Jamaica

Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea, occupying most of the island of Jamaica. Its capital and largest city is Kingston.

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Caribbean Sea: A tropical sea of the Atlantic Ocean bordered by the Caribbean islands and Central America. Jamaica lies within this sea, south of Cuba and west of Hispaniola.
Taíno: An Indigenous Caribbean people whose communities lived across the Greater Antilles before European colonization. Taíno communities inhabited Jamaica before Spanish rule.
Reggae: A Jamaican popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s from earlier local styles. Reggae carries Jamaican musical traditions to audiences around the world.
Marcus Garvey: A Jamaican political leader and writer who promoted Black nationalism and pan-Africanism. His ideas became a lasting influence on Jamaican and diaspora politics.
Cuba: The largest island country in the Caribbean, located north of Jamaica. Cuba is Jamaica’s closest large island neighbor and a regional point of comparison.
Kingston, Jamaica: Jamaica’s capital and largest city, located on the southeastern coast. The capital anchors national government, commerce, and cultural life.
Spanish colonization of Jamaica: The period of Spanish rule in Jamaica, beginning with settlement in the early sixteenth century. Spain claimed the island before England seized it in 1655.
Bob Marley: A Jamaican singer and songwriter who became reggae’s most internationally recognized figure. His recordings helped make Jamaican music globally influential.
Alexander Bustamante: A Jamaican labor leader and politician who became the country’s first prime minister. He led the government at independence in 1962.
Haiti: A Caribbean country occupying the western part of Hispaniola, east of Cuba and north of Jamaica. Haiti shares the Greater Antilles setting but has a different colonial and political history.