Ethnicity/race: black 90.9%, East Indian 1.3%, white 0.2%,
Chinese 0.2%, mixed 7.3%, other 0.1%
Religions: Protestant 61.3%, (Church of God 21.2%,
Baptist 8.8%, Anglican 5.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 9%, Pentecostal
7.6%, Methodist 2.7%, United Church 2.7%, Brethren 1.1%, Jehovah's
Witness 1.6%, Moravian 1.1%), Roman Catholic 4%, other including
some spiritual cults 34.7%
Literacy rate: 88% (2005 est.)
Economic summary:GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $13.47 billion; per capita $4,800. Real growth rate:
1.5%. Inflation: 7.1%. Unemployment: 10.2%. Arable
land: 16%. Agriculture: sugarcane, bananas, coffee,
citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans,
mollusks. Labor force: 1.255 million; agriculture 17%,
industry 19%, services 64% (2006). Industries: tourism,
bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement,
metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications. Natural
resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone. Exports: $2.229
billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum,
coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral
fuels. Imports: $5.709 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): food and
other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and
accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment,
construction materials. Major trading partners: U.S., Canada,
France, China, UK, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Trinidad and
Tobago, Venezuela (2006).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 319,000 (2005); mobile cellular: 2.804 million (2005).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 7 (1997). Internet
hosts: 1,213 (2007). Internet users: 1.232 million
(2005).
Transportation: Railways: 272 km; note:
207 km belonging to the Jamaica Railway Corporation, were in common
carrier service but are no longer operational; the remaining track
is privately owned and used to transport bauxite (2003).
Highways: total: 20,996 km; paved: 15,386 km; unpaved: 5,610
km (2004 est.). Ports and harbors: Kingston, Port Esquivel,
Port Kaiser, Port Rhoades, Rocky Point. Airports: 34
(2007).
Jamaica is an island in the West Indies, 90 mi (145 km) south of Cuba
and 100 mi (161 km) west of Haiti. It is a little smaller than
Connecticut. The island is made up of coastal lowlands, a limestone
plateau, and the Blue Mountains, a group of volcanic hills, in the
east.
Government
Constitutional parliamentary democracy.
History
Jamaica was inhabited by Arawak Indians when Columbus explored it in
1494 and named it St. Iago. It remained under Spanish rule until 1655,
when it became a British possession. Buccaneers operated from Port Royal,
also the capital, until it fell into the sea in an earthquake in 1692.
Disease decimated the Arawaks, so black slaves were imported to work on
the sugar plantations. During the 17th and 18th centuries the British were
consistently harassed by the Maroons, armed bands of freed slaves roaming
the countryside. Abolition of the slave trade (1807), emancipation of the
slaves (1833), and a drop in sugar prices eventually led to a depression
that resulted in an uprising in 1865. The following year Jamaica became a
Crown colony, and conditions improved considerably. Introduction of
bananas reduced dependence on sugar.
On May 5, 1953, Jamaica gained internal autonomy, and, in 1958, it led
in organizing the West Indies Federation. A nationalist labor leader, Sir
Alexander Bustamente, later campaigned to withdraw from the federation.
After a referendum, Jamaica became independent on Aug. 6, 1962. Michael
Manley, of the socialist People's National Party, became prime minister in
1972.
The Labour Party defeated Manley in 1980 and its capitalist-oriented
leader, Edward P. G. Seaga, was elected prime minister. He encouraged
private investment and began an austerity program. Like other Caribbean
countries, Jamaica was hard-hit by the 1981–1982 recession. Devaluation of
the Jamaican dollar made Jamaican products more competitive on the world
market, and the country achieved record growth in tourism and agriculture.
While manufacturing also grew, food prices rose as much as 75% and
thousands of Jamaicans fell deeper into poverty.
In 1989, Manley was reelected, but he resigned in 1992 and was replaced
by P. J. Patterson. In May 1997, the government signed a “Ship-Rider
Agreement,” allowing U.S. authorities to enter Jamaican waters and search
vessels with the Jamaican government's permission in order to fight drug
trafficking. In 2001, violence between politically connected gangs
escalated in Kingston, promoting fears that the tourist industry could
suffer. In Oct. 2002, Patterson won his third term in office.
In Sept. 2004, Hurricane Ivan, the worst storm to hit the island in
decades, destroyed thousands of homes.
In March 2006, Portia Simpson Miller of the People's National Party
(PNP) became Jamaica's first female prime minister. In the country's
general election in September 2007, the opposition Jamaica Labour Party
narrowly defeated the center-left People's National Party, which had been
in power for 18 years, 50.1% to 49.8%. Bruce Golding took office as prime
minister days after the election.
