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THE ARAWAK INDIANS WHO SETTLED JAMAICA CHRISTENED IT XAYMACA (land of wood and water). Despite the island's larger population today, the description is still .largely accurate. The Spanish occupation from 1510 onward led to the decimation of the native population and the arrival of the first slaves. Most Jamaicans can trace their ancestry to those slaves, as well as those brought over under later British rule- Jamaican culture. is a vibrant fusion of African and European influence.

Under British rule the slave trade boomed, providing a labor force for the sugar plantations. Jamaica also served as a haven for pirates and buccaneers, encouraged by the British to make Kingston's Port Royal their base for harassing the Spanish fleets. Slave rebellions were also a prominent feature of Jamaica's history until British emancipation in 1834. four years after the British parliament had abolished the slave trade.

The island became a British Crown Colony in 1866, and during the 1890s the first tourists arrived on banana boats from North America. The Depression of the 1930s led to bloodshed and riots as the economy faltered, giving birth to the country's first labor union and the socialistic People's National Party (P N.1'.) led by Norman Manley (1893-1969). Universal suffrage was granted in 1944, and in 1962 Jamaica won full independence.

Jamaica's culture is a potent brew of fierce national pride, reggae and Rastafarians, sassy attitudes, and snatches of the local dialect( known as Jamaica Talk). The poverty and absence of opportunity that led to the political unrest and occasional riots of the past still affect much of the island.

With about one million visitors a year, Jamaica has one of the largest tourism industries in the Caribbean, ant that means it has one of the widest selections of accomoodations from luxury villas or hedger cottages on the beach to private mountain retreats.

Jamaica's 4,244 square miles (10,992 sq. km) embrace an enormous variety of landscapes. Like many of its neighbors, the island evolved from a broad arc of volcanoes rising from the seabed billions of years ago. This igneous rock forms the Blue Mountains, which traverse the eastern third of the island and reach their summit at the 7,399-foot (2,256-m) Blue Mountain Peak. The land surrounding the Blue Mountains is capped by limestone plateaus that cover about two thirds of the island. Over the centuries, rivers have carved sinkholes, caves, and deeply rutted gullies in the limestone-most visible in the Cockpit Country.

An offshore coral reef shields the white, sandy beaches of Jamaica's north shore, where there are many resorts. The eastern coastline, unprotected from the ocean swells, is far more rugged and dramatic. With a few exceptions, the south and west coasts are typified by volcanic black-sand beaches.

Jamaica's mist-shrouded mountains are the source of more than a hundred rivers. The longest, the 44-mile (71-km) Black River, flows out to sea on the southwest coast. 

The island's lush vegetation includes more than 3,000 varieties of trees and plants. Of these, about 800 are indigenous, including 200 species of orchids, 550 types of ferns, and 60 species of bromeliads.

Almost half of Jamaica is under cultivation. Before Europeans arrived, the only native fruits were guava, pineapple, and soursop. Successive colonists introduced breadfruit, sugarcane, coconuts, and ackee, a yellow fruit that, when combined with saltfish (cod), is a national dish. Today, huge plantations dock the landscape with sugarcane, bananas, cocoa, coffee, rice, tobacco, and citrus fruits.

Besides agriculture and tourism the other mainstay of Jamaica's economy is bauxite, which has provided towns such as Mandeville (see pp. 54-59) with considerable wealth. The "red gold" is extracted from the earth then converted into aluminum.

Jamaica has a population of about 2.5 million, just under a third of whom live in the capital, Kingston.

INTRODUCTION

Jamaica island country, third largest island of the Greater Antilles of the West Indies, is situated south of Cuba. Jamaica 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.

LAND AND RESOURCES

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, 1,020 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.

Tropical climatic conditions prevail in the coastal lowlands of Jamaica. The mean annual temperature in this region is 27° C (80° F), but 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 (about 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.

