Kathy Holtz, age 14, of Lake Charles, La., for her question:
HOW LONG IS THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA?
Jamaica is an island nation in the West Indies. It is the third largest island in the Caribbean Sea, with only Cuba and Hispaniola being larger. Jamaica covers an area of 4,232 square miles and is 146 miles long from east to west and 51 miles long from north to south.
The island lies about 480 miles south of Florida.
Jamaica covers an area slightly smaller than Connecticut and it has about a million fewer people than that state. Arawak Indians, the first people to live in Jamaica, named the island Xaymaca, which means Island of Springs.
Jamaica was a British colony for about 300 years until 1962. Today it is an independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations.
Christopher Columbus discovered the island on his second voyage and it became a Spanish colony in 1509. Enslaved by the Spanish, the Arawak quickly died out as a result of harsh treatment and diseases. African slaves were imported to overcome the resultant labor shortage.
Jamaica was captured by the English naval forces under Sir William Penn in 1655. The island was formally transferred to England in 1670 under the provisions of the Treaty of Madrid.
During the final decades of the 17th century, growing numbers of English immigrants arrived. The sugar, cacao and other agricultural and forest industries were rapidly expanded and the consequent demand for plantation labor led to large scale importation of black slaves. Jamaica soon became one of the principal slave trading centers of the world.
Legislation provided for the abolition of slavery in 1838 and large numbers of freed slaves abandoned the plantations and took possession of unoccupied lands in the interior.
Today more than 90 percent of the people in Jamaica have African or mixed African and European (Afro European) ancestry. More than half the people live in rural areas.
Jamaica was one of the British colonies that on January 3, 1958, was united in the Federation of West Indies. Disagreement over the role Jamaica would play led to the breakup of the federation, and on August 6, 1962, the island gained independence.
The position of Jamaica as a dependency of Great Britain for more than 300 years is reflected in both language and customs, which are combined with African influences.
English is the official language, although many Jamaicans speak a local dialect of English that incorporates African, Spanish and French elements.
Primary education is free to children between the ages of six and 15. Educational facilities in Jamaica include more than 800 public elementary schools with about 400,000 pupils, and about 200 secondary schools, supported by governmental grants in aid, with about 250,000 students.
A major institution of higher learning for the entire Caribbean region is the University of the West Indies (1948), located in Kingston. It has more than 9,000 students.