Jamaica

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Island state, an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations, third largest island of the Greater Antilles of the West Indies, situated S of Cuba. Jamaica has a maximum length, from E to W, of about 235 km (about 145 mi); the maximum width is approximately 80 km (about 50 mi). The total area of the country is 10,991 sq km (4244 sq mi). See also World Almanac: Nations of the World - Jamaica.

LAND AND RESOURCES

The terrain is mountainous, except for several tracts of lowlands in the S coastal area. The principal range, situated in the E section of the island, is the Blue Mts., of which Blue Mt. Peak (2256 m/7402 ft) is the highest summit in the West Indies. A series of lesser mountains, with many transverse spurs, extends generally W to the extremity of the island, surmounting an extensive plateau. The coastline, about 800 km (about 500 mi) long, is irregular, particularly in the S, 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 of Jamaica. No other volcanic phenomena are apparent, but the island is subject to severe earthquakes. Many small unnavigable rivers traverse the island.

Climate

Tropical climatic conditions prevail in the coastal lowlands of Jamaica. The mean annual temperature in this region is about 26.7° C (about 80° F), but NE trade winds frequently moderate the extremes of heat and humidity. Mean annual temperatures in the plateau and mountain areas average about 22.2° C (about 72° F) at elevations of 900 m (about 2950 ft), and are considerably less at higher levels. Annual precipitation is characterized by wide regional variations. More than 5080 mm (more than 200 in) of rain are deposited annually in the mountains of the NE; in the vicinity of Kingston the annual average is 813 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

Jamaica's bauxite deposits, in the central section of the island, are among the richest in the world. The country also has deposits of gypsum, lead, and salt. Rich soils are found on the coastal plains.

Plants and Animals

Luxuriant and remarkably diversified vegetation characterize Jamaica's flora. More than 200 species of flowering plants have been classified. Among Jamaica's indigenous trees are cedar, mahoe, mahogany, logwood, rosewood, ebony, palmetto palm, coconut palm, and pimento (allspice). Varieties introduced into Jamaica, such as the mango, breadfruit, banana, and plantain, also flourish on the island and are widely cultivated.

The Jamaican fauna, 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 are found on the island.

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 is rural.

Population Characteristics

The population of Jamaica (2001 census) was 2,607,632; for 2008 it was estimated at 2,804,332, giving the country an overall population density of about 255 persons per sq km (about 660 per sq mi). The annual rate of population increase, formerly high, declined to less than 1% in the early 2000s. Emigration, primarily to the U.S., Great Britain, and Latin America, has been substantial. See also World Almanac: Current Population and Projections for All Countries.

Political Divisions and Principal Cities

Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes; the parishes of Kingston and Saint Andrew, merged in 1923, are jointly administered. Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, is a commercial seaport and the largest city in the country. The population of greater Kingston (2001 census) was 579,006. Other important communities include Spanish Town (2001 census, 131,510) and Montego Bay (96,448).

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 Bahai, 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. See also World Almanac: Languages Spoken by at Least 2 Million People.

Education

In the early 2000s nearly all children between the ages of 6 and 11 were attending primary school, and more than 60% of all 12- to 18-year-olds attended secondary institutions. The enrollment in primary schools was about 335,000; in secondary and vocational schools the enrollment was nearly 200,000.

A major institution of higher learning for the entire Caribbean region is the University of the West Indies (1948), located at Mona, a suburb of Kingston; it has more than 6300 students and a library with more than 470,000 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 Great 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 by Bob Marley and others. It was a pervasive influence on rock music in the 1980s, especially in Great Britain.

ECONOMY

Agriculture retains its traditional importance in Jamaica, but gains in mining, manufacturing, and tourism have diversified the economy. Inflation, unemployment, and a heavy foreign debt burden are chronic problems. Soaring government debt and steep losses in the banking and real-estate sectors weakened Jamaica's economy in the mid-1990s. Jamaica's economic growth has since been hampered by recurrent crime and violence and by damages caused by major hurricanes in September 2004 and August 2007. In 2007 the gross domestic product (in purchasing power parity) was an estimated $20 billion, or about $7700 per capita. The national budget included more than $3 billion in revenue, against more than $4 billion in expenditure. See also World Almanac: U.S. Direct Investment Abroad in Selected Countries and Territories.

Labor

In the early 2000s the employed labor force exceeded 1.2 million. 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; the BITU with the Jamaica Labour party.

Agriculture

About 17% of the total Jamaican labor force is engaged in agricultural production. The chief crop is sugarcane. 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 the early 2000s the livestock population included some 430,000 cattle, 440,000 goats, and 85,000 pigs. The annual fish catch, in the same period, was around 18,000 metric tons.

Mining, Manufacturing, and Energy

The bauxite and alumina (enriched bauxite ore) industries are a mainstay of the Jamaican economy and account for about half of the total annual exports. In the early 2000s, annual production of alumina exceeded 4 million metric tons.

