Jamaica-Wyatt

=Jamaica =



2,990,561

 * Crude Birth Rate: 20.04**
 * Crude Death Rate: 6.37**
 * Rate of Natural Increase: 0.779%**
 * Infant Mortality Rate:15.57**
 * Life Expectancy: 73.59 years**
 * GNI PPP per capita: $7,700**
 * Stage of Demographic Transition: Stage 3**


 * http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbpyrs.pl?cty=JM&out=s&ymax=250&submit=Submit**

Number of Immigrants: 18,000 % of Total Population: 0.679% Net Migration: -100,000 Net Migration Rate: -6.07 migrants/1,000 population Refugees: 50

Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/red/country/jm-jamaica/imm-immigration&all=1

Jamaica has experienced problems with emigration for decades as an English Commonwealth. In 1964, Jamaica passed the Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens (Employment) Act to provide better jobs for domestic workers. Unemployment continued to plague the island, however, as 276,200 Jamaicans left from 1971 to 1980. The current net migration rate is still negative, and immigrants to the country view it primarily as a transit point. A few asylum-seeking refugees live in Jamaica, mostly from Cuba. Notably, five nationals from Sierra Leone are current refugees in Jamaica.

Source: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Jamaica-MIGRATION.html

__Folk Culture__
Much of Jamaican Folk Culture is centered around the illusory character Bredda Anancy. The trickster figure first came from West African folk tradition, and it still remains popular today in the Ashanti tribe of Ghana. The ancestors of Jamaicans who were taken as slaves from Africa retained this aspect of their heritage in a form of relocation diffusion. Jamaica was originally settled by the Taino people who taught the newly settled Jamaicans how to prepare cassava and jerk. The island's name actually came from a Taino word, "Xaymaca." Jamaica's culture formed from the mixture of numerous racial and ethnic groups including Africans, Europeans, Chinese, and Indians. These people brought together Jamaica's popular culture of reggae music which was globalized through artists such as Bob Marley. More traditional folk songs and dances did exist, however, and usually included drum rhythms.

Source: http://www.my-island-jamaica.com/jamaica_culture.html



Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83718258@N00/2401609132/ This photo from user Christian Vengco was taken during a drumming performance of Jamaican natives. Although underneath the picture, drums are an important part of Jamaican folk music. Christian commented that the performers play with "a lot of emotion" which is evident from the photo.

__Language__
Jamaica's official language is English, but a French creole influence and the combination of many diverse immigrant languages have resulted in a Jamaican Creole English language. Jamaican Country Sign Language is also a form of communication for the 154,000 deaf residents of Jamaica. There is no standardization of this language, and country signs differ between regions. Dialects of Jamaican Creole English include the basilect. Extreme cases of this dialect of English have changed so much over time that it is inherently unintelligible to Standard English speakers. The literacy rate in Jamaica is between 82 and 89 percent.

I found a website devoted to teaching the Patwa/Patois dialect of English native to Jamaica. In it is a video that teaches the dialect through a children's story: http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/patoisarticle/whosemouseareyoupatois.shtml

__Religion__
Jamaica's main religion is Christianity which was brought to the island by the English plantation owners who colonized the island. Traditional African religions have managed to survive through independence, however, and they have fused with Christianity to produce creolized religions. Rastafarianism is a creolized religion closely related to Christianity that relies on the King James Bible but interprets it through an African perspective. Revivalism is a blend of Christianity and the traditional African religion of Myal. Most Jamaican Christians are Protestant due to the influence of the English, but 4% of Jamaicans are Roman Catholics. Other religions have spread to Jamaica through migration for labor. After the slaves were emancipated, plantation owners hired indentured servants from China and India. These groups also made a mark on the religious history of Jamaica. The major religious conflict in Jamaica has been between Christians and non-Christians after emancipation. The government has sided with the Christians, however, and supports this 61% of the religious population.

Source: http://jamaica-guide.info/past.and.present/religion/

In Jamaica, the Asian ethnicity is generally regarded as the business class. The varied ethnicities in Jamaica support their own, but there is little evidence of ethnic discrimination. Jamaica's motto is "Out of many One People." This shows how the centripetal forces of nationality bring the different ethnicities together. The traditional ethnicity of Jamaica is of the Taino natives, also known as Arawak peoples. Jews came as indentured servants and eventually became merchants. Africans have a history of being imported as slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries to assist the sugar cane industry. East Indians and Chinese also immigrated to Jamaica as indentured servants, but they have moved from the agricultural industry to establishing small businesses. Currently, there is ethnic tension between the minority of Whites and the majority of Blacks, but there is little other ethnic conflict between Blacks and Indians or Chinese. Jamiacan, per say, is a tough ethnic identity to claim. Virtually all of Jamaica's residents were immigrants at some point, so Jamaican refers more adequately to a nationality than to a specific ethnic classification.

