Jamaica

Jamaica is a small island nation in the Caribbean Sea with a population of just over two million people, yet more than 100,000 recordings have been issued from this country in the last half century. Captured by the British from the Spanish in 1655 and ruled by Britain until 1962, the language of Jamaica is English, although most citizens speak a dialect of English known as Jamaican Creole. The majority of the population of Jamaica is descended from former slaves from Africa, although slavery was abolished in Jamaica in the 1830s. Reggae, the word most associated with Jamaican music, has two meanings. On the one hand, it refers to all popular music in Jamaica since about 1960, and on the other hand it refers to a particular beat that was incorporated into Jamaican music from about 1969 to 1983. The mixing of the influences of Africa, Britain, Native Indians, Maroons (descendants of black slaves freed by the Spanish in the 17th century), 19th-century pirates, and others in such a small country gives Jamaican music a unique character.