]! ^! The island - discovered by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1494 - was settled by the Spanish early in the 16th century. The native Taino Indians, who had inhabited Jamaica for centuries, were gradually exterminated, replaced by African slaves. England seized the island in 1655 and a plantation economy - based on sugar, cocoa, and coffee - was established. The abolition of slavery in 1834 freed a quarter million slaves, many of whom became small farmers. Jamaica gradually obtained increasing independence from Britain, and in 1958 it joined other British Caribbean colonies in forming the Federation of the West Indies. Jamaica gained full independence when it withdrew from the Federation in 1962. Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to recurrent violence as rival gangs affiliated with the major political parties evolved into powerful organized crime networks involved in international drug smuggling and money laundering. The cycle of violence, drugs, and poverty has served to impoverish large sectors of the populace. Nonetheless, many rural and resort areas remain relatively safe and contribute substantially to the economy. 
]" ^" Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba ^# 18 15 N, 77 30 W ^$ Central America and the Caribbean ^% `! 10,991 sq km `" 10,831 sq km `# 160 sq km ^& slightly smaller than Connecticut ^' 0 km ^( 1,022 km ^) measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines `$ 12 nm `M 24 nm `N 200 nm `O 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin ^* tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior ^+ mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain ^, `% Caribbean Sea 0 m `& Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m ^- bauxite, gypsum, limestone ^. `' 15.83% `( 10.01% `) 74.16% (2005) ^/ 250 sq km (2002) ^0 hurricanes (especially July to November) ^1 heavy rates of deforestation; coastal waters polluted by industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to coral reefs; air pollution in Kingston results from vehicle emissions _P `P Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands `Q none of the selected agreements ^2 strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal 
]# ^3 2,780,132 (July 2007 est.) ^4 `+ 32.5% (male 459,968/female 444,963) `, 60.1% (male 822,486/female 848,310) `- 7.4% (male 91,856/female 112,549) (2007 est.) ^5 `! 23.2 years `. 22.6 years `/ 23.7 years (2007 est.) ^6 0.777% (2007 est.) ^7 20.44 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) ^8 6.59 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) ^9 -6.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) ^: `0 1.05 male(s)/female `1 1.034 male(s)/female `, 0.97 male(s)/female `- 0.816 male(s)/female `2 0.978 male(s)/female (2007 est.) ^; `! 15.73 deaths/1,000 live births `. 16.4 deaths/1,000 live births `/ 15.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) ^< `2 73.12 years `. 71.43 years `/ 74.9 years (2007 est.) ^= 2.36 children born/woman (2007 est.) ^> 1.2% (2003 est.) ^? 22,000 (2003 est.) ^@ 900 (2003 est.) ^A `3 Jamaican(s) `4 Jamaican ^B black 90.9%, East Indian 1.3%, white 0.2%, Chinese 0.2%, mixed 7.3%, other 0.1% ^C Protestant 61.3% (Church of God 21.2%, Seventh-Day Adventist 9%, Baptist 8.8%, Pentecostal 7.6%, Anglican 5.5%, Methodist 2.7%, United Church 2.7%, Jehovah's Witness 1.6%, Brethren 1.1%, Moravian 1.1%), Roman Catholic 4%, other including some spiritual cults 34.7% ^D English, English patois ^E `5 age 15 and over has ever attended school `2 87.9% `. 84.1% `/ 91.6% (2003 est.) 
]$ ^F `6 none `7 Jamaica ^H constitutional parliamentary democracy ^I `8 Kingston `9 18 00 N, 76 48 W `: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time) ^J 14 parishes; Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston, Manchester, Portland, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann, Saint Catherine, Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Trelawny, Westmoreland `* for local government purposes, Kingston and Saint Andrew were amalgamated in 1923 into the present single corporate body known as the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation ^K 6 August 1962 (from UK) ^L Independence Day, 6 August (1962) ^M 6 August 1962 ^N based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction ^O 18 years of age; universal ^P `; Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor General Kenneth O. HALL (since 15 February 2006) `< Prime Minister Portia SIMPSON-MILLER (since 30 March 2006) `= Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister `> none; the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition in the House of Representatives is appointed prime minister by the governor general; the deputy prime minister is recommended by the prime minister ^Q bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (a 21-member body appointed by the governor general on the recommendations of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition; ruling party is allocated 13 seats, and the opposition is allocated 8 seats) and the House of Representatives (60 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) `> last held 16 October 2002 (next to be held no later than October 2007) `? percent of vote by party - PNP 52%, JLP 47.3%; seats by party - PNP 34, JLP 26 ^R Supreme Court (judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal ^S Jamaica Labor Party or JLP [Bruce GOLDING]; People's National Party or PNP [Portia SIMPSON-MILLER]; National Democratic Movement or NDM [Michael WILLIAMS] ^T New Beginnings Movement or NBM; Rastafarians (black religious/racial cultists, pan-Africanists) ^U ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-15, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO ^V `R Ambassador Gordon SHIRLEY `S 1520 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 `T [1] (202) 452-0660 `U [1] (202) 452-0081 `V Miami, New York ^W `R Ambassador Brenda LaGrange JOHNSON `_ 142 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6 `` P.O. Box 541, Kingston 5 `T [1] (876) 702-6000 `U [1] (876) 702-6348 ^X diagonal yellow cross divides the flag into four triangles - green (top and bottom) and black (hoist side and outer side) 