Manufacturing is important to the Jamaican economy; in the early 2000s factories employed about 70,000 workers, a decrease from nearly 100,000 in the previous decade. 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, and fertilizers have been set up. A refinery in Kingston produces fuel from imported crude petroleum. In the early 2000s about 7 billion kwh of electricity was produced annually.

Banking and Foreign Trade

The unit of currency is the dollar, consisting of 100 cents (71.3 Jamaican dollars equal U.S.$1; mid-2008). In 1969 Jamaica converted from the metric to the decimal system. The Bank of Jamaica, established in 1960, is the central bank and bank of issue. Several commercial banks are also in operation.

Foreign trade is primarily with the U.S., Great Britain, Venezuela, Canada, China, the Netherlands, and Norway. In the early 2000s the chief exports were alumina, bauxite, sugar, rum, bananas, clothing, and coffee, and total exports were valued at $2.3 billion annually. Food and animal products, chemicals, textiles, machinery, and petroleum were the major imports; the value of all imports amounted to about $4.7 billion annually.

Tourism is vital to the economy and provides a large portion of foreign-exchange earnings. In the early 2000s more than 1.5 million persons visited the island each year, contributing about $1.5 billion to the economy.

Transportation and Communications

Jamaica has some 300 km (200 mi) of railroads; since 1992, largely inoperable. In 2005, Jamaica had a total of about 21,550 km (10,200 mi) of roads; of these, about 16,000 km (10,000 mi) were paved. Numerous international airlines and Air Jamaica serve the island, and internal flights are provided by Trans-Jamaican Airlines.

Jamaica has several broadcasting companies. In the early 2000s the country had some 2 million radios, 500,000 televisions, and 500,000 telephones (main lines), along with 2 million cellular phones. Some 170,000 persons had computers and about 1.2 million had access to the Internet.

GOVERNMENT

The Jamaican constitution, promulgated in 1962, established a parliamentary system of government patterned after that of Great 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

Executive power in Jamaica is vested in a cabinet. The cabinet consists of some 16 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.

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 21 members of the Senate are appointed by the governor-general, 13 in accordance with suggestions by the prime minister, and the remaining 8 on the advice of the leader of the minority party.

Judiciary

The legal and judicial system is based on English common law and practice. The judicature comprises the supreme court, a court of appeal, resident magistrates' courts, petty sessional courts, and other courts.

Political Parties

Jamaica has a two-party political system. The People's National party (PNP) is socialist in orientation, and the Jamaica Labour party (JLP) supports free enterprise in a mixed economy. Minor parties include the African Comprehensive party, affiliated with the Rastafarians.

Health and Welfare

Average life expectancy at birth was 75 years for women and 71 for men in the early 2000s; the infant mortality rate was 15.5 per 1000 live births in 2008. The government administers the social insurance system.

International Organizations

In addition to its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, Jamaica is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the World Trade Organization, the Caribbean Community and Common European Union.

HISTORY

Members of the Arawak tribe, an important group of the Arawakan linguistic stock of American Indians, were the aboriginal inhabitants of Jamaica (Arawakan Xaymaca, "isle of springs"). Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his second voyage, and it became a Spanish colony in 1509. Saint Iago 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 (1621-70) 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 (Aug. 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 Jan. 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 Aug. 6, 1962, the island gained independence. The JLP won the elections of April 1962, and its leader, Sir Alexander Bustamante, became prime minister. When he became ill in 1964, Sir Donald Burns (b.1911) became acting prime minister. He succeeded Bustamante when the latter retired in February 1967, only to die in office a few months later. Hugh Lawson Shearer (1923-2004) then became prime minister. In 1968 Jamaica was a founding member of the Caribbean Free Trade Area (now CARICOM).

Elections in 1972 brought the PNP to power under Michael N. Manley, a labor leader who promised a regime of economic growth and social change. His leftist policies and open friendship with the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, however, violently polarized the population. He ultimately was unable to revitalize the economy, and in October 1980 elections, following months of violence in which hundreds of people were killed, his party was voted out by a wide margin. Edward Seaga (1930-    ) of the JLP, a former finance minister, then formed a government. Repudiating socialism, he severed relations with Cuba, established close ties with the U.S., and tried 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 damage and left some 500,000 Jamaicans homeless.

The PNP won a large parliamentary majority in 1989 elections, returning Manley to power. He introduced moderate free-market policies before resigning in March 1992 because of poor health. P (ercival) J. Patterson (1935-    ), succeeded Manley as prime minister and PNP leader. In September 2004 Hurricane Ivan hit Jamaica, causing heavy damage and killing at least 17 people. Patterson led his party to victory in three successive elections, before resigning in February 2006. A month later, Portia Simson Miller (1945-    ), the new leader of the PNP, became Jamaica's first woman prime minister.

In September 2007 parliamentary elections, postponed from their announced date because of a hurricane, the opposition JLP won a narrow victory (32 seats to the PNP's 28), and its leader, Bruce Golding (1947-    ), assumed the office of premier, ending a long period of PNP rule. Jamaica's continuing high crime rate and lagging economy were issues in the campaign.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections Jamaica, The Caribbean.