Jamaica

Jamaica lies about 145 km south of Cuba, and 191 km west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic); the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some 215 km to the north-west.

Haiti (Haïti ; Ayiti ), officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti; Repiblik Ayiti) and formerly called Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Spanning 10,990 sqkm in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola).

It is east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Originally inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. The indigenous people, the Yamaye (also known as the Taíno), called the island Xaymaca in an Arawakan language, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs".

At the time of European contact in the late fifteenth century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of Cuba, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and the northern Lesser Antilles.

Jamaica lies about 145 km south of Cuba, and 191 km west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic); the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some 215 km to the north-west.

The 264 km2 territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the south of Cuba and northeast of Honduras, between Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

Kingston is the country's capital and largest city.

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island.

The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion, reggae music (and associated genres such as dub, ska and dancehall), and it is internationally prominent in sports, most notably cricket, sprinting and athletics.

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s.

The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion, reggae music (and associated genres such as dub, ska and dancehall), and it is internationally prominent in sports, most notably cricket, sprinting and athletics.

Rastafari, also known as Rastafarianism, is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s.

Due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, there is a large Jamaican diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Jamaicans can be found in the far corners of the world, but the largest pools of Jamaicans, outside of Jamaica itself, exist in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, other Caribbean islands, and all across the Caribbean Coast of Central America, namely Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras.

The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion, reggae music (and associated genres such as dub, ska and dancehall), and it is internationally prominent in sports, most notably cricket, sprinting and athletics.

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae.

The majority of Jamaicans are of African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, and mixed-race minorities.

Chinese Jamaicans are Jamaicans of Chinese ancestry, which include descendants of migrants from China to Jamaica.

Spanning 10,990 sqkm in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola).

The Greater Antilles (Grandes Antillas; Grandes Antilles Gwo Zantiy ) is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands.

Her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009.

Sir Patrick Linton Allen (born 7 February 1951) is a Jamaican pastor who is the sixth and current governor-general of Jamaica.

Andrew Holness has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since March 2016.

The Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness.

The majority of Jamaicans are of African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, and mixed-race minorities.

Lebanese Jamaicans refers to Jamaican citizens of Lebanese origin or descent.

Politically it is a Commonwealth realm, with Elizabeth II as its queen.

As of 2019, there are 16 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom.

Slang names such as "Jamrock", "Jamdown" ("Jamdung" in Jamaican Patois), or briefly "Ja", have derived from this.

Jamaican Patois, known locally as Patois (Patwa or Patwah) and called Jamaican Creole by linguists, is an English-based creole language with West African influences (a majority of loan words of Akan origin) spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora; it is spoken by the majority of Jamaicans as a native language.

Spanning 10,990 sqkm in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola).

Others possess rugged towering mountain-ranges like the islands of Saint Martin, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominica, Montserrat, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Thomas, Saint John, Tortola, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago.

His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay, and St. Ann's Bay was named "Saint Gloria" by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land.

Saint Ann is the largest parish in Jamaica.

Some fled into interior regions, merging with African Maroon communities.

The Jamaican Maroons descend from maroons, Africans who escaped from slavery unto the island of Jamaica and established free communities in the mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes.

The capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534 (at present-day St. Catherine).

Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica.

Meanwhile, the Spanish made several attempts to re-capture the island, prompting the British to support pirates attacking Spanish ships in the Caribbean; as a result piracy became rampant on Jamaica, with the city of Port Royal becoming notorious for its lawlessness.

Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica.

The Irish in Jamaica also formed a large part of the island's early population, making up two-thirds of the white population on the island in the late 17th century, twice that of the English population.

Irish people in Jamaica or Irish Jamaicans, are Jamaican citizens whose ancestors originated from Ireland.

Battles at Ocho Rios in 1657 and the Rio Neuvo in 1658 resulted in Spanish defeats; in 1660 the Maroons began supporting the English and the Spanish defeat was secured.

The Battle of Ocho Rios also known as Battle of Las Chorreras was a military action which took place on the island of Jamaica on 30 October 1657 where a Spanish force under Cristóbal Arnaldo Isasi hoping to take back the island was defeated by the English occupying force under the Governor Edward D'Oyley.

The indigenous people, the Yamaye (also known as the Taíno), called the island Xaymaca in an Arawakan language, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs".

The Yamaye people are the descendants of Arawakan and West African peoples in Jamaica.

His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay, and St. Ann's Bay was named "Saint Gloria" by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land.

Discovery Bay is a town in Saint Ann Parish on the northern coast of Jamaica.