Give
us this brief chance to show you around, explain a bit about our past
and present, then we will leave you free to busy yourself with every manner
of diversion.
The
island is about the same size as Connecticut, only bumpier, and with more
coconuts. As for people, we have about the same number 
as
British Columbia, but darker and not all bundled up like that in winter.
Kingston is our political and commercial capital. Montego Bay is the biggest
town on the north coast, heartland of the tourist industry. For a roof
over your head, we offer you everything from a 20- star hotel, to a secluded
villa or a palm- thatched shelter by the shore of Negril.
Port
Antonio and Negril. Mandeville will be added to their itinerary later this
year. Charter flights are available to anywhere that sports a landing strip.
For travellers who like to stay in the mainstream, try any of our rafting
rivers.
Many think in
terms of a rental car, a road map and setting off down the road (on the
left hand side please!) for a more personal adventure.
There is also
food to discover, not just a meal, a breakfast, dinner or luncheon, but
a feast. At any true Jamaican feast you will encounter rice and peas, which
you might not recognize because (a) the peas are red beans, and (b) the
rice is reinforced with coconut milk, onions spices and salt pork. Or have
you tried curried goat or ackee and salt fish lately?
Now
for history: a few things happened before you got here.
Arawak Indians, now vanished from the island except on our coat of arms, were on hand when Christopher Columbus inaugurated the tourist industry by landing at Discovery Bay on his second tour, May 4, 1494.
For two and a half centuries we were a Spanish colony. Their primary bequest to us was a sprinkling of place names, e.g. Ocho Rios, Montego Bay (Bahia de Manteca), Rio Bueno, Negril.
In
1655 Oliver Cromwell sent an expeditionary force that chased the
Spaniards into the hills. The governor slipped back to the shore and made
a hasty departure from the beach which was thereafter called Runaway Bay.
In 1962 Jamaica
swapped colonial status for that of a self governing member of the British
Commonwealth with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, an appointed governor-general
representing her here and a Parliamentary system.
Both the Spanish
and the British brought in slaves from Africa to work their Jamaican plantations.
Less well known is the fact that the British also brought slaves of their
own race, calling them indentured labourers.
From East and West people of other races came to our island. Tolerance grew, and a respect for tradition, so that the Jamaican motto is : "Out of Many, One People."
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P.O.Box 326, 39 Gloucester Avenue, Montego Bay, Jamaica, W.I.
Tel: (876) 971-3859 or (876) 952-8784 Cell: 876-997-2342
E-mail: marzouca@cwjamaica.com