Natural Resources

Mineral deposits in Jamaica include gypsum, lead, and salt. The bauxite deposits, in the central section of the island, are among the richest in the world. Rich soils are found on the coastal plains.

Luxuriant and remarkably diversified vegetation characterize Jamaica’s plant life. 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 bird life. Parrots, hummingbirds, cuckoos, and green todies are especially abundant. No large indigenous quadrupeds or venomous reptiles exist.

POPULATION

The population of Jamaica is primarily of African or mixed African-European origin, descended from slaves brought to the island between the 17th and 19th centuries. Among the established minorities are East Indians, Europeans, and Chinese. About half the population lives in rural areas. The population of Jamaica (1998 estimate) was 2,634,678, giving the country an overall population density of 240 persons per sq km (621 per sq mi). The annual rate of population increase, formerly high, declined to 0.70 percent by 1998. Emigration, primarily to the United States, Britain, and Latin America, has been substantial.

Political

Education

School attendance by children between the ages of 6 and 11 is nearly universal, and 70.9 percent of all 12- to 18-year-olds attend secondary institutions. In 1996 the enrollment in primary schools was 293,900. A major institution of higher learning for the entire Caribbean region is the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus (1948), located at Kingston; it has more than 5,000 students and a library with more than 450,000 volumes. Jamaica also has a number of vocational and technical schools, teacher-training colleges, and a college of arts, science, and technology.

Culture

The position of Jamaica as a dependency of Britain for more than 300 years is reflected in both language and customs, which are combined with African influences. Reggae, a distinctively syncopated style of Jamaican music, much of it highly political, was popularized in the 20th century by Bob Marley and others. It was a pervasive influence on rock music in the 1980s, especially in Britain.

Econmy

Agriculture

Some 25 percent of the total Jamaican labor force is engaged in agricultural production. The chief crop is sugarcane; the harvest in 1998 was 2.4 million metric tons. Other leading agricultural products are bananas, citrus fruits, tobacco, cacao, coffee, coconuts, corn, hay, peppers, ginger, mangoes, potatoes, and arrowroot. Jamaica grows nearly the entire world supply of allspice. In 1998 the livestock population included 420,000 cattle, 440,000 goats, and 180,000 pigs.

Mining and Manufacturing

The bauxite and alumina (enriched bauxite ore) industries are a mainstay of the Jamaican economy. In 1997 annual production of bauxite amounted to 11.9 million metric tons. Manufacturing is becoming increasingly important to the Jamaican economy, accounting for 17 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, plants manufacturing such products as printed fabrics, clothing, footwear, paints, agricultural machinery, cement, transistor radios, and fertilizers have been set up. A petroleum refinery in Kingston produces fuel sufficient to meet about half the national demand.

Tourism is vital to the economy and provides a large portion of1 foreign-exchange earnings. In 1997, 1.2 million people visited the island, contributing $181 million to the economy.

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. The British monarch is the head of state and is represented by a governor-general, who is appointed on the advice of the prime minister. Executive power in Jamaica is vested in a cabinet. The cabinet consists of some 20 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 appoints the ministers of the cabinet.

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.

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 Port Royal, the chief Jamaican slave market, was destroyed by an earthquake. Kingston was established nearby shortly thereafter. By parliamentary legislation, slavery was abolished on August 1, 1838. 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 October 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.

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 April 1962, and its leader, Sir Alexander 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. In September 1988 Hurricane Gilbert caused an estimated $8 billion in property damage and left some 500,000 Jamaicans homeless.

The PNP won a large parliamentary majority in 1989, returning Manley to power. He introduced moderate free-market policies before resigning in March 1992 because of poor health. P(ercival) J. Patterson, his successor as prime minister and PNP leader, easily won reelection a year later. In 1997 the PNP won an unprecedented third consecutive electoral victory, capturing 56 percent of the vote and taking most of the 60 seats in Jamaica’s Parliament. Although sporadic violence did occur during the campaign, international observers reported that the 1997 election was one of the least violent elections in Jamaica’s recent history.

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