According to Countryaah website, Around 3 million people live in Jamaica.
Ethnic composition
Most of the country’s residents are descendants of African slaves. Around 76% are black and around 15% are mulattos. In addition, there are small minorities of around 1.3% Indians and residents of European or Chinese origin. The Native American Indians (Taíno) have died out as a people, but had previously mixed slightly with the other residents.
Religious affiliation
Around 60% of the country’s residents are Protestants and above all Anglicans, Baptists and Methodists, around 4% are Catholics, the rest are distributed among various natural religions as well as Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Bahais.
In addition, about 1% are among the Rastafarians who believe in Emperor Haile Selassi I (1892-1975) of Ethiopia as the returned Messiah who is supposed to bring the oppressed and disadvantaged descendants of the slaves from America to the promised land in Africa. They firmly reject the Western value system and fight for equality for the black population. Their religion also includes extreme intolerance towards homosexuals. The trademark of the Rastafarians developed the felty hairstyle, which is also known in this country, as well as “smoking weed”, which is also said to have a religious meaning: the intoxication is supposed to unite the believers and bring them closer to God.
National languages
English and Patois (a Creole language with English roots) are spoken in Jamaica.
Capital, other cities
The capital of Jamaica is Kingston. The Kingston Metropolitan Area (an agglomeration of Kingston and St. Andrew) has around 700,000 residents. According to Abbreviation Finder, JAM stands for Jamaica in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.
Other larger cities are:
SpanishTown with around 150,000 residents
Portmore with around 100,000 residents
Montego Bay with around 80,000 residents
Jamaica: geography
Jamaica is an island nation in the Caribbean, south of Cuba. It is located in the middle of the tropics, i.e. within the northern and southern tropics. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Jamaica.
Area and land use
Jamaica is the third largest of the Caribbean islands and is located approx. 170 km south of Cuba and approx. 200 km west of Haiti in the northwest of the Caribbean Sea (Caribbean).
The landscape is divided mainly into the mountain range of the Blue Mountains, which extends for a length of around 100 km from northwest to southeast, the central high plateau made of limestone and the coastal plains, the moors of which have now been largely drained.
There are narrow sandy beaches mainly on the western tip and in the northwest of the island.
Jamaica covers a total area of 10,990 km².
Thereof:
ForestAround 15% of the country is forested, mostly impenetrable rainforest.
Meadows and pasture landAround 18% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
Fields and fieldsAround 26% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing bananas, coffee, citrus fruits and sugar cane for export.
SwampBecause of the very high amounts of rainfall, especially in the north of the island, there are extensive swamps in Jamaica.
MountainsThe island is crossed from northwest to southeast by the mountain range of the Blue Mountains.
Coastline
Jamaica has a coastline of 1,025 km.
Tidal range
In Jamaica the mean tidal range is up to 3 meters.
For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.
Compare:
The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.
On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.
Longitude and latitude
Jamaica extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
Δφ = from 17 ° 45 ‘N to 18 ° 30’ N Δλ = from 076 ° 15 ‘W to 078 ° 15’ W.
You can find detailed information on this subject under: Geographical longitude and latitude.
Legal time
For Jamaica, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without daylight saving time). A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:
Δt (CET) = – 6 h
More detailed explanations of the time can be found under: Time zones, time.
Highest sun in Kingston
Kingston lies at a north latitude of φ = 18 °, i.e. in the tropics.
Since Jamaica is located within the northern and southern tropics – i.e. in the tropics – the sun is exactly vertical there twice a year. This is the case if the declination of the sun is equal to the value of the latitude of the place that is currently being viewed, here from Kingston with a latitude of 18 °. This happens around 21 days before June 21st and then again 21 days after June 21st.
Attention
If the declination of the sun is north of Kingston, the sun is not in the south but in the north at noon. The sun then moves from east to north to west, where it then sets.
mountains
BlueMountainPeak
The highest mountain in the country is the Blue Mountain Peak with a height of 2,256 m.
Rivers
Black River
The longest river in the country is the Black River with a length of around 70 km.
Other rivers in the country are:
CabarittaRiver
The Cabaritta River has a length of about 40 km
Hector’s River
A section of the river runs six kilometers underground.
Rio Cobre
Islands
Pedro Cays
In the Pedro Bank, a sandbank off the south coast of Jamaica, are the Pedro Cays, a tiny, uninhabited group of islands with an area of only 0.23 km².
The caribbean
Jamaica is located in the middle of the Caribbean – approx. 200 km west of Haiti and approx. 170 km south of Cuba.
The Caribbean is a marginal sea of the Atlantic and lies between the islands of the Caribbean and the American continent. In the west, Mexico and other Central American states border the Caribbean. In the south of Colombia and Venezuela. The border in the east and north form the following islands or archipelagos starting from Venezuela in a semi-circle to the “actual” Atlantic: Trinidad and Tabago, Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Cuba.
The deepest point in the Caribbean is the Cayman Rift between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with a depth of 7,680 m. Together with the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean forms the “American Mediterranean”.
