Portal:Jamaica

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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...)

Burning Spear live at Reggae Geel, Belgium, in 2023
Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s. (Full article...)
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Richard Patrick Bennett OD, better known by the stage name Charlie Chaplin, is a Jamaican dancehall and ragga singer and deejay. It was common for Jamaican deejays of the era to name themselves after film stars or characters. Bennett, however, had been nicknamed after the comedian since his youth. His career began in 1980 when he began working with U-Roy's Stur-Gav Hi-Fi collective. He became extremely popular throughout Jamaica, memorable for his focus on cultural and social themes instead of the "slack" (rough, violent) lyrics that were popular at the time. His popularity as a live performer prompted Roy Cousins to produce some recording sessions with the young DJ. Chaplin's debut album was the Cousins-produced Presenting Charlie Chaplin in 1982, with several albums following for the producer over the next three years.

The contrast between Chaplin's "culture" lyrics and the other major deejays of the day led to the 1984 "clash" album with Yellowman Slackness Vs Pure Culture. (Full article...)

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Maymie de Mena (December 10, 1879 – October 23, 1953, also known as Maymie Aiken or Madame DeMena Aiken in her later career) was an American-born activist who became one of the highest-ranking officers in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). She has been credited with keeping the organization alive after Marcus Garvey's conviction for mail fraud and deportation from the United States.

De Mena was born into a Creole family in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, and obtained her education in the United States before marrying a Nicaraguan and moving to Central America. After a decade in which she raised a daughter and taught school, she divorced, returned to the U.S., and joined the UNIA. Quickly rising in the ranks from a translator, because she was fluent in Spanish, de Mena became one of the leaders of the pan-African movement. She was responsible for increasing the membership of the organization in the Caribbean and Latin America. When Garvey was deported from the U.S. to Jamaica, de Mena became Garvey's official representative in New York and was the first woman to carry such a high distinction in the organization. (Full article...)

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Marcus Garvey, National Hero of Jamaica.
Marcus Garvey, National Hero of Jamaica.
Credit: Associated Press
Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. The government of Jamaica named him as the country's first National Hero. Pictured is Marcus Garvey in Harlem, New York City in 1922.

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Callaloo (/ˌkæləˈl/ KAL-ə-LOO, Jamaican Patois: [kalalu]; many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux or callalloo) is a plant used in popular dishes in many Caribbean countries, while for other Caribbean countries, a stew made with the plant is called callaloo. Cuisines including the plant Callaloo or dishes called callaloo varies throughout the Caribbean. In countries such as Trinidad and Tobago or Grenada, the dish itself is called callaloo, and uses taro leaves (known by many local names such as 'dasheen bush', 'callaloo bush', or 'bush') or Xanthosoma leaves (known by many names, including cocoyam and tannia).

Since the leaf vegetable used in some regions differs, some confusion can arise among the vegetables with the dish itself. This, as is the case with many other Caribbean dishes, is a remnant of West African and Taino cuisine. (Full article...)

More did you know

  • ...that Trenchtown, a neighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica, gets its name from a large open-trenched sewer that ran through the neighbourhood?

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