People's Republic of Jamaica Timeline: Differently | ||||||
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| Motto: "Workers of the World, Unite!" |
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| Anthem: "Workers of Jamaica, March On!" |
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 Location of Jamaica (green)
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| Capital (and largest city) | Jamaica City | |||||
| Official languages | English | |||||
| Other languages | Jamaican Patois | |||||
| Demonym(s) | Jamaican | |||||
| Government | Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic | |||||
| - | President | Horace Dalley | ||||
| - | First Secretary and Premier | Mark Golding | ||||
| Legislature | Jamaican Soviet | |||||
| - | Upper house | Workers' Senate | ||||
| - | Lower house | People's Assembly | ||||
| Independence from the United Kingdom | ||||||
| - | Declared | 3 August 1956 | ||||
| - | Recognised | 10 June 1958 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 10,991 km2 4,244 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| - | Estimate | 2,726,667 (107th) | ||||
| Currency | Jamaican dollar ($) | |||||
| Drives on the | left | |||||
Jamaica, officially the People's Republic of Jamaica, is a Marxist-Leninist state in the Caribbean. Following the fall of the Soviet Union (USSR) and Confederation of American Socialist States (CASS) in the 1970s, it is one of the last remaining Marxist-Leninist states on the planet.
Its surface area of 10,991 square kilometers makes Jamaica the second-smallest country in the Americas, behind only the Caribbean Federation, and also one of the smallest in the world, ranking 134th among the world's 152 sovereign states. With a population of over 2.7 million inhabitants, it is the 10th-most populous country in North America and the 107th in the world.
History[]
Pre-revolutionary history[]
Originally inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people were either killed or died of diseases to which they had no immunity, and the Spanish then forcibly transplanted large numbers of African slaves to Jamaica as labourers. The island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England (later Great Britain) conquered it, renaming it Jamaica. Under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on the African slaves and later their descendants. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British began using Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations.
In the mid-1950s, a socialist insurrection instigated by the CASS and the Soviet Union led to the Jamaican War of Independence. The conflict came to and end in 1956 with the expulsion of the colonial rule and the implementation of an independent Marxist-Leninist state. Jamaica became a close ally of the Confederacy and was officially an atheist state until 1982.
Post-revolutionary history[]
British Invasion of Jamaica (1958)[]
Following the revolution, the Jamaican Revolutionary Vanguard Party (JRVP) began nationalizing British colonial institutions and factories for the benefit of the Jamaican people. British colonial leaders who could not escape were captured and put on trial in revolutionary tribunals.
This revolutionary fervor caused panic in the British government and fear that the anti-Imperialist rhetoric of the Jamaican communists would inspire Communist revolutions in Britain's other Caribbean territories. On May 16th, 1958; British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home ordered a British invasion of Jamaica to subdue the revolution. The fleet, coming from St. Lucia, landed on the beaches of Southern Jamaica on May 20th, 1958. Expecting an easy reconquest of the Island, popular support amongst the Jamaican people and support from the Confederate Navy would result in the British taking heavy casualties and being forced to retreat. Many British soldiers were captured as prisoners of war on the island and were being held indefinitely.
The Treaty of London would set the terms that Jamaica would release the British POWs in exchange for British recognition of Jamaican independence. The treaty was ratified on June 10th, 1958; giving the People's Republic of Jamaica international recognition.
Rise and economic growth[]
With independence guaranteed, Jamaica would spend much of the 1950s and 1960s expanding its tourist industry and transitioning into a Market Socialist economy. Jamaica became reliant on tourism from the Soviet Union and the Confederation of American Socialist States for a large part of their economy. Tourist cities would boom throughout much of the 1960s as a result. Jamaica also began to construct many state Universities to bolster a successful science program.
Post-Soviet/CASS Collapse[]
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the CASS in the 1970s, Jamaica became more isolated geopolitically as they had no allies but a lot of anti-communist adversaries. As a result, Jamaica would begin to become more reliant on trade with non-aligned/3rd world countries to sustain their economy.
Jamaica is also controversial due to their nuclear program which they have been developing since the late 1990s to act as a deterrent against possible regime change within the nation. Jamaica is estimated to have several nuclear warheads, though whether or not they can be used effectively is still unknown by the international community. Despite these controversies, Jamaica has remained in the League of Nations and has established-relations with several non-aligned countries such as Arabia, Somalia, and has a semi-working trade relationship with the BRIC bloc. The conventional element of the Jamaican Armed Forces is also a significant regional power, proportional to the country's small population.
While experiencing a decline in tourism since the 1970s, Jamaica still gets around 80,000 tourists a year who visit the resort towns found on the beaches of the island. Tourism is still a large part of Jamaica's economy but efforts have been made by the Politburo to diversify the island-nation's economy.
Due to embargoes by western powers, car manufacturers stopped selling to Jamaica in the 1950s. As a result, Jamaica City is famous for its old 1950s cars.
Geography and environment[]
Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean. It lies between latitudes 17° and 19°N, and longitudes 76° and 79°W. Mountains dominate the interior: the Don Figuerero, Santa Cruz, and May Day mountains in the west, the Dry Harbour Mountains in the centre, and the John Crow Mountains and Blue Mountains in the east, the latter containing Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica's tallest mountain at 2,256 m. They are surrounded by a narrow coastal plain.
Jamaica only has two cities, the first being Jamaica City (known as Kingston until 1956), the capital city and centre of administration for state-controlled businesses, located on the south coast and the second being Montego Bay, a former tourist city which now hosts the nation's primary naval base, located on the north coast. Jamaica City Harbour is the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world, which contributed to the city being designated as the capital in 1872. Other towns of note include Portmore, Spanish Town, Savanna la Mar, Mandeville and the resort towns of Ocho Ríos, Port Antonio and Negril.
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