In 1865, Dr. Edward Underhill, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society of Great Britain, wrote a letter to the Colonial Office in order to express Jamaica's current poor state of affairs.

The current men's world record is 9. 58 seconds, set by Jamaica's Usain Bolt, while American Florence Griffith-Joyner holds the women's world record of 10. 49 seconds.

The United States is Jamaica's most important trading partner: bilateral trade in goods in 2005 was over $ 2 billion.

When the federation collapsed in 1962, following Jamaica's withdrawal, a smaller federation was briefly attempted.

The events surrounding the Jamaica bobsled