Jamaica-Makszin+Loredana

Jamaica can be divided in three zones, the North Coast, which is wet and green; the South, which is drier; and the Countryside. Most of the tourists go to the North Coast, especially to the west. But if you have enough time, you should not skip the South and the countryside. = The island - discovered by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1494 - was settled by the Spanish early in the 16th century. The native Taino Indians, who had inhabited Jamaica for centuries, were gradually exterminated, replaced by African slaves. England seized the island in 1655 and a plantation economy - based on sugar, cocoa, and coffee - was established. The abolition of slavery in 1834 freed a quarter million slaves, many of whom became small farmers. Jamaica gradually obtained increasing independence from Britain, and in 1958 it joined other British Caribbean colonies in forming the Federation of the West Indies. Jamaica gained full independence when it withdrew from the Federation in 1962. Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to recurrent violence as rival gangs affiliated with the major political parties evolved into powerful organized crime networks involved in international drug smuggling and money laundering. The cycle of violence, drugs, and poverty has served to impoverish large sectors of the populace. Nonetheless, many rural and resort areas remain relatively safe and contribute substantially to the economy. History of Jamaica = The history of Jamaica is one of passion and pain — the peaceful thirst for freedom intertwined with violent resistance to oppression. Through the tribulations of Jamaican history, a rich and dynamic Jamaican culture has emerged, with its own unique music, dialect, beliefs, and values. The human history of Jamaica began a little over a thousand years ago, when Arawak American Indians arrived in the island from South America. The Arawaks were a peaceful people who thrived by hunting, fishing, and growing yams, beans, and other crops (including corn for eating and alcohol production). The people of this first Jamaican culture developed skills in such crafts as pottery making and shipbuilding The Arawaks’ peaceful existence was shattered when Christopher Columbus landed on St. Ann’s Bay in 1494, on the second of his four voyages to the new world, beginning the Spanish period of Jamaican history. Within a few decades of the Spanish conquest of Jamaica, the Arawaks were almost completely eradicated by disease, slavery, and violent treatment. In 1517, the Spanish began importing African slaves to buck up their depleted forced labor. During the Spanish history of Jamaica, the island was relatively ignored by Spain because it did not have the wealth of its South and Central American colonies. Remnants of Spanish Jamaican culture are few and far between, mostly seen in the architecture of the old capital at present-day Spanish Town In the mid-17th century, the English government under Lord Cromwell decided to break the Spanish trade monopoly in the Americas. A force led by Admiral William Penn (the father of the founder of Pennsylvania) and General Robert Venables captured Jamaica for the British in 1655. The island would remain part of the British Empire for the next three hundred years of Jamaican history. The local pirates were suppressed in the 1690s after Britain concluded its wars against Spain, but a new force was already dominant in Jamaican culture: the slave plantations. By 1800, 300,000 slaves of Africa descent worked under harsh conditions on vast sugar plantations Britain was at war with Spain for much of the 1600s. To aid in its struggle, Britain enlisted the help of buccaneers (or pirates), who harassed Spanish ships and settlements throughout the Americas from bases in Jamaica. The most important base was Port Royal, near present-day Kingston. Famous pirates from this period of Jamaica history include Blackbeard, Captain Morgan, and Calico Jack. Jamaica was the site of many fierce slave uprisings. For years, Maroons — descendents of slaves freed by the Spanish in 1655 and runaway slaves from British rule — fought a guerilla struggle against plantation owners and British forces. The largest revolt in Jamaica history occurred in 1831, when an initially peaceful protest against working on Christmas turned violent. The oppressive response to the “Christmas Revolt” helped convince the British parliament to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834.
 * Welcome to Jamaica **[[image:http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Shared_ASP_Files/UploadedFiles/%7B18CF988C-9C1D-4277-9987-ED814F5DFD2F%7D_Jamaica.gif caption="The image “http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Shared_ASP_Files/UploadedFiles/%7B18CF988C-9C1D-4277-9987-ED814F5DFD2F%7D_Jamaica.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors."]]
 * J**amaica is located in the Caribbean Sea. The island is famous for its beautiful beaches, for its wonderful weather and for its nice people. If you are looking for a place to spend your next vacations, Jamaica may be the place you are looking for. If you visit the Island once, I am sure you will want to come back every year.

