From: Jack.Crawford@f620.n260.z1.fidonet.org (Jack Crawford)
Newsgroups: k12.ed.soc-studies
Subject: Jamaica               1/2
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 21:22:00 PDT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:260/620 - W-FL Teacher Resour, Stanley NY

BP>Hi, my name is Jason Wells.  I am studying Jamacia please send me
a note on BP>the modem.  I would like this very much.

Here ya go, Jason!

  * JAMAICA

JAMAICA

GEOGRAPHY Total area: 10,990 km2; land area: 10,830 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Connecticut

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 1,022 km

Maritime claims:

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior

Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain

Natural resources: bauxite, gypsum, limestone

Land use: arable land 19%; permanent crops 6%; meadows and pastures 18%;
forest and woodland 28%; other 29%; includes irrigated 3%

Environment: subject to hurricanes (especially July to November);
deforestation; water pollution

Note: strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the
main sea lanes for Panama Canal

PEOPLE Population: 2,489,353 (July 1991), growth rate 0.9% (1991)

Birth rate: 24 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Net migration rate: - 9 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Infant mortality rate: 18 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 76 years female (1991)

Total fertility rate: 2.6 children born/woman (1991)

Nationality: noun--Jamaican(s); adjective--Jamaican

Ethnic divisions: African 76.3%, Afro-European 15.1%, East Indian and
Afro-East Indian 3.0%, white 3.2%, Chinese and Afro-Chinese 1.2%, other
1.2%

Religion: predominantly Protestant 55.9% (Church of God 18.4%, Baptist
10%, Anglican 7.1%, Seven-Day Adventist 6.9%, Pentecostal 5.2%, Methodist
3.1%, United Church 2.7%, other 2.5%), Roman Catholic 5%, other 39.1%,
including some spiritualist cults (1982)

Language: English, Creole

Literacy: 98% (male 98%, female 99%) age 15 and over having ever attended
school (1990 est.)

Labor force: 1,062,100; services 41%, agriculture 22.5%, industry 19%;
unemployed 17.5% (1989)

Organized labor: 24% of labor force (1989)

GOVERNMENT Long-form name: none

Type: parliamentary democracy

Capital: Kingston

Administrative divisions: 14 parishes; Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston,
Manchester, Portland, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann, Saint Catherine, Saint
Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Trelawny, Westmoreland

Independence: 6 August 1962 (from UK)

Constitution: 6 August 1962

Legal system: based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day (first Monday in August), 6 August 1990

Executive branch: British monarch, governor general, prime minister,
Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of an upper house or
Senate and a lower house or House of Representatives

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders:

Chief of State--Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by
Governor General Sir Florizel A. GLASSPOLE (since 2 March 1973);

Head of Government--Prime Minister Michael MANLEY (since 13 February 1989)

Political parties and leaders: People's National Party (PNP), Michael
MANLEY; Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), Edward SEAGA; Workers' Party of Jamaica
(WPJ), Trevor MUNROE

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections:

House of Representatives--last held 9 February 1989 (next to be held by
February 1994); results--PNP 57%, JLP 43%; seats--(60 total) PNP 45, JLP
15

Communists: Workers' Party of Jamaica (Marxist-Leninist)

Other political or pressure groups: Rastafarians (black religious/racial
cultists, pan-Africanists)

Member of: ACP, C, CARICOM, CCC, CDB, ECLAC, FAO, G-19, G-77, GATT, IADB,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL,
IOC, ISO, ITU, LAES, LORCS, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO,
UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Richard BERNAL; Chancery at Suite
355, 1850 K Street NW, Washington DC 20006; telephone (202) 452-0660;
there are Jamaican Consulates General in Miami and New York;

US--Ambassador Glen A. HOLDEN; Embassy at 3rd Floor, Jamaica Mutual Life
Center, 2 Oxford Road, Kingston; telephone (809) 929-4850

Flag: diagonal yellow cross divides the flag into four triangles--green
(top and bottom) and black (hoist side and fly side)
>>> Continued to next message

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