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Jamaica in a nutshell: eight easy questions about the essentials. Young or old, near or far, everyone can join in and have fun.
Easy-going visitor 0–3 · Waterfall climber 4–6 · Island legend 7–8
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Kingston faces a large natural harbour, sheltered by the Palisadoes, a long, thin strip of sand that also carries the city's airport. At the far end of that strip lies Port Royal, which in the 1600s was one of the most famous pirate bases in the Caribbean.
Photo: Blofeld of SPECTRE, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Jamaica's flag shows a gold diagonal cross with green triangles at the top and bottom and black ones at the sides, and it was adopted on 6 August 1962, the day Jamaica became independent. Since 2017 it has been the only national flag in the world without any red, white or blue.
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Reggae grew out of earlier Jamaican styles such as ska in the late 1960s, and a 1968 song called 'Do the Reggay' was the first popular song to use its name. In 2018 UNESCO added the reggae music of Jamaica to its list of the world's cultural heritage.
Photo: Eddie Mallin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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Usain Bolt grew up in the small town of Sherwood Content, playing cricket and football in the street, and it was his school cricket coach who urged him to try running. In one race he reached almost 45 km/h, the highest running speed ever measured for a human, and his name and speed earned him the nickname 'Lightning Bolt'.
Photo: Erik van Leeuwen, Wikimedia Commons, GFDL.
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English is the official language, but most Jamaicans grow up speaking Jamaican Patois first: a lively language built on English, with many words from West African languages. Its words and slang can now be heard far from the island too, especially in London, New York, Miami and Toronto.
Photo: Wikitongues, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
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The jerk rub is made mainly with allspice, also called Jamaica pepper, and fiery Scotch bonnet peppers, and the meat gets its smoky taste from cooking over wood. The word 'jerk' is said to come from 'charqui', an old word for dried meat that also gave English the word 'jerky'.
Photo: OUTography.com from Gilbert, AZ, USA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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The Indigenous people called the island Xaymaca, usually translated as 'land of wood and water' or 'land of springs', a good fit for an island full of green forests and rivers. Today Jamaicans often call their home island 'yaad', the Jamaican Patois word for yard, meaning home.
Photo: Michael L. Dorn, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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With little experience of the sport, the team had to borrow basic equipment from other countries' teams, and the crowds took them to their hearts. Their adventure inspired the 1993 film 'Cool Runnings', and at the 1994 Games a Jamaican sled finished 14th, ahead of teams such as the United States and France.
Photo: M. Smelter, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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