The legacy of slavery has loomed large over Jamaican culture in the subsequent history of Jamaica. Jamaicans have a fierce nationalism and identify strongly with Africa, to the extent that “world news” in Jamaica often features more stories on Africa than the Americas. Even after abolition, workers on Jamaica’s sugar and banana plantations have had to struggle for rights and better treatment. This has led to the formation of a strong labor movement and occasional outbursts of violence Jamaica was granted autonomy from the UK in 1947 and full independence in 1962, although it remains a part of the British Commonwealth and the Queen of England is still the nominal head of state. Since independence, Jamaican politics have been dominated by two political parties, the left-leaning People’s National Party and the center-right Jamaican Labour Party. Recent Jamaica history has seen the rise of the tourist industry, the development of a internationally renowned Jamaican music industry, and the invention of a unique Rastafarian culture. Drugs, crime, and poverty are continuing problems in Jamaican culture, but the struggles of Jamaican history have forged a unique and vibrant nation =Miss Jamaica's a Rasta role model= May 21, 2007 Miss Jamaica Zahra Redwood introduces herself in her national costume during the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City May 20, 2007. With dreadlocks down to below her buttocks, the first Rastafarian to compete for the Miss Universe title is out to smash the stereotype that Rastas are only interested in reggae and marijuana. Zahra Redwood, 25 and the first Miss Jamaica to be crowned from the country's minority Rastafarian faith, is also shaking up a years-old view among many Rastas that beauty pageants should be shunned as degrading to women. "Not all Rastafarians smoke" marijuana, Redwood, a classically beautiful Jamaican with a degree in biotechnology and zoology, told Reuters. "People criticise what they don't know or understand and develop preconceptions, and so given that, I have gone against what they've developed as a stereotype," said Redwood, who is in Mexico for the Miss Universe final on May 28 in Mexico City. Rastafarians - who worship the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as a God they call "Jah" - stress peace, love, spiritual goals and natural living, Redwood said, denying a clash between Rasta culture and being a beauty queen. "The Rastafarian culture and beauty pageants have a great deal in common because they both promote decorum in the attitude of the female and the female as a role model in society. You're looking at beauty of the mind, body and soul," she said. Rather than discrimination, the main reason for a dearth of Rasta beauty queens on the international circuit is the movement's rejection of the more corrupt or gaudy facets of modern society, which they call Babylon, Redwood said. Made famous around the world by Bob Marley's reggae songs, the Rasta culture emphasises human dignity and self-respect. "Rastafarians have been a very conservative group so modelling and pageants have been considered Babylonian to some extent," Redwood said. But the reaction from fellow Rastafarians to her competing to be Miss Universe against women from some 75 other countries has been overwhelmingly positive, partly because black women with dreadlocks are so rarely seen in beauty contests, she said. "They've been very, very happy for what they consider a psychological breakthrough. For them it's a huge thing," Redwood said. The Rastafari movement was born in Jamaica in the 1930s after Selassie's coronation in Ethiopia. Followers started to worship Selassie, who died in 1975, as a type of messiah, in light of a 1920 prophecy by Jamaican civil rights leader Marcus Garvey that a black man would be crowned king in Africa. Roughly a 10th of Jamaicans are Rastafarians, many of whom also take literally a biblical verse in the book of Leviticus that instructs against taking a razor to one's head. In the Miss Universe 2007 line-ups, Redwood's twisty black dreadlocks, often massed into a huge bun, stand out from the lacquered manes of the other contestants. "For the final I'm still not sure what style I will go with. But of course the locks have to show," she said. Smoking marijuana, known in Jamaica as ganja, is a sacred rite for many Rastas, but Redwood said she does not smoke it. 10,990.00 sq km (slightly smaller than Connecticut) ** Population ** 2,665,636 (July 2001 est.) ** Estimated Population in 2050 ** 3,505,286 ** Languages ** English, Creole ** Literacy ** 85.0% total, 80.8% male, 89.1% female (1995 est.) ** 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% ** Life Expectancy ** 73.45 male, 77.49 female (2001 est.) ** Government Type ** constitutional parliamentary democracy ** Currency ** 1 Jamaican dollar (J$) = 100 cents ** GDP (per capita) ** $3,700 (2000 est.) ** Industry ** tourism, bauxite, textiles, food processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products ** Agriculture ** sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, potatoes, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk ** Arable Land ** 14% ** Natural Resources ** bauxite, gypsum, limestone
 * Capital ** Kingston ** Total Area ** 4,243.26 sq mi