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Caribbean Islands Jamaica
COUNTRY PROFILE
BEFORE THE SPANIARDS occupied Jamaica in the early sixteenth
century, the island was inhabited by the Arawak Indians, who called
it Xaymaca, meaning "land of wood and springs." Lying on the trade
routes between the Old and New Worlds, Jamaica served variously for
centuries as a way station for Spanish galleons, a market for
slaves and goods from many countries, and a prize for the
Spaniards, the British, buccaneers, and entrepreneurs. By far the
largest of the English-speaking islands in size and population,
independent Jamaica has played a leading role within the
Commonwealth Caribbean and has been active in international
organizations.
Jamaica's story is one of independence that began in the
seventeenth century with the Maroons, runaway slaves who resisted
the British colonizers by carrying out hit-and-run attacks from the
interior. Their 7,000 descendants in the Cockpit Country have
symbolized the fervent, sometimes belligerent, love of freedom that
is ingrained in the Jamaican people as a result of both their
British tutelage and their history of slavery. Independence came
quietly, however, without a revolutionary struggle, apparently
reflecting the lasting imprint of the British parliamentary legacy
on Jamaican society.
Despite its people's respect for the rule of law and the
British Westminster system of government, Jamaica's first twentyfive years as an independent state were marked by significant
increases in criminal violence and political polarization. The
extremely violent 1980 electoral campaign and the boycott by the
opposition party of the 1983 local elections strained the island's
two-party political system. In 1987 Jamaica was still bitterly
divided, both politically and socially. This trend seemed to belie
the motto beneath the Jamaican coat of arms, reading "Out of Many,
One People." Both types of violence on the island--political and
criminal--have been attributed among other things to Jamaican
cultural and societal traits, the socioeconomic structure of
Jamaican politics, worsening economic conditions, narcotics
trafficking, and inadequate law enforcement.
Notwithstanding the periodic outbursts of violence around
elections and the one-party legislative situation, the nation's
well institutionalized political system remained generally intact
during the first quarter- century of independence. Jamaicans have
cherished their inherited parliamentary system of government, whose
roots extend back to the seventeenth century. Despite the divergent
ideologies and intense antipathy of the two principal political
parties, they have recognized their common stake in the stability
of political life. Jamaica has no history of coups, assassinations
of national leaders, or racial confrontation. The two main parties
have alternated in power every ten years, and neither has ever
retained power beyond its constitutionally mandated term of office.
It was widely expected that a changeover would result from the
elections constitutionally required in early 1989.
Data as of November 1987
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