ORIGIN OF THE ISLAND
Jamaica belongs to the Central American region of the Western
Hemisphere. The West Indian islands are actually the summits of a
submarine range of mountains which in prehistoric times perhaps
formed one large land mass connecting Central America to Venezuela
in South America.
During the ages, vast changes took place in this region of the
earth's crust. The land subsided beneath the sea. When it rose again
only the highest parts of it appeared above the surface of the sea.
These formed the Caribbean islands, which have remained separate and
distinct islands ever since.
A close examination of the structure of the islands shows that there
is a single mountain range in Puerto Rico which may be regarded as
the centre of the submarine system. This range runs into Haiti,
where it divides into three separate branches connected by submarine
ridges. The northern branch passes through the north of Cuba as the
Organos Mountains, and then into the Peninsula of Yucatan. The
central branch passes into southern Cuba as the Sierra Maestra and
continues under the sea into Central America. The south range passes
through Jamaica, forming the Blue Mountains, the central mountain
range of the island, and continues into Honduras.
East of Puerto Rico the main chain divides itself, forming an inner
chain and an outer chain of islands. The inner chain includes St.
Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada. The other chain can be traced
through the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbados, Tobago and northern
Trinidad, continuing into the South American Continent as the
coastal mountains of Venezuela.
DESCRIPTION
Christopher Columbus's thoughts as he first set eyes on Jamaica
while his fleet steered for St. Ann's Bay on his second voyage of
discovery to the New World in 1494, are com-municated to us by the
Spanish historian Andres Bernaldez in the following description:
"It is the fairest island eyes have beheld; mountainous and the land
seems to touch the sky; very large; bigger than Sicily, has a
circumference of 800 leagues (I mean miles), and all full of valleys
and fields and plains; it is very strong and extraordinarily
populous; even on the edge of the sea as well as inland it is full
of very big villages, very near together, about four leagues apart."
Bernaldez, of course, grossly exaggerated the circumference of the
island, which is about 740 kilometres (460 miles); and our mountains
do not seem to touch the sky. But although the face of the island
has been changed to some degree since then, particularly by the work
of man, this description of the island's natural beauty is not
unjustified today.
The student of geography will find, nevertheless, that when
temperature, soil, vegetation, structure and natural resources are
taken into consideration, this semi-tropical island is, from a
purely geographical standpoint, an excellent habitation for human
beings.
HISTORY
The original inhabitants of Jamaica are believed to be the Arawaks
who came from South America 2500 years ago. They called it Xaymaca
which meant "land of wood and water." The Spaniards who succeeded
them wrote this phonetically, and substituted J for X. Christopher
Columbus discovered the island in 1492 and claimed it for Spain. The
Spaniards were disappointed that there was no gold and did little to
develop the island. A few settlers cultivated cane and raised
livestock. The gentle Arawaks were eliminated by overwork, brutality
and European diseases. Many of them killed their children and drank
poison rather than submit to slavery under the Spaniards. Africans
were imported to replace them.
In 1655 a British expedition failed to conquer Santo Domingo but
took Jamaica as a consolation prize. When the Spaniards fled the
island they freed their African slaves who took to the hills and
formed the nucleus of the Maroons. The early British colonists lived
under constant threat of attack from the Spanish, the French, and
freebooting pirates, hence the island is ringed with ancient forts.
The latter part of the seventeenth century was the age of the
buccaneers. Because England was perennially at war with France or
Spain and the Royal Navy could not patrol the entire Caribbean, the
Crown issued Letters of Marque to ship's captains, authorizing the
capture and plunder of enemy vessels. Thus the pirates became
"buccaneers" and graduated to become "privateers". One former
buccaneer, Henry Morgan, actually became Lieutenant Governor of
Jamaica in 1674.
During the eighteenth century, British landowners made vast fortunes
out of sugar and great numbers of African slaves were imported to
work on the plantations. After a long campaign spearheaded by
non-conformist missionaries in Jamaica and Liberal politicians in
England, the slaves received their freedom towards the middle of the
nineteenth century. Jamaica remained a British Colony with a
governor until granted Independence in 1962. Major legacies of the
British are: the parliamentary system, the judicial system, and the
game of "cricket, lovely cricket."
POPULATION
The vast majority of Jamaicans are of African descent or mixed race.
Other groups include East Indians, Chinese and European. Hence the
national motto, "Out of Many, One People." The current population is
estimated at 2.5 million.
In the past the population growth has been modified by emigration to
North America or the U.K. Currently, due to tough economic
conditions in those countries, many Jamaicans are repatriating.
Arawaks
The original inhabitants of Jamaica were gentle, pleasure loving
people who liked dancing and playing ball games. They believed in an
afterlife and sometimes strangled a dying chief to speed him into
paradise. They hunted, cultivated a few crops and fished. Their
canoes were made by burning and chiselling out the trunks of silk
cotton trees, a method that is still used today. Another legacy of
the Arawaks is bammy, a thick pancake made from cassava and
delicious fried with fish.
Maroons
The name comes from the Spanish "cimmaron" meaning wild or untamed.
When the British invaded the island in 1655 the African slaves of
the Spanish colonists escaped into the hills and lived a wild, free
life. Some of them helped their former masters in guerilla warfare
against the British. One such was Juan de Bolas, whose subsequent
defection to the British side hastened the final exodus of the
Spaniards.