Sources:[|http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Jamaica.html][|http://www.intercultures.ca/cil-cai/interc ultural_issues-en.asp?lvl=8&ISO=JM&SubjectID=7]

__Development__
Jamaica is almost a More Developed Country (MDC). It's per capita GDP currently amounts to $4,400, which is on the transition level of 4 to 5 thousand typically needed to be considered an MDC. Jamaican citizens have a relatively long life expectancy, low infant mortality rate, and low natural increase rate as compared to other LDC's in Latin America. Jamaica's statistics actually compare better to Mexico, which is considered an MDC. Demographically, the percent of the population under 15 is currently 33%, and the percent over age 65 is 7% which is between a typical LDC (Haiti for example), and an MDC (Mexico, for example). Due to this information, Jamaica is making progress towards becoming a MDC, but it has not achieved this status yet.

Source: http://mmcconeghy.com/students/supLDCvsMDC.html**

__Agriculture__
Jamaica's agriculture relies on the sugarcane, coffee, banana, citrus, and potato industries. 14% of Jamaica is arable, so processing of foods is also important to the country's economy. As defined in the Rubenstein Human Geography Textbook, the crops are grown in a plantation format similar to other less developed countries. This type of tropical fruit and coffee farming dominates the agriculture of Jamaica, as livestock ranching and other types of agriculture are unsuitable to the small, hilly island in the Caribbean tropical climate. This accompanying youtube link explains from a first-person account of the importance and types of agricuture found in Jamaica. This source should provide an adequate picture of the vegetation in Jamaica and the appearance of the plantations there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYC7Eop2vI0 Source: http://maps.howstuffworks.com/maps-of-jamaica.htm

__Industry__
Jamaica's industry heavily relies on the mining and export of bauxite which is used to make aluminum. When the mineral ore was first discovered in 1952, Jamaica quickly became the largest exporter of bauxite in the world. In the 1980's the volume of export declined due to three of six foreign owned companies pulling out of the mining business on the island. This capital-intesive industry only put 1% of the labor force to work, however, as tourism quickly increased and threatened to surpass bauxite mining. Gypsum is also mined and exported on the eastern portion of the island, and limestone is abundant with an estimated 50 billion tons in reserves. Manufacturing of sugarcane and other agricultural products represented the most important sector of the economy prior to World War II. Other diversified manufacturing industries in Jamaica include condensed milk, rum, edible oils, cloth carpet, cigarettes, and shoes.

Source: http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/30.htm

__Services__
Jamaica depends on the leisure and tourism industries to provide revenue to sustain the fragile economy. The receipts from tourism in 2000 amounted $1.3 billion. Jamaica expanded its air access in the 1960's and as a result has seen many more tourists from North America over the last few decades. Foreign investment also bolsters the country's economy because of tax-free incentives and the availability of private offshore accounts. In 1999, direct foreign investment reached $523 million. Jamaica's share of world foreign investment is actually 170% of its world share of GDP. The Bank of Jamaica, the nation's governmentally-tied bank, and the nine commercial banks on the island also provide services to its citizens in major cities such as Kingston. Over the last fifty years, the service sector of the economy in Jamaica has increased with more jobs in the tertiary sector, mostly in tourism. Agriculture has declined as workers have transferred from the primary sector to the secondary and tertiary sectors, but Jamaica can still be considered a Less-Developed Country because services do not account for a majority of the GDP.

Sources: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Jamaica-FOREIGN-INVESTMENT.html http://www.statinja.com/releases/00043.html

__Urban Patterns__
Fifty-seven percent of Jamaica's roughly three million people live in the cities, and unfortunately the slum to urban population is 36%. The urban situation seems to be worsening because the slum growth rate is four percent while the urban growth rate overall is only two percent. This map of Kingston, Jamaica portrays the urban patterns of Jamaica's largest city. Slums include Trench Town and Jones Town and wealthier neighborhoods include MeadowBrook Estates and Newbrook Heights. Kingston Harbour lies to the south of Kingston, and Long and Dallas Mountains buffet the city on the Southeast preventing suburban sprawl.

Sources: http://www.unchs.org/categories.asp?catid=155 []