History of the Bahamas
A History of Jamaica
Eighty-five percent of the Bahamian population is of African descent. Many Africans arrived in the Bahama Islands when they were a staging area for the slave trade in the early 1800's. Others arrived with thousands of British loyalists who left the American colonies at the time of the Revolutionary War.
This brief history on the Bahamas shows zou that in 1492, Christopher Columbus made his first landing in the Western Hemisphere at either Samana Cay or San Salvador Island in The Bahamas. Spanish slave traders later used Lucayan Indigenous people to work in gold mines in Hispaniola, and within 25 years, all Lucayans had died. In 1647, a group of English and Bermudan religious refugees, the Eleutheran Adventurers, founded the first permanent settlement in the area and gave Eleuthera Island its name. The islands became a British crown colony in 1717.
At the time of the American Civil War, The Bahamas prospered as a center of Confederate blockade-running. After World War I, the area served as a base for American Prohibition rum runners. During World War II, the Allies centered training there for the area. Bahamians gained "internal self -government" in 1964 and full independence within the Commonwealth on July 10, 1973.
Relating to history of Jamaica, when Christopher Columbus came to Jamaica in 1494, it was inhabited by an Indigenous people called Arawaks. During settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century, the Arawaks died from disease, slavery and war. In 1655, British forces seized the island and in 1670 gained formal possession through the Treaty of Madrid. Slavery was important during settlement, but was abolished in 1838, years earlier than in many parts of the New World.
After a long period of direct British colonial rule, Jamaica gained a degree of local political control in the late 1930's. During this time, efforts were made to begin Jamaica's major political parties led by Norman Washington Manley (people's National Party -PNP) and his cousin, Sir Alexander Bustamante (Jamaica Labor Party -JLP). Jamaica's first election with universal adult suffrage was in 1944, and the JLP won a majority in the House of Representatives. In 1958, Jamaica joined with nine other U.K. territories in the West Indies Federation but withdrew when, in a 1961 referendum, Jamaican voters opposed membership. Jamaica achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1962 and remained a member of the Commonwealth.
Interesting Facts on Jamaica
Among most interesting facts on Jamaica, we have to mention that US and Canadian citizens do not need passports for visits of up to six months. All other visitors must arrive with a passport, but most Western travellers do not need a visa.
Another interesting fact is that Jamaica has more churches per square kilometer than any other country in the world.
Capital City of Jamaica is Kingston city.
Also the country’s main exports are bauxite and alumnia, apparel, sugar, bananas, coffee, citrus and citrus products, rum, cocoa.
This is the third largest island of the Caribben and the birthplace of Bob Marley and James Bond.
Beautiful pictures of Jamaica
If you are looking for splendid pictures of the Bahamas, try any of the links below. If you are looking for beautiful landscape pictures of Jamaica then you should be able to find some great images below.
http://www.summerhomesandcondos.com/images/1-bahamas.jpg
http://www.localaccess.com/burger/bahamas/bahamas.jpg
http://thinks.com/jigsaw/world/montego-bay-jamaica.jpg
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