Portal:Jamaica

Jamaica
Jamaica
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Location	Caribbean

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Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean, covering 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi). It is the third-largest island in the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean, after Cuba and the island of Hispaniola. Jamaica lies about 145 km (78 nmi) south of Cuba, 191 km (103 nmi) west of Hispaniola (the island containing Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and 215 km (116 nmi) southeast of the Cayman Islands (a British Overseas Territory). With 2.8 million people,0 Jamaica is the third most populous Anglophone country in the Americas and the fourth most populous country in the Caribbean. Kingston is the country's capital and largest city.

Jamaica is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with power vested in the bicameral Parliament of Jamaica, consisting of an appointed Senate and a directly elected House of Representatives. Andrew Holness has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since March 2016. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Charles III as its king; the appointed representative of the Crown is the Governor-General of Jamaica, the office having been held by Patrick Allen since 2009. Because of 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. Most Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, with significant European, East Asian (primarily Chinese), Indian, Lebanese, and mixed-race minorities. (Full article...)

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Mona is a neighbourhood in southeastern Saint Andrew Parish, approximately eight kilometres from Kingston, Jamaica. A former sugarcane plantation, it is the site of a reservoir serving the city of Kingston and the main campus of the University of the West Indies. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Jamaican-Welsh noblewoman Justina Jeffreys was the inspiration for the character of Anthelia in the 1817 novel Melincourt?
... that Swedish naval officer Axel Lagerbielke was imprisoned in Lima for over a year, held in Callao and eventually escaped from Panama on an English packet boat to Jamaica?
... that Antoinette Tidjani Alou wrote a work of autofiction that traces the journey of a Jamaican woman who moved to Niger for love?
... that Gloria Cameron was the first native Jamaican in the UK to appear on the British television programme This Is Your Life?
... that footballer Kameron Simmonds, who plays for Jamaica, only took up the sport after a gymnastics injury?

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Prince Buster performing in 2008

Cecil Bustamente Campbell OD (24 May 1938 – 8 September 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that would be drawn upon later by reggae and ska artists. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Jamaica-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Caguana Ceremonial Ball Courts Site (batey), outlined with stones in Utuado, Puerto Rico (from History of Jamaica)
Image 2Statue of Christopher Columbus, Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica (from History of Jamaica)
Image 3Port Maria Harbor, St Mary Parish (from History of Jamaica)
Image 4Sugar cane cutters in Jamaica, 1880 (from History of Jamaica)
Image 5Governor Sir Lionel Smith, accompanied by Revd James Phillippo, proclaiming the abolition of slavery in the colony of Jamaica, on 1 August 1838, from the King's House in Spanish Town (from History of Jamaica)
Image 6Marcus Garvey (from History of Jamaica)
Image 7English map from the 1600s (from History of Jamaica)
Image 8An illustration of pre-1692 Port Royal (from History of Jamaica)
Image 9Sugar cane cutters in Jamaica, 1891 (from History of Jamaica)
Image 10Leonard Parkinson, Maroon Leader, 1796 (from History of Jamaica)
Image 11A Rastafarian man in a rastacap at a port of Jamaica's Black River. (from Culture of Jamaica)
Image 12Easter Rebellion memorial 20231007 Claude Stuart Park (from History of Jamaica)
Image 13Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992 (from History of Jamaica)
Image 14Fort Haldane Turntable Cannon 20231007 (from History of Jamaica)
Image 151866 lithography by French cartoonist Honoré Daumier showing British Governor John Peter Grant establishing his authority following the Morant Bay Rebellion (from History of Jamaica)
Image 16Christopher Coke (from History of Jamaica)
Image 17Cane holeing, in a Jamaican plantation, 19th century (from History of Jamaica)
Image 18Cassava (yuca) roots, the Taínos' main crop (from History of Jamaica)
Image 19Insurgent slaves destroying the Roehampton Estate, January 1832 (from History of Jamaica)
Image 20European colonies in the 18th-century Caribbean (from History of Jamaica)
Image 21Reconstruction of a Taíno village in Cuba (from History of Jamaica)
Image 22Fort Haldane, Jamaica heritage trail, (from History of Jamaica)
Image 23Dujo, a wooden chair crafted by Taínos. (from History of Jamaica)

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Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan from Piratas de la America (1681) by Alexandre Exquemelin

Sir Henry Morgan (Welsh: Harri Morgan; c. 1635 – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports on the Spanish Main, becoming wealthy as they did so. With the prize money and loot from the raids, Morgan purchased three large sugar plantations on Jamaica.

Much of Morgan's early life is unknown; he was born in an area of Monmouthshire that is now part of the city of Cardiff. It is not known how he made his way to the West Indies, or how the Welshman began his career as a privateer. He was probably a member of a group of raiders led by Sir Christopher Myngs in the late 1650s during the Anglo-Spanish War. Morgan became a close friend of Sir Thomas Modyford, the Governor of Jamaica; as diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of England and Spain worsened in 1667, Modyford gave Morgan a letter of marque, or a licence, to attack and seize Spanish vessels. Morgan subsequently conducted successful and highly lucrative raids on Puerto del Príncipe (now Camagüey in modern Cuba) and Porto Bello (now Portobelo in modern Panamá). In 1668, he sailed for Maracaibo, Venezuela, and Gibraltar, on Lake Maracaibo; he plundered both cities before destroying a large Spanish squadron as he escaped. (Full article...)

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Credit: Adolphe Duperly

Destruction of the Roehampton Estate, January 1832, by Adolphe Duperly

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Jamaican red peas soup made with kidney beans, cow peas, Jerusalem peas and pig tail

Red peas soup is a hearty Jamaican soup, made with kidney beans (known locally as red peas), cured meats, coconut milk, root vegetables, dumplings, herbs and spices like scotch bonnet, pimento, scallion etc. It is the soup version of Jamaican stew peas, and is similar to other red bean soups made in the Americas. The dish is served as an appetizer or main course. Like stew peas, red peas soup is rich in protein as the main ingredients are legumes (beans / peas) and meats. (Full article...)

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More did you know

... that English librarian Frank Cundall created the West India Reference Library in 1894, which later became the nucleus of the National Library of Jamaica?

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