Jamaica

Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean, covering 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi). It is an upper-middle-income country with an economy heavily dependent on tourism; it has an average of 4.3 million tourists a year. The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion and reggae music (and such associated genres as dub, ska, and dancehall); and it is internationally prominent in sports, including cricket, sprinting, and athletics. Jamaica has sometimes been considered the world's least populous cultural superpower.

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.

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, 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.

The indigenous people, the Taíno, called the island Xaymaca in their language, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs". Yamaye has been suggested as an early Taíno name for the island as recorded by Christopher Columbus.

Jamaicans often refer to their home island as "yaad" – the Jamaican Patois word for yard, meaning home. Other colloquial names such as "Jamrock", "Jamdown" ("Jamdung" in Jamaican Patois), or briefly "Ja" are also widely used.^{[user-generated source?][failed verification]}

There is no archaeological evidence of any human presence on Jamaica until about 500. A group known as the "Redware people" after their pottery arrived circa 600, followed by the Taíno circa 800, who most likely came from South America. They practised an agrarian and fishing economy, and at their height are thought to have numbered some 60,000 people, grouped into around 200 villages headed by caciques (chiefs). The south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour.

Though often thought to have become extinct following contact with Europeans, the Taíno in fact still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655. Some fled into interior regions, merging with African Maroon communities. The Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any remaining evidence of the Taíno.

Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Jamaica, claiming the island for Spain after landing there in 1494 on his second voyage to the Americas. His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay, and St. Ann's Bay was named "Saint Gloria" by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. He later returned in 1503; however, he was shipwrecked and he and his crew were forced to live on Jamaica for a year while waiting to be rescued.