Jamaica ................Out Of Many, One People

History | Geography and Climate | Time Zone

By every Judgment of Nature-made beauty, Jamaica is one of the world's most beautiful places.

Columbus, the Great Sailor who discovered the New World, described Jamaica poetically as "the finest land that eyes have beheld". Millions of travelers have since agreed with him.

Land of mountains and sparkling rivers, of foliage that stays green even in severe roughs, of extensive white sand beaches bordering the blue Caribbean Sea, of rapturous sunsets, Jamaica is a showpiece of Nature at her best.

Flowers bloom everywhere, and the whole countryside looks like a vast garden.

Driving through the island on the great cross-country roads from Kingston, the capital, to Montego Bay on the north coast, and the other world-renowned tourist resort are as of Ocho Rios, Negril and Port Antonio, the traveler passes through green canefields, broad acres of banana farms, picturesque coconut and citrus groves.

Views of sea and mountains are on every side in this miniature continent; and by many a coastal road a mountain stream splashes clown it silvery spray in cascading waterfall or rushing torrent towards the sea.

Land of perpetual summer, the island knows no winter. The seasonal rein which makes the vegetation lush and plentiful is sufficient to aid Nature 's task of preserving and distributing the beauty.

As someone has aptly put it, Jamaica is "no atoll of sand with a few palm trees on it".

It is a large, colourful island, with cloud-capped mountains that appear blue in the distance, and deep wooded valleys; an island of great and small rivers that rise in the heights and wend their way to the waiting sea.

Truly, this is a vacationer's paradise, a holiday-maker's fondest dream. And a land loved and worshipped by its happy, peaceful people with all the idolatry that true lovers of Nature profess.

GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE

* Jamaica is 885.1 km (550 miles) south of Miami, Florida, and 144.8 km (90 miles) south of Cuba.

* The island is the third largest in the Caribbean, with an area of 10,946.9 sq. km (4,243 square miles).

* The Blue Mountain Peak at 2,250 m (7,402 ft), is the highest point on the island.

* Jamaica has a tropical climate. Daytime temperatures hover around 32.2 degrees Centigrade (90°F), with the nights being about 9 degrees cooler.

Kingston is Jamaica's capital and its major commercial centre. It is located on the south coast of the island. Together with the adjoining suburb of St. Andrew, it covers approximately 258.9 sq. km (100 square miles). Kingston's natural harbour is the seventh largest in the world.

TIME ZONE

Jamaica is five hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is in the US Eastern Standard Time Zone (Daylight savings time does not apply - Its always sunny in Jamaica).