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Portal:Jamaica

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The Jamaica Portal

Jamaica
Location of Jamaica
LocationCaribbean

Jamaica (/əˈmkə/ jə-MAY-kə; Jamaican Patois: Jumieka [dʒʌˈmie̯ka]) is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi), it is the third largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 km (90 mi) south of Cuba, 191 km (119 mi) west of Hispaniola (the island containing Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and 215 km (134 mi) south-east 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 (after the United States and Canada), and the fourth most populous country in the Caribbean. Kingston is the country's capital and largest city. Most Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, with significant European, East Asian (primarily Chinese), Indian, Lebanese, and mixed-race minorities. 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. The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion, 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. (Full article...)

Studio One sign on Studio One Boulevard (formerly Brentford Road), Kingston, Jamaica

Studio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios; it has been described as the Motown of Jamaica. The record label was involved with most of the major music movements in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s, including ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub and dancehall. (Full article...)

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Dennis Brown performing in 1980

Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a subgenre of reggae. Bob Marley cited Brown as his favourite singer, dubbing him "The Crown Prince of Reggae", and Brown would prove influential on future generations of reggae singers. (Full article...)

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Dennis shortly before peak intensity while approaching the Florida panhandle on July 10

Hurricane Dennis was briefly the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever to form before August. A deadly and destructive tropical cyclone, Dennis was the fourth named storm of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It originated on July 4 near the Windward Islands from a tropical wave. Dennis intensified into a hurricane on July 6 as it moved across the Caribbean Sea. Two days later, it became a strong Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale before striking Cuba twice on July 8. After weakening over land, Dennis re-intensified in the Gulf of Mexico, attaining its lowest barometric pressure of 930 mbar (27 inHg) on July 10. That day, Dennis weakened slightly before making a final landfall on Santa Rosa Island, Florida as a Category 3 hurricane. Six days later, Dennis's record intensity was surpassed by Hurricane Emily. After moving through the central United States, the circulation associated with former Hurricane Dennis dissipated on July 18 over Ontario.

In the Caribbean, the outer bands of Hurricane Dennis brought tropical storm-force winds and heavy rain to parts of Haiti, resulting in floods and landslides. A total of 3,058 homes were damaged and 929 were destroyed. Hundreds of livestock were killed, causing significant harm to Haiti's agricultural industry. The storm resulted in 56 fatalities and caused approximately $50 million in damages. Additionally, Dennis brought torrential rain to Jamaica, with the heaviest amounting to 24.54 in (623 mm) in Mavis Bank. This severely affected Jamaica's agriculture industry, resulting in the loss of nearly 160,000 livestock and leaving around 100,000 customers without electricity. However, the storm only killed one person in Jamaica but resulted in over $34.5 million in damages. In Cuba, rainfall peaked at 43.0 in (1,092 mm). Approximately 120,000 houses were damaged and 15,000 homes were destroyed. Nationwide, 2.5 million people lost access to water while 70% of the water sources in Granma Province were contaminated. Its agricultural industry was also affected, with almost 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) of agricultural land being destroyed in the provinces of Cienfuegos and Granma. The impact led to 16 fatalities and caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage to the country. (Full article...)

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Bob Marley live in concert in Dalymount Park on 6 July 1980
Bob Marley live in concert in Dalymount Park on 6 July 1980
Credit: Eddie Mallin
Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley live in concert in Dalymount Park on 6 July 1980

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Jamaican jerk chicken

Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica, in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice.

The art of jerking (or cooking with jerk spice) originated with indigenous peoples in Jamaica from the Arawak and Taíno tribes, and was carried forward by the descendants of 17th century Jamaican Maroons who intermingled with them. (Full article...)

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