Treaty of Madrid. During the final
decades of the 17th century, growing numbers of English immigrants arrived; the
sugar, cacao, and other agricultural and forest industries were rapidly
expanded; and the consequent demand for plantation labor led to large-scale
importation of black slaves. Jamaica soon became one of the principal
slave-trading centers in the world. In 1692 an earthquake destroyed Port Royal,
the chief Jamaican slave market, and Kingston was established nearby shortly
thereafter. By parliamentary legislation passed in 1833, slavery was abolished
on August 1, 1834. The act made available $30 million as compensation to the
owners of the nearly 310,000 liberated slaves.
Large numbers of the freed blacks
abandoned the plantations following emancipation and took possession of
unoccupied lands in the interior, gravely disrupting the economy. Labor
shortages, bankrupt plantations, and declining trade resulted in a protracted
economic crisis. Oppressive taxation, discriminatory acts by the courts, and
land-exclusion measures ultimately caused widespread unrest among the blacks. In
1865 an insurrection occurred at Port Morant. Imposing martial law, the
government speedily quelled the uprising and inflicted brutal reprisals. Jamaica
was made a crown colony, thus losing the large degree of self-government it had
enjoyed since the late 17th century. Representative government was partly
restored in 1884.
B | Creation of the Two-Party System |
During the end of the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th century, growing bananas for export to the United States
became very important, but the resulting economic recovery did not provide
enough jobs to employ Jamaica’s rapidly growing population. Thousands of
Jamaicans left the country to seek employment elsewhere. However, the economic
boom and the possibility of finding jobs abroad ended with the world depression
in the 1930s, and many migrant Jamaicans returned to the island. The resulting
increase in the Jamaican labor force combined with the depression to create
great hardships, culminating in an outbreak of riots in 1938.
That same year saw the beginnings of
Jamaica’s two-party system. Norman Manley, a lawyer, founded the moderately
leftist People’s National Party (PNP). His cousin Alexander Bustamante, a
businessman with considerable political flair and personal popularity, formed
the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, and it served as the basis for the
moderately conservative Jamaican Labor Party (JLP), which he founded in 1943.
Britain responded to the riots of 1938 by
allocating funds for economic development and gradually extending
self-government to the Jamaican people. A new constitution in 1944 provided for
election of members of the House of Representatives. In the 1950s bauxite mining
and tourism became major industries, but high unemployment continued.
C | Independence |
Jamaica was one of the British colonies
that, on January 3, 1958, was united in the Federation of the West Indies.
Disagreement over the role Jamaica would play led to the breakup of the
federation, and on August 6, 1962, the island gained independence. The JLP won
the elections of 1962, and Bustamante became prime minister. In 1967 he retired
and was succeeded by Hugh Lawson Shearer. In 1968 Jamaica was a founding member
of the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA).
Elections in 1972 brought the PNP to power
under Michael N. Manley, a labor leader who promised economic growth. His
leftist policies and open friendship with Cuba’s Communist leader Fidel Castro,
however, polarized the population. When he proved unable to revitalize the
economy, Manley was voted out in 1980 following a turbulent election campaign
that left about 800 Jamaicans dead, mainly as a result of clashes between
political gangs. Election-related violence remained a part of Jamaica’s
political scene into the 1990s.
Edward Seaga of the JLP, a former finance
minister, then formed a government. Repudiating socialism, he severed relations
with Cuba, established close ties with the United States, and tried hard to
attract foreign capital. However, weak prices for Jamaica’s mineral exports
impeded economic recovery.
The PNP won a large parliamentary majority
in 1989, returning Manley to power. He introduced moderate free-market policies
before resigning in 1992 because of poor health. P. J. Patterson succeeded him
as prime minister and PNP leader. The PNP maintained its majority in the House
in the 1993, 1997, and 2002 elections. Patterson continued as prime minister,
and he worked to improve the country’s economy and lower its high murder rate.
In 2004 Hurricane Ivan, the strongest hurricane to hit the island in decades,
caused widespread destruction.
In March 2006 Patterson retired and Portia
Simpson Miller was elected to replace him and lead the PNP. She became the first
female prime minister in Jamaica’s history. In September 2007 Bruce Golding of
the JLP narrowly defeated Simpson Miller in a tight general election. The JLP
unseated the PNP after the latter’s 18 consecutive years in power.
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