The West Indies
Jamaica is in the West Indies. The West Indies are a group of islands in the Western hemisphere stretching in a curve from North America to South America and enclosing the Caribbean sea. The whole group is within the Tropics. Neither The Bahamas, Barbados nor Bermuda are part of the West Indies. Belize is part of Central America while Guyana is on the continent of South America.
Breakup of the federation
The West Indian Federation did not last long because it was a political union of a number of islands with different levels of political advancement. The real need of the region was in the sphere of increased trade and economic development but during the life of the federation, apart from a plan to set up a Custom Union, very little was done to emphasise the economic aspect. It happened that the islands with the most advanced constitutions , Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, had also attained a higher level of economic development compared with the ‘Little Seven’ and conflicts soon began to develop. The United Kingdom Parliament passed The West Indian Act, 1062. On April 3rd, which dissolved the West Indian Federation.
Jamaica
Jamaica was wrested from Spain for Britain by Admiral Penn and General Venables in 1655. The island was granted a Constitution by King Charles 11 in 1662, which, with the exception of an amendment in 1854, lasted for over two hundred years.
Water Buffaloes arriving in Jamaica
Twelve water buffalo was given as a present to Jamaica from Fidel Castro. Castro also gifted Jamaica with several schools.