Jamaica is one of the three islands in the Northern Caribbean forming the Greater Antilles.  It is the largest English-speaking country in the Caribbean Sea, stretching 146 miles from east to west.   Jamaica is well placed on the worlds major shipping and airline routes.

The countrys name is derived from an Arawak (aboriginal Indian) word Xaymaca, meaning land of wood and water.  And so it is.  With waterfalls, and springs, rivers and streams flowing from the forest-clad mountains to the fertile plains, Jamaica has one of the richest and most varied landscapes in the region.

For those who like to explore, the island offers a feast of contrasts.  The north coast, with its popular resort areas of Montego Bay, Runaway Bay, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio, features fine coral beaches and broad plains where sugar cane, coconuts and citrus fruits are grown.  On the western tip of the island is Negril, once a remote, swampy outpost but now a beachcombers paradise.  The southern region of the island offers a rugged coastline where majestic mountains plunge into the sea - like inspirational Lover's Leap in St. Elizabeth, a 1500-foot cliff of romantic legend.

The center of the island is mostly mountainous and heavily wooded, spotted occasionally with small mining towns and villages. And, of course, there's the famous Cockpit Country in the Northwest region, an eerie terrain of conical hills and deep sinkholes. The central mountain range, dominated by the 7,402-foot Blue Mountain, divides the south coast of the island from the north and extends from Half Moon Bay to Portland. This great variety of terrain and climate allows virtually everything to grow here.

Visitors can step into a country market and see a vast array of tropical fruits and vegetables with such unfamiliar names as callaloo, dasheen, soursop, breadfruit, cho-cho, ackee and Otaheite apple. Jamaica's main exports (other than tourism) are sugar, citrus fruits, bananas, spices, bauxite and world-famous Blue Mountain coffee

Ackee, Jamaica's National Fruit

Whilst not indigenous to Jamaica this fruit has remarkable historic associations. It was originally imported from West Africa, probably brought here in a slave ship and now grows luxuriously producing, each year, large quantities of edible fruit.

Doctor Bird (Trochilus polytmus)

The "Doctor Bird" or Swallowtail Humming Bird lives only in Jamaica and is one of the most outstanding of the 320 species of Humming Birds. It is well to note that the beautiful feathers of these birds have no counterpart in the entire bird population and produce iridescent colours characteristic only of that family. The Doctor Bird has been immortalised for many decades in Jamaican folklore and song.

Jamaican Coat of Arms

The Jamaican Coat of Arms shows a male and female member of the Taino tribe standing on either side of a shield which bears a red cross with five golden pineapples. On the crest is a Jamaican crocodile mounted on the Royal Helmet of the British Monarchy and mantling.

The Jamaican national motto is 'Out of Many One People', based on the population's multi-racial roots.