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==History== |
==History== |
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| − | Pre-1983 |
+ | ===Pre-1983=== |
Jamaica was settled sometime before 1000 BC, by Arawak and Taino people from South America. They called the island ''Xaymaca'', meaning 'Land of Wood and Water.' The first Europeans to make contact with the indigenous people were Christopher Columbus and his crew, in 1494. A Spanish settlement was established in 1509, but abandoned in 1524. The capital was moved to Spanish Town in 1534, then called St Jago de la Vega. |
Jamaica was settled sometime before 1000 BC, by Arawak and Taino people from South America. They called the island ''Xaymaca'', meaning 'Land of Wood and Water.' The first Europeans to make contact with the indigenous people were Christopher Columbus and his crew, in 1494. A Spanish settlement was established in 1509, but abandoned in 1524. The capital was moved to Spanish Town in 1534, then called St Jago de la Vega. |
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Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988, killing 245 people and causing several billion dollars in damages. The country fell into dire economic straits as a result of the decimation of a number of important government-owned crops. To make matters worse, trade with other Caribbean nations had been declining in the last year, caused by an increase in internal trade between ECF states. When an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck the nation in November, it entered into negotiations with the East Caribbean government for admission into the union. |
Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988, killing 245 people and causing several billion dollars in damages. The country fell into dire economic straits as a result of the decimation of a number of important government-owned crops. To make matters worse, trade with other Caribbean nations had been declining in the last year, caused by an increase in internal trade between ECF states. When an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck the nation in November, it entered into negotiations with the East Caribbean government for admission into the union. |
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| + | ===1989 - 2006=== |
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On 1 May 1989, Jamaica officially joined the East Caribbean Federation. |
On 1 May 1989, Jamaica officially joined the East Caribbean Federation. |
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| + | Hurricane Ivan struck Jamaica from 11 September to 12 September, killing six people and causing $730 million in damages. Agricultural production, still a major force in Jamaican industry, suffered severely that year, leading to a minor economic crash that led to the demise of several private Jamaican agricultural companies. The Jamaican economy recovered quickly, however, utilizing storm damages to fuel a brief construction boom from 2004 to 2006. |
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==Government== |
==Government== |
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The government of Jamaica consists of a bicameral parliament comprised of an appointed Senate and an elected House of Representatives. As of 2014, The government is currently a majority formed by the Social Reformist Party, with the official opposition being formed by the People's National Party. The Jamaican Labour Party holds a small number of seats in the House of Representatives. Rachel Manley is the current Premier, with Portia Simpson Miller acting as leader of the Opposition. Sir Kenneth O. Hall is the Governor General. |
The government of Jamaica consists of a bicameral parliament comprised of an appointed Senate and an elected House of Representatives. As of 2014, The government is currently a majority formed by the Social Reformist Party, with the official opposition being formed by the People's National Party. The Jamaican Labour Party holds a small number of seats in the House of Representatives. Rachel Manley is the current Premier, with Portia Simpson Miller acting as leader of the Opposition. Sir Kenneth O. Hall is the Governor General. |
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Revision as of 01:01, 27 February 2014
 This 1983: Doomsday page is a Proposal.
|
"Out of Many, One People." | |||||||
| Capital | Kingston | ||||||
| Largest city | Kingston | ||||||
| Other cities | Spanish Town, Montego Bay, Mandeville | ||||||
| Language official |
English | ||||||
| others | Spanish, Antillean Creole | ||||||
| Demonym | Jamaican | ||||||
| Government | Parliamentary Democracy (under Constitutional Monarchy) | ||||||
| Premier | Rachel Manley | ||||||
| Area | 10,991 sq km | ||||||
| Population | 2,966,250 | ||||||
| Currency | East Caribbean Dollar | ||||||
The Commonwealth of Jamaica, more commonly called Jamaica, is a member state in the East Caribbean Federation, located in the southwest of the Greater Antilles. It shares maritime borders with the Cayman Islands, Cuba and Haiti to the north. The island has an area of 10,991 sq km. Its capital is located at Kingston. Jamaica has the distinction of being the most populous state in the East Caribbean Federation, as well as uniquely important to the foundation of the Federation itself.
History
Pre-1983
Jamaica was settled sometime before 1000 BC, by Arawak and Taino people from South America. They called the island Xaymaca, meaning 'Land of Wood and Water.' The first Europeans to make contact with the indigenous people were Christopher Columbus and his crew, in 1494. A Spanish settlement was established in 1509, but abandoned in 1524. The capital was moved to Spanish Town in 1534, then called St Jago de la Vega.
In 1655, the English took the last Spanish fort remaining in Jamaica and gained control of the island. For two hundred years, Jamaica was one of the world's leaders in sugar exports and slave-driven economies, until the early 1800s, through until the abolition of the slave trade and the British declaration of emancipation for their slaves.
Throughout the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, Jamaica grew prosperous under British rule, relying primarily on the rise of a bauxite mining industry and the growth of Caribbean tourism. In 1958, Jamaica joined the West Indies Federation, only to become fully independent in 1962.
