Jamaica is a colourful island nation of 2.8 million people in the Caribbean Sea, east of Mexico. The people living there, when it was discovered, called it 'the land of wood and water' and 'the land of springs'. It is the home of reggae, ska, mento and rocksteady music.
The island's history
When Christopher Columbus, the European explorer and discoverer of North America, arrived in Jamaica in 1494, he found people who called themselves Arawak and Taino. They had been there since about 4,000BC.
Columbus decided that Spain would rule the island, but in 1655, British forces took over the country for the next 300 years. Under British rule, it became one of the world's leading exporters of sugar, sending the sticky, sweet substance all over the world.
Independence
By 1958, Jamaica was no longer under British rule. It was called a province in the West Indies Federation. It then left the federation and became an independent country on August 6, 1962.