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Recommended: Culture of jamaica
After visiting the country of Jamaica this past summer, I realized how dissimilar some countries can be from the United States. Jamaica was not unlike the United States in a terrible way, but the disparities made me additionally interested in researching about the beautiful and culture-rich country of Jamaica. Even though the majority of facts about the history and culture of the United States and Jamaica are dissimilar, I was surprised to come across some similarities among these two countries. Alike the United States, Jamaica also acquired their independence from Great Britain. However, Jamaica did not obtain their independence until August 6th, 1962; virtually 200 years after the United States achieved their independence on July 4th, 1776. After Jamaica gained their independence, they decided to carry on a Constitutional parliamentary democracy, comparable to the government of Great Britain. So, in opposition to of having a president run the country, akin to the United States, Jamaica has a Prime Minister govern their country. However, their government is made up of three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, reminiscent of the United States. The executive branch consists of the Governor General, the prime minister and, the cabinet. The legislative branch is a bicameral Parliament made up of twenty one appointed senators and sixty elected representatives. Lastly, the judicial branch consists of the Court of Appeal and the courts of original jurisdiction (Jamaica) In spite of this, the Jamaican government does not have to govern as many people as the United States’ government is obliged to. The entire country of Jamaica has an area merely of about 4,244 square miles and a population of approximately 2,825,928, wit... ... middle of paper ... ...t of State, 06 Aug. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. . "Jamaican Patois." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 09 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. . "Jamaica Unemployment Rate - Economy." Index Mundi - Country Facts. Index Mundi, Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. . "List of U.S. States and Territories by Area." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. . "World Bank, World Development Indicators-Google Public Data Explorer." Google. World Bank, World Development Indicators, 28 July 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .
addition, after WWI, there were many waves of Jamaican peoples that would come to America.
Indicators. United Nations, 7 July 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. This data sheet shows the
This characteristic is a good quality of its government, which is divided in three branches: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The executive branch is set to make sure that laws are carries out the proper way. The Governor, the Lieutenant General, and the Attorney General are part of this branch. The legislative branch is composed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, which makes it a bicameral branch. Its job is to generate laws and balance the budget. Then, the judicial branch, composed by the supreme court, county and local courts, is in charge of civil and criminal cases. In other words, such system is very much like the check and balancing system of the Federal
From the country’s earliest days, Jamaica experienced colonial status, with paternal influences from the West. Spain initially maintained ascendancy over the colony; yet, as they embarked upon their sesquicentennial reign, the Empire’s grasp began to loosen. Primarily incessant interstate conflict, between the Empire and its bordering nations, wreaked havoc. Contrastingly, England continued to thrive and experience heightened success in their colonial endeavors. Indeed, as Spain began losing dominance over Jamaica, England looked to the Caribbean to increase their economic hegemony; in 1650, the British successfully cap...
Jamaica’s fighting spirit can be seen even in its early days with the Maroons. The fighting spirit is not uncommon with people who are oppressed or forced against their will. The Maroons came in two waves, the first are slaves that fled during the Spanish rule, the second wave was during British control. The Maroons used the highlands of Jamaica to seek refuge, establish colonies and attack plantations when needed. Even today the beliefs and herbal practices of the Maroons are still evident in Jamaican culture. Their trouble past has made their life difficult but even today they are a presence in Jamaica.
Jamaica’s history is one of war and slavery. Due to these things, it made it harder for the Jamaican people to prosper. Arawaks from South America were the first to settle in Jamaica. In 1517, the Spanish brought the first African slaves to Jamaica. When the Spanish invaded, they began to exterminate the Arawaks, but they were also wiped out by years of disease and slavery. 138 years after the first slaves were brought to Jamaica, the British seized the island and gained full control. By 1834, slavery was abolished by the British Parliament (“Ja...
Women have been oppressed in many places and in many different ways over the years, but in Jamaica this continuing trend is finally to be broken. "Sexual or gender inequality represents as essential and integral feature of social relations and culture construction in Jamaica, where for the past four hundred years colonial and imperialist exploitation has governed the development of economic, political, and sociocultural patterns and structures."(Harrison: Women in Jamaica's Urban Informal Economy pg. 12)
There are also words taken from Spanish, Arawak, French, Chinese, Portuguese, and East Indian languages. Although pronounced similarly in Standard English, the patois preserves many 17th- and 18th-century expressions in common use during the early British colonial settlement of Jamaica.”
“For the island colony was divided into three main groups in a political and social way. The descendants of the slaves were three-fourths of the population and classified as black or dark brown. The descendants of Europeans and slaves were about one-fifth of the population and classified as coloured or light brown. The rest were a few thousand East Indians and Chinese and perhaps the same number of pure European decent.” (Pg. 4) Claude Mckay blatantly describes the historical reality here in his novel, Banana Bottom. The reality that McKay is describing in Jamaica, directly relates to the history of the Caribbean and Jamaica specifically in the 19th Century.
The country of Jamaica is a West Indian island located near the center of the Caribbean Sea. It is among the group of islands that comprises the Greater Antilles and is the largest of the English-speaking islands in the region. Jamaica has an area of 4,411 square miles and is 146 miles long. It is divided into
...ike Jamaica is Brazil. There is masses of poverty and famine when you visit there and part of it really looks like a ruined land as Jamaica does, although all the shocking things you see there, the people are making the place to be magical like he is through their music, the way they dance the Samba, their passion for life and the love that surrounds the country. A country can be beautiful not just by her landscape and nature, but also the people who giving a good atmosphere to the place like the Jamaicans do in their manner of singing all the time and giving a pleasant feeling to be there, those people make the place special and unique. They give you the true color of the country through their ideals and beliefs of freedom and happiness and by singing Bob Marley songs they express themselves through his words which interpret who they are and what they believe in.
Browne, David V. C., and Henderson Carter. Atlantic Interactions. Kingston, Jamaica: I. Randle, 2008. Print.
The original inhabitants of Jamaica are believed to be the Arawaks, also called Tainos,,, Jamaica was originally named the island Xaymaca, which meant ““land of wood and water”. Tobacco became their biggest crop, making smoking a popular pastime. Beneficial of being an island is the ocean surrounding providing an excellent source of fish. On Christopher Columbus second voyage to the Western Indians he landed upon the islands. The well know Rastafari Religion was founded in Jamaica during the 19030’s, popular for unique style. Similar to Chinese food and other non American traditional restaurants, Jamaican restaurants are popular in the U.S. You must not forget to mention reggae music. A highly popular music industry listened to globally.
Jamaica’s national motto is "Out of many, one people" because Jamaicans are of a mix culture wherein they have many descendants from Africa, Europe, India, the Orient and the Middle East. So then it is safe to say that Jamaica's history stretches farther than just our minds eyes. In fact, as one author recorded in his log, Jamaica is "The fairest land eyes have ever beh...
With an increase in legal immigration, there is a possibility that the country’s culture and identity will disappear slowly as more immigrants enter the country. In The Bahamas, many of the immigrants bring along their own culture and language, especially those whose first language is not English. This culture inclusion will eventually lead to the original Bahamian culture disappearing as more and more cultures are included into the Bahamian culture. In the year 2015, The Bahamas introduced a new event called Junkanoo Carnival. Carnival is an event that is often found in Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados but not The Bahamas. This is because those countries Carnival are The Bahamas’ Junkanoo. However, The Bahamas continued on with the event ‘Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival’ which is mostly the culture of other Caribbean