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Jamaica was the first Caricom country to liberalize the telecommunications sector. Since then, other Caricom countries have opened up to competition.
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Another one I found to be one of the most interesting facts on Jamaica is that Jamaica was the first country in the Caribbean region to launch a web site, jamaicatravel.com. This was in 1994!
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Jamaica was the first tropical country to enter the IOC Winter Olympics. The bobsleigh teams efforts inspired the film ‘Cool Runnings’.
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Jamaica also was the first island in the Caribbean to produce rum on a commercial basis.
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Jamaica has more multiple (two or more) live births than anywhere else in the world.
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Jamaica was the first country in the Western world to construct a railway, even before the United States! This was only 18 years after Britain!
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We have the second largest butterfly in the world? (The Giant Swallowtail).
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Jamaica was the first colony England acquired by conquest. This was in the year 1655 when the Spanish were driven from the island.
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Another of the interesting facts on Jamaica is that it was the first British colonial territory to establish a postal service (in 1688).
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Kingston is the capital city of Jamaica.
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Although English is the country’s official language, Jamaicans mainly speak to each other in Patois, which is a language made up of English and African Creole.
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The Milk River Bath and Mineral Spa is the most radioactive spa in the world. Its waters are nine and three times more radioactive than those at Bath, England, and those at Karlvoy Vary, Czech Republic respectively.
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The Golf Club in the parish of Manchester is the oldest hotel in the western world and was established in 1868 in Jamaica.
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Jamaica was the first Caribbean island to enact legislation, "The Motion Picture Industry (Encouragement) Act" to promote the making of films.
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Jamaica was the first country to impose economic sanctions against the apartheid regime of South Africa.
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The Manchester Golf Club in Jamaica, established in 1868, is the oldest in the western hemisphere!.
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Jamaica's first known inhabitants were the Arawak Indians. However recently there is new evidence that the first inhabitants of the island were the Tainos. The National Heritage Trust (NHT) has just recently concluded a intense study of the original inhabiters of Jamaica and after studying the artifacts found that they were not similar to the those of the other Arawaks in the region but bear a remarkable likeness to the Taino Indians. It was therefore concluded that it was the Tanios and not the Arawaks who first inhabited Jamaica. The NHT is now working with the Ministry of Education to have this information changed in the school books. Some educators have also said that the Arawaks are a sub-group from the Taino Indians.
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Apart from the United States, Jamaica has won the most world and olympic medals.
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The name Jamaica was derived from the country's Arawak name "Xaymaca", which means "the land of wood and water".
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Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean.
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Jamaica is the first Caribbean Country to gain Independence.
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English is the official language, however there is a dialect/slang call Patois which is widely used by most Jamaicans
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Jamaica was the first commercial producer of bananas in the Western Hemisphere.
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Jamaica is the first team from the English-speaking Caribbean to qualify for the Football (Soccer) World Cup. This was the 1998 championship.
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On his second voyage to the New World in 1494, the tip of the Blue Mountains in Jamaica was the first land sighted by Christopher Columbus.
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Jamaica is the third largest Caribbean island. It is 146 miles long from east to west and 51 miles at its widest point, from north to south. Slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut in the USA
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Jamaica is the official birth place of Reggae and Dancehall.
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Jamaica is the first country to sign a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria grant agreement.
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And if you know none of the above, (which is fine) I expect you at least know that Jamaica is the birth place of Robert ("Bob") Marley [smile]
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Jamaica stands strong in 3rd place on the list of countries to win the Miss World titles the most! [Hmmm!] The only countries to have won it more than Jamaica is India, Venezuela and the UK, but considering the size of Jamaica, you have to say that this achievement is monumental!)
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2006-2007: World Fastest man and woman- you bet, are Jamaicans [Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson].
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