]% ^Y The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which now account for more than 60% of GDP. The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and bauxite/alumina. Jamaica's economy, already saddled with a record of sluggish growth, was hit hard by Hurricane Ivan in late 2004, but has made a gradual recovery. The economy faces serious long-term problems: high but declining interest rates, increased foreign competition, exchange rate instability, a sizable merchandise trade deficit, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a high debt burden - the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most notably the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s. Following a strategy begun in 2004, Jamaica has reduced its public debt to 133.3% of GDP. Inflation also had declined to 5.8% at the end of 2006. High unemployment exacerbates the serious crime problem, including gang violence fueled by the drug trade. The government faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments while simultaneously attacking a serious and growing crime problem that is hampering economic growth. ^Z $12.71 billion (2006 est.) ^[ $9.23 billion (2006 est.) ^\ 2.7% (2006 est.) ^] $4,600 (2006 est.) ^^ `@ 5.2% `A 27.3% `B 67.5% (2006 est.) ^_ 1.1 million (2006 est.) ^` `@ 18.1% `A 17.3% `B 64.6% (2004) ^a 11.3% (2006 est.) _! 14.8% (2003 est.) _" `C 2.4% `D 30.3% (2000) _d 38.1 (2003) _# 5.8% (2006 est.) _V 30.8% of GDP (2006 est.) _$ `E $2.85 billion `F $3.174 billion; including capital expenditures of $180.4 million (2006 est.) _% 133.3% of GDP (2006 est.) _& sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks _' tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications _( -2% (2000 est.) _) 6.913 billion kWh (2004) _* 6.429 billion kWh (2004) _+ 0 kWh (2004) _, 0 kWh (2004) _- 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) _. 72,080 bbl/day (2004 est.) _/ NA bbl/day _0 NA bbl/day _1 0 cu m (2004 est.) _2 0 cu m (2004 est.) _Q $-970 million (2006 est.) _3 $2.087 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) _4 alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels _5 US 25.8%, Canada 19.3%, UK 10.7%, Netherlands 8.6%, China 7%, Norway 6.4%, Germany 5.6% (2005) _6 $4.682 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) _7 food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials _8 US 41.4%, Trinidad and Tobago 14%, Venezuela 5.5%, Japan 4.6% (2005) _[ $2.317 billion (2006 est.) _9 $7.384 billion (2006 est.) _: $254.7 million (2004) _; Jamaican dollar (JMD) _< Jamaican dollars per US dollar - 65.768 (2006), 62.51 (2005), 61.197 (2004), 57.741 (2003), 48.416 (2002) _= 1 April - 31 March 
]& _> 342,000 (2005) _? 2.7 million (2005) _@ `G fully automatic domestic telephone network `H NA `I country code - 1-876; 3 coaxial submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) _A AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998) _B 7 (1997) _C .jm _D 1,402 (2006) _E 1.067 million (2005) 
]' _F 35 (2006) _G `! 11 `J 2 `c 4 `W 5 (2006) _R `! 24 `c 2 `W 22 (2006) _e `! 272 km `m 272 km 1.435-m gauge `* 207 of these km belonging to the Jamaica Railway Corporation had been in common carrier service until 1992 but are no longer operational; 57 km of the remaining track is privately owned and used by ALCAN to transport bauxite (2003) _H `! 20,996 km `K 15,386 km (includes 33 km of expressways) `L 5,610 km (2004) _S `! 10 ships (1000 GRT or over) 124,323 GRT/184,247 DWT by type: bulk carrier 5, cargo 2, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll off 2 `X 10 (Germany 3, Greece 6, Italy 1) (2006) _I Kingston, Port Esquivel, Port Kaiser, Port Rhoades, Rocky Point 
]( _J Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast Guard, Air Wing (2007) _T 18 years of age for voluntary military service; younger recruits may be conscripted with parental consent (2001) _K males age 18-49: 592,018 females age 18-49: 616,500 (2005 est.) Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 478,761 females age 18-49: 504,541 (2005 est.) _L males age 18-49: 27,923 females age 18-49: 27,889 (2005 est.) _U 0.6% (2006 est.) 
]) _N none __ `f Jamaica is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and labor; information suggests that women from the Dominican Republic and Eastern Europe are also trafficked to Jamaica for sexual exploitation; women and children are trafficked internally from rural to urban and tourist areas for sexual exploitation; there may also be trafficking for domestic servitude and forced labor `g Tier 2 Watch List - Jamaica is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List based on the determination that it is making significant efforts to undertake future action _O transshipment point for cocaine from South America to North America and Europe; illicit cultivation and consumption of cannabis; government has an active manual cannabis eradication program; corruption is a major concern; substantial money-laundering activity; Colombian narcotics traffickers favor Jamaica for illicit financial transactions 