Jamaica (i/dʒəˈmeɪkə/) is an island countrysituated in the Caribbean Sea, comprising the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island, 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island containing the nation-states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Jamaica is the fifth-largest island country in the Caribbean.[5]
Previously inhabited by the indigenousArawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. NamedSantiago, it remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England (later Great Britain) conquered the island and renamed it Jamaica. Under British rule, Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa, and later on Chinese and Indian indentured labor. Full emancipation was granted to all slaves in 1838, with the country achieving independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962.[6]
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