Jamaica, island country, third largest island of the Greater Antilles of the West Indies, situated south of Cuba. With its lush mountains and pristine beaches, the island is known for its beautiful natural surroundings and is a popular tourist destination. Jamaica became a British colony in 1670. During the 18th century, planters began importing African slaves to work on the sugar plantations. Today the island’s culture and customs blend its British and African roots. Jamaica gained its independence from Britain in 1962 and maintains a strong two-party political system. The island is named after the Native American word Xaymaca, meaning “isle of springs.”

Jamaica has a maximum length, from east to west, of 235 km (146 mi); the maximum width is approximately 80 km (about 50 mi). The total area of the country is 10,991 sq km (4,244 sq mi). Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica and also a large commercial seaport.

The terrain is mountainous, except for several tracts of lowlands in the southern coastal area. The principal range, situated in the eastern section of the island, is the Blue Mountains, of which Blue Mountain Peak (2,256 m/7,402 ft) is the highest point on the island. A series of lesser mountains, with many transverse spurs, extends generally west to the extremity of the island, surmounting an extensive plateau. The coastline, 1,022 km (635 mi) long, is irregular, particularly in the south, and the island has a number of excellent natural harbors, including those at Kingston, Saint Ann’s Bay, Montego Bay, and Port Maria.

Thermal springs occur in various areas. No other volcanic phenomena are apparent, but the island is subject to severe earthquakes. Many small unnavigable rivers traverse the island.

Tropical climatic conditions prevail in the coastal lowlands of Jamaica. The mean annual temperature in this region is 27°C (80°F), but northeastern trade winds frequently moderate the extremes of heat and humidity. Mean annual temperatures in the plateau and mountain areas average 22°C (72°F) at elevations of 900 m (3,000 ft), and are considerably less at higher levels. Annual precipitation is characterized by wide regional variations. More than 5,100 mm (more than 200 in) of rain are deposited annually in the mountains of the northeast; in the vicinity of Kingston the annual average is 810 mm (32 in). The months of maximum precipitation are May, June, October, and November. The island is subject to hurricanes in late summer and early autumn

Members of the Arawak tribe, an important group of the Arawakan linguistic stock of Native North Americans, were the aboriginal inhabitants of Jamaica (the Arawakan word Xaymaca, meaning “isle of springs”). Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his second voyage, and it became a Spanish colony in 1509. Saint Jago de la Vega (now Spanish Town), the first settlement and, for the ensuing 350 years, the capital, was founded about 1523. Colonization was slow under Spanish rule. The Arawak quickly died out as a result of harsh treatment and diseases. African slaves were imported to overcome the resultant labor shortage.

Jamaica was captured by an English naval force under Sir William Penn in 1655. The island was formally transferred to England in 1670 under the provisions of the Treaty of Madrid. During the final decades of the 17th century, growing numbers of English immigrants arrived; the sugar, cacao, and other agricultural and forest industries were rapidly expanded; and the consequent demand for plantation labor led to large-scale importation of black slaves. Jamaica soon became one of the principal slave-trading centers in the world. In 1692 an earthquake destroyed Port Royal, the chief Jamaican slave market, and Kingston was established nearby shortly thereafter. By parliamentary legislation passed in 1833, slavery was abolished on August 1, 1834. The act made available $30 million as compensation to the owners of the nearly 310,000 liberated slaves.

Large numbers of the freed blacks abandoned the plantations following emancipation and took possession of unoccupied lands in the interior, gravely disrupting the economy. Labor shortages, bankrupt plantations, and declining trade resulted in a protracted economic crisis. Oppressive taxation, discriminatory acts by the courts, and land-exclusion measures ultimately caused widespread unrest among the blacks. In 1865 an insurrection occurred at Port Morant. Imposing martial law, the government speedily quelled the uprising and inflicted brutal reprisals. Jamaica was made a crown colony, thus losing the large degree of self-government it had enjoyed since the late 17th century. Representative government was partly restored in 1884.

