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Jamaica

Jamaica
Flag of Jamaica
Coat of arms of Jamaica
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Out of Many, One People"
Location of Jamaica
Capital
and largest city
Kingston
17°59′N 76°48′W / 17.983°N 76.800°W / 17.983; -76.800
Official languages English
National language Jamaican Patois (de facto)
Demonym Jamaican
Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch
Elizabeth II
Patrick Allen
Andrew Holness
Legislature Parliament
Senate
House of Representatives
Independence from the United Kingdom
• Granted
6 August 1962
Area
• Total
10,991 km2 (4,244 sq mi) (166th)
• Water (%)
1.5
Population
• July 2015 estimate
2,950,210 (139th)
• Density
268/km2 (694.1/sq mi) (49th)
GDP (PPP) 2016 estimate
• Total
$25.437 billion (2016)
• Per capita
$8,991
GDP (nominal) 2016 estimate
• Total
$14.057 billion
• Per capita
$4,968
Gini (2004) 45.5
medium · 84th[4]
HDI (2014) Increase 0.719
high · 99th
Currency Jamaican dollar (JMD)
Time zone (UTC-5)
Drives on the left
Calling code +1-876
ISO 3166 code JM
Internet TLD .jm

Jamaica (Listeni/əˈmkə/) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island, 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola (the island containing the nation-states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area.

Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England (later Great Britain) conquered it and renamed it Jamaica. Under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations. The island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962.


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