In time the Maroons came to control large areas of the interior and
would swoop down from the hills to raid the plantations and kidnap
women. Runaway slaves also found a refuge with them. The two main
groups were the Trelawny Town Maroons led by Kojo (alias Cudjoe) and
the Windward Maroons led by Queen Nanny and later by Quao. The
Maroons were skilled hunters and fierce fighters and the British
Army and local militia were unable to control or conclusively defeat
them. Indian hunters and their dogs had to be imported from Central
America to track them in the bush. The first Maroon War ended with a
treaty that ceded large areas of land to the Maroons. In turn, they
had to promise to recapture and return all runaway slaves and help
the government in the event of an invasion. The land ceded to the
Maroons was around Flagstaff in Trelawny and was named Trelawny
Town, and at Accompong in St. Elizabeth. Accompong remains Maroon
territory to this day, but after the Second Maroon War, the Trelawny
Town land was taken away and most of the male Maroons exiled to
Canada and then to Africa. The remnants of their families settled
nearby in a district now known as Maroon Town. The land given to the
Windward Maroons was around Moore Town, Charles Town and Scott's
Hall. Of these, Moore Town is the only sizeable Maroon settlement
justify. Maroon land is held in common and they are not required to
pay taxes.
THE LANGUAGE
The language of Jamaica is English though you may sometimes find
this difficult to believe. Students of dialect maintain that the
patois varies from parish to parish and even from yard to yard.
Jamaica Talk is a synthesis of several influences: Old English and
nautical terms such as "breadkind" and "catch to"; Spanish as in "shampata"
from, zapatos (shoes); Irish dialect as in "nyampse" (a fool);
African as in "duppy" (a ghost) or "nyam" (to eat), and American
slang such as "cool" elaborated as "cool runnings" or "diss" as in
disrespect. Rastafarian "I-dren" (brethren) have their own language
and one word that you will hear frequently is "Irie" meaning good,
happy, pleasant or high. The traditional Rasta greeting "Peace and
Love" is giving way to "Respect due". Dance-hall, Jamaica's latest
musical phenomenon, has its own ever evolving language. Though
influenced by American "rappers", much of it is entirely indigenous,
for example "Browning" which describes any light-skinned girl; to
"big-up" a person means to praise or advertise them, and "flex"
meaning behaviour or deportment.
RELIGION
It is said that there are more churches per square mile in Jamaica
than anywhere in the world. The variety of houses of worship covers
everything from centuries old parish churches to the bamboo and zinc
shacks of Revivalists. The vast majority of believers belong to one
of the numerous Christian denominations: the traditional groups
being Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventists
and United Church (Presbyterian). There are also numerous
Evangelical groups as well as Moravians, Mennonites, Plymouth
Brethren, Unity and Jehovah Witnesses. Other religious groups
include Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Bahai's and Rastafarians.
RASTAFARI
Rastafari is an indigenous religion which emerged during the 1930s
as a grass roots answer to social conditions and the irrelevance of
white-oriented denominations. Basic tenets include the divinity of
the late Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) of Ethiopia,
re-incarnation, and a taboo against males cutting or combing their
hair or beards. However, Rasta is an evolving and subjective
religion and not all Rastas embrace all of these. Rastafari has been
used as a cover by criminals, and as a publicity gimmick by pop
musicians, but in its pristine form it is a valid faith which
emphasizes the indwelling God Spirit in every person. Rastafaris
developed their own version of the Jamaican dialect in which "I" is
a frequent pre-fix. (For example "I and I" or "I-man" meaning I or
myself and "I-dren" meaning children or brethren). "I-tal" food is
vegetarian cooking without salt. Many Rastas regard the use of
marijuana as a sacrament and aid to meditation.
NATIONAL HEROES
The order of National Hero of Jamaica was created in 1965. The first
heroes named were Sir Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington
Manley, the founders of the two political parties and architects of
independent Jamaica. Named at the same time were: Paul Bogle, a
farmer and preacher who led the so-called Morant Bay Rebellion,
George William Gordon, an ex-member of the House of Assembly who was
hung for alleged complicity in the Morant Bay Rebellion, and Marcus
Garvey, a journalist and printer who emigrated to the United States
and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association. In 1975 two
more were created: Sam Sharpe, the involuntary leader of the
Christmas Rebellion in 1831 and Nanny, chieftainess of the Windward
Maroons though historical evidence of the lady is non-existent.
Excerpt above from the book, 'Tour Jamaica', by Margaret
Morris
Montego Bay, or Mo Bay as it is popularly known, is
deservedly one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world.
Over the years it has attracted the rich and the famous and has been
the haunt of royalty.
Ocho Rios, or "Ochee" as it is known locally, is the second
major tourist town on the north coast with a wide range of
accommodation, excellent beaches, airstrip and modern cruise
facilities. Each year it attracts more than 700,000 tourists.
Negril was 'discovered' by the hippies who set up a colony in
the 1960s. This town has a laid back attitude, which is complemented
by some of the world's most beautiful beaches. Its waters offer
world-class diving and a wealth of water sports.
Mandeville is the chief town of Manchester parish, Jamaica's
mountain resort, the island's largest hill town and the fifth
largest urban centre. Only 64 miles away from Kingston, Mandeville
has a charm - and a climate - all of its own, as if it has been
sheltered against all developments in the capital.
Kingston is the capital and the commercial, administrative
and cultural heart of the island. It is the largest English speaking
city in the Caribbean, has the seventh largest natural harbour in
the world, and lies on a wide plain with the sea to the south and
the St. Andrew Mountain as it backdrop to the north.
Port Antonio is on the the island's north coast and is a
charming blend of old and new. It was Jamaica's first tourist
resort, and is a favourite resort for writers and artists. Robin
Moore is said to have written the 'French Connection' while sitting
under a mango tree in his yard.
On the quiet side of Jamaica, St. Elizabeth boasts an incredibly
diverse terrain. There are deserted beaches all along the southern
coastline with picturesque fishing villages and small sandy coves
hidden among the rocks.
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