Jamaica

Jamaica is an island country, part of the archipelago of the Great Antilles in the Caribbean. It is located about 140 kilometers south of the island of Cuba and 190 kilometers west of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located.

The first people to inhabit the island were local Arawak Indians. When Columbus visited Jamaica in 1494, declared the island a Spanish possession, and gradually became the local population into slaves. Most of them died from diseases brought by Europeans and toil to which they are subjected. And many Africans were brought as slaves and now more than 90% of people have African ancestors. Britain took control of the island in 1670 and he remained a British colony until 1962.

Jamaica is English-speaking island with the largest populations in the Caribbean and is the fourth largest island of all Caribbean islands. On Jamaica is located mountain chain Mauntins Blue, which is surrounded by a narrow coastal plain. Most major cities are located on the shore. Largest and most important cities are the capital Kingston, Portmor, Spenish Town, Mandev, Oh Rios, Port Antonio and Montego Bay.

The climate along the coast of Jamaica is tropical, with hot and humid weather, but in the higher parts in the interior of the island is cool. Country lies in the hurricane belt of the Atlantic, resulting in quite often hitting from tropical storms and hurricanes. Examples of hurricanes that caused significant destruction and took many casualties in the 20 century are, Charlie in 1951 and Gilbert in 1988. In the 21 century, hurricanes Ivan and Dean also sparked major Gustav damage to the island.

The tourism business in Jamaica is highly developed. Beautiful beaches and warm Caribbean Sea attracts over 850 000 tourists each year. Much of the population works in the aluminum ore industry. The island also exports large quantities of sugar and bananas. In 2002 from the main crop – sugar cane produced about 2,5 million sugar. On the island are grown over 440 000 goats and nearly as bovine heads dobitak.Osven agriculture, which employed about 1 / 5 of trudasposobnoto population on the Jamaican economy is fishing.