Jamaica's prosperity was not shared equally within the population, and discontent among the urban poor of Jamaica resulted in the rise of the People's National Party (PNP) to power in 1972. Though they implemented a wide range of progressive social programs, the PNP was unable to improve the financial situation for Jamaica's urban poor. Instead, their policies had the unexpected effect of increasing the number of poor in Jamaica.
By 1983, Jamaica's gross national product had fallen to 25% below its 1972 level. Voices calling for Jamaica to rejoin the United Kingdom as a territory were growing louder within the nation. In order to avoid bankruptcy, the government sought IMF financing from the United States and others. Those financiers, however, imposed harsh austerity measures on Jamaica, threatening their economic stability.
1983 - 1988
On 25 September 1983 at 7:45 PM local time, the Jamaican Information Services issued a press release, confirming that a nuclear exchange had begun between the United States and the Soviet Union. At 8:00 PM, Governor General Florizel Glasspole appeared on air, urging calm among the Jamaican public. On the morning of 26 September, Prime Minister Edward Seaga convened an emergency session of parliament.
After multiple attempts to contact American, British and Soviet authorities all met with complete failure, the Jamaican government turned to the American Embassy. William Hewitt, the US Ambassador, was now the acting representative of the president and the United States in Jamaica. He was summoned before parliament and negotiated a treaty assuring the safety of American citizens in Jamaica and offering safe haven to any surviving American vessels that entered Jamaican waters and airspace.
A state of emergency was declared at the end of the emergency session, as well as the enactment of a curfew prohibited citizens from leaving their homes after dark. Though concerns ran high over the possibility of nuclear fallout from Santiago de Cuba reaching the Jamaican mainland, wind patterns pushed that fallout to the east and into the sea. Fish stocks along the north coast were severely damaged by radioactivity, but the direct damage from nearby strikes was otherwise limited.
From 1983 to 1988, Jamaica underwent a massive economic shift, transferring from a primary-tertiary economy to an exclusively primary economy. Government hotels and other tourism-based assets were sold off, with the funds being used to fund subsidies in the agricultural and mining industries. Bauxite mining fell into a secondary role in the Jamaican economy, with foreign demand for Jamaican bauxite dropping severely.
Large tracts of land used for sugar plantations were cleared and given over to staple crops, primarily rice and several varieties of potatoes. The jobs and revenue provided by the government-owned staple plantations in the mid-1980s are widely credited with preventing the complete collapse of the Jamaican government, post-Doomsday.
In 1987, Jamaica was asked by the members of LATSA to act as a third-party mediator in debates regarding the eventual status of the agreement. It helped to create the East Caribbean Federation by proposing the Jamaican Framework, which limited the degree of union proposed to a combined defense and monetary-customs union.
Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988, killing 245 people and causing several billion dollars in damages. The country fell into dire economic straits as a result of the decimation of a number of important government-owned crops. To make matters worse, trade with other Caribbean nations had been declining in the last year, caused by an increase in internal trade between ECF states. When an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck the nation in November, it entered into negotiations with the East Caribbean government for admission into the union.
1989 - 2006
On 1 May 1989, Jamaica officially joined the East Caribbean Federation.
Hurricane Ivan struck Jamaica from 11 September to 12 September, killing six people and causing $730 million in damages. Agricultural production, still a major force in Jamaican industry, suffered severely that year, leading to a minor economic crash that led to the demise of several private Jamaican agricultural companies. The Jamaican economy recovered quickly, however, utilizing storm damages to fuel a brief construction boom from 2004 to 2006.
Government
The government of Jamaica consists of a bicameral parliament comprised of an appointed Senate and an elected House of Representatives. As of 2014, The government is currently a majority formed by the Social Reformist Party, with the official opposition being formed by the People's National Party. The Jamaican Labour Party holds a small number of seats in the House of Representatives. Rachel Manley is the current Premier, with Portia Simpson Miller acting as leader of the Opposition. Sir Kenneth O. Hall is the Governor General.
The government of Jamaica has, since 1985, been in possession of several means of primary production, and as such is a de facto socialist government, though it has never referred to itself as such and rejects being labelled as such in international diplomacy. It vehemently opposes ties with traditionally socialist nations, citing the establishment of ideological power blocs being the central cause of Doomsday.
Economy
The Jamaican economy is mainly comprised of a mixture of primary and secondary sector industries. Agriculture, in the form of staple crops, bananas, and sugarcane, is a major industry in Jamaica, along with bauxite mining. Jamaica has a strong manufacturing sector, relying on the import of raw materials from fellow East Caribbean states.
The Jamaican economy is technically socialist, with several primary sector companies being under the control of the national government. The most prominent of these are JamaCrop, a major producer of staple food crops, and JamaCore, a mining company that primarily deals in bauxite extraction. The Jamaican government maintains control of these and other companies, for the stated purpose of preventing foreign exploitation of Jamaican resources.
In 2012, Jamaica had a GDP (PPP) of 20.76 Billion.