The Rastafari movement is a "messianic religio-political movement" 1 that began in the Jamaican slums in the 1920s and 30s. The most famous Rastafari is Bob Marley, whose reggae music gained the Jamaican movement international recognition.

There is significant variation within the Rastafari movement and no formal organization. Some Rastafarians see Rasta more as a way of life than a religion. But uniting the diverse movement is belief in the divinity and/or messiahship of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, the influence of Jamaican culture, resistance of oppression, and pride in African heritage.

The Rastafarian lifestyle usually includes ritual use of marijuana, avoidance of alcohol, the wearing of one's hair in dreadlocks, and vegetarianism.

Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, whose
birth name was Ras Tafari Makonnen.
Date founded: Generally said to be November 2, 1930, the year Emperor Hailie Selassie I (1892-1975) was crowned, but based in a movement of the 1920s. Place founded: Jamaica
Founder: Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), a black Jamaican who taught in the 1920s and is considered a second John the Baptist.
Adherents: About 1 million worldwide

Motto: "Out of Many, One People"
Anthem: "Jamaica, "land we love"
Royal anthem: "God Save the Queen"
Capital(and largest city) Kingston
17°59′N76°48′W / 17.983°N 76.8°W / 17.983; -76.8
Official languages English
National language Jamaican Patois and English
Ethnic groups  91.2% black, 6.2% mixed, 2.6% other  Demonym Government Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy  
Monarch Queen Elizabeth II  
Governor-General Patrick Allen  
Prime Minister Bruce Golding
Independence  -  from the United Kingdom 6 August 1962
Area  -  Total 11,100 km2 (166th)4,444 ) sq mi   - 
Water (%) 1.5
Population  -  July 2009 estimate 2,825,928 (133rd)  
Density 252/km2 (49th)656/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate  -  Total $24.199 billion 
Per capita $8,967
GDP (nominal) 2008 estimate  -  Total $14.029 billion
Per capita $5,198 

The weed, which grows throughout the island, has been cultivated for its narcotic effect since 1845, when indentured Indian laborers brought the first seeds from Asia. Its use spread rapidly among the plantation workers. Since it induced indolence and reduced productivity, it was outlawed. Nonetheless, islanders have used it ever since. Today, an estimated 20% to 40% of Jamaicans smoke it on a regular basis (Life expectancy in Jamaica is 75 years). As such, in 2001 a government commission recommended that marijuana be legalized for private use and possession.

Ganja use crosses all social strata; it is no less common for friends of the highest income levels to offer guests an after-dinner 'tote' than it is for the urban poor, who often smoke spliffs the size of bazookas. Many Jamaicans don't see ganja as a drug but as a medicinal and religious herb. To Rastafarians it is a source of wisdom.

For Jamaica's impoverished farmers, growing 'poor man's friend' is one of the few sure ways of earning money. The remote interior provides ideal conditions; the five-lobed plant thrives in Jamaica's rich red soil. And the main export market - the USA - is nearby.

First the seedlings are meticulously raised under protective cover and then transplanted into fields (guano, or bat dung, used as a fertilizer supposedly produces the most prolific plants). There they mature in five or six months, reaching heights as great as 10 feet.

Ganja is planted between other crops by small-scale farmers, and in larger plots by more serious entrepreneurs. Once harvested, the plants are pressed to extract hash oil, and the leaves are then dried. Distributors collect the dried and baled ganja, which they transport to lonesome boat docks and remote airstrips for rapid shipment to the USA. Legitimate businesses sometimes act as covers (many respected businesspeople in Jamaica reportedly got their start in drug trafficking).

During the 1980s heyday, the annual wholesale value of Jamaica's ganja crop exceeded US$1.5 billion, and the trade had tacit approval at the government level. Nonetheless, since 1986 the Jamaican government has cracked down on drug trading at the behest of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The DEA claims that Jamaica's ganja production has fallen by 80%, and that exports have fallen by two-thirds.

The strongest varieties are Burr, Cotton, and Lamb's Breath, which are marketed in the USA as sinsi (short for sinsemilla, Spanish for seedless).