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Culture of Jamaica

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As the original Taino Indians all died, Jamaican culture represents a rich blend of cultures that have since inhabited the island. Spanish and British settlers, and West African slaves brought cultural elements, as did East Asian and Indian immigrants who came to the island as indentured servants.

Tainos

The biggest areas of influence of the Taino Indians on Jamaica was in language and foods. In fact, Jamaica's name comes from the Taino name for the island, Xaymaca: the "land of wood and water." Other words include:

  • Cohiba - the Taino word for tobacco.
  • Tabaco - the Taino word for the pipe from which they smoked.
  • Hamaca - the Taino word for hammocks, which they used as beds.

Foods included cassava, maize, waterfowl, and, of course, seafood. The Tainos' diet became the diet of the early Spanish settlers, and the native plants have remained over time, though iguanas and manatees are not a part of the current Jamaican diet.


Other

Derek Walcott, a Nobel prize laureate, attended college in Jamaica. Other significant writers from the island include Claude McKay and Louis Simpson. Plays and works in Jamaican English, or patois, attract special attention. Louise Bennett, Andrew Salkey and Michael Smith have contributed to this phenomenon by writing works in patois. Ian Fleming wrote his famous James Bond novels while living in Jamaica.

See also

For more information on Jamaican music, see Music of Jamaica.

For more information on the National Gallery of Jamaica, see National Gallery of Jamaica.

For more information on Rasta, see Rastafari movement.

For more information on the patois, see Jamaican English.

External links

Jamaica Guide - Culture

Further reading

Mordecai, Martin and Pamela. Culture and Customs of Jamaica. Greenwood Press. 2001.



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