Jamaica is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea, the third largest island of the Greater Antilles, south of Cuba. A land of lush green mountains, beaches, and a vibrant culture, it has had an influence on the world far out of proportion to its size, above all through its music. The birthplace of reggae and of the global icon Bob Marley, the cradle of the Rastafari movement, and home to the world's fastest sprinters, Jamaica is a small island with an outsized cultural footprint.
Jamaica was home to the Taino people before Christopher Columbus reached it in 1494 and Spain colonised it, devastating the indigenous population. In 1655 the English seized the island, which became a major centre of sugar production worked by vast numbers of enslaved Africans, and a notorious base for buccaneers and pirates at Port Royal. The enslaved resisted, including the Maroons who fought from the mountains, and after the abolition of slavery in the 1830s the island moved gradually toward self-government, gaining independence in 1962.
Jamaica is a mountainous tropical island, with a backbone of ranges rising to the Blue Mountains in the east, famous for the coffee grown on their misty slopes, and falling to coastal plains and a shoreline of beaches, cliffs, and harbours. Lush forests, rivers, and waterfalls cover much of the interior, and the warm Caribbean waters and coral reefs ring the coast. This green, dramatic landscape, with its varied climate from hot coast to cool highlands, has long shaped the island's farming and its scenic appeal.
The flag of Jamaica is distinctive as one of the only national flags to contain none of the colours red, white, or blue. It is divided by a golden diagonal cross into four triangles, black at the sides and green at the top and bottom. The gold represents the sunshine and the natural wealth of the country, the green its lush vegetation and hope, and the black the strength and creativity of the people. The bold design is instantly recognisable as a symbol of Jamaica.
Jamaica is a strongly Christian country, with one of the highest numbers of churches per person in the world, the majority belonging to a variety of Protestant denominations, a legacy of British and missionary influence, along with Roman Catholics. The island is also the birthplace of the Rastafari movement, a faith that emerged in the twentieth century, revering an Ethiopian emperor and shaping the island's culture and music. Traditional Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices also persist, and religion is a powerful force in Jamaican life.
Jamaican cuisine is bold and full of flavour, famous around the world for its fiery, fragrant jerk seasoning, a blend of spices used to marinate and grill chicken, pork, or fish. The national dish is ackee and saltfish, the yellow fruit of the ackee cooked with salted cod. Rice and peas, patties, curried goat, and an abundance of tropical fruit and fresh seafood fill the table, and the cuisine reflects African, European, Indian, and Chinese influences in a uniquely Jamaican blend.
Agriculture remains important to Jamaica, though less dominant than in the plantation era. Sugarcane, once the foundation of the colonial economy, is still grown, along with bananas, and the island is famous for its Blue Mountain coffee, among the most prized and expensive in the world, grown on the cool eastern heights. Yams, other tubers, fruit, and vegetables are grown for local use, and the island also produces the spice allspice, known as pimento. Bauxite mining and tourism, however, are larger pillars of the modern economy.
The Taino, the era of Spanish and then English rule, the sugar plantations and the resistance of the enslaved and the Maroons, and independence in 1962 shaped Jamaica. The island's greatest impact on the world, however, has been cultural: it gave birth to reggae music and to the global icon Bob Marley, to the Rastafari movement, and to a tradition of athletic excellence that has produced the world's fastest sprinters, making this small nation a cultural and sporting force admired everywhere.
Jamaica has a population of around 2.8 million people, the great majority of African descent, descendants of those brought to the island in slavery, along with minorities of mixed, Indian, Chinese, and European origin, captured in the national motto, Out of Many, One People. English is the official language, while most Jamaicans speak the expressive creole known as Patois. The population is concentrated in the coastal lowlands and in the capital, Kingston, and a large Jamaican diaspora lives abroad, especially in Britain, the United States, and Canada.
