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Map Courtesy CIA World Factbook

Jamaica is a country in the Caribbean Sea, located south of Cuba and to the west of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated.

The name of the country derives from the name Xaymaca, meaning land of wood and water, given to it by the original Arawak or Taino people from South America, who first settled there around the year 1000 - 400 BC.



Jamaica slowly gained increasing independence from the United Kingdom, and in 1958 Jamaica became a province in the Federation of the West Indies, a federation between all the British West Indies. Jamaica attained full independence by leaving the federation in 1962 and is now a completely sovereign nation. Jamaica celebrated the tricentennial of British rule in 1955.

Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to recurrent violence and a drop-off in tourism.


