Everything you need to know about Jamaica

JAMAICA, juh MAY kuh, is an island nation in the West Indies that belongs to the British Commonwealth of Nations. High mountains, soft breezes, and colorful flowers make it a tropical paradise. The island has many lovely waterfalls, streams, and springs.The name Jamaica comes from an Indian word, Xay-maca, which means island of springs. Thousands of tourists visit Jamaica every year. But it does not depend entirely on tourism for income. It also produces farm crops, and it is the leading bauxite-mining area in the world. Kingston is the capital and largest city.Jamaica forms a part of the West Indian group of islands known as the Greater Antilles.It lies in the Carib-bean Sea, about 90 miles south of Cuba. The island covers an area of 4,411 square miles, which is just a little smaller than Connecticut. The uninhabited Morant and Pedro cays (keys) are dependencies of Jamaica. They lie just south of the island.Jamaica is about 148 miles long, and 52 miles wide at its widest point. The island’s east-west mountain ridge rises to the cloud-capped Blue Mountains in the cast. Its highest point, Blue Mountain Peak, towers 7,402 feet above sea level. Lowlands stretch across the western end of the island, and a narrow strip of flatland covers the southern coast. Jamaica has many bays and harbors. Rivers flow north and south from the mountain ridges to the sea.FACTS IN BRIEFType of Government: Constitutional monarchy.Capital: Kingston.Official Language: English.Head of Government: Prime Minister.Area: 4,411 square miles. Greatest distance: (east and west) 148 miles; (north and south) 52 miles.Population: 2,824,738 Density, 391 persons per sq. mi.Chief Products: Agriculture, bananas, cacao, citrus fruits, coconuts, coffee, sugar cane, tobacco, tropical fruits.Manufacturing and Processing, cigarettes, cigars, cocoa prod-ucts, matches, paint, rum, shoes, sugar. Mining, bauxite, gypsum, lead, salt.Flag: The flag of Jamaica has a gold St. Andrew’s cross with black triangular side panels, and green triangular panels at top and bottom. See FLaG (color picture, Flags of America).Money: Basic unit, pound. Twenty shillings equal one pound. For the value of the pound in U.S. dollars, see MONEY (table, Values). See also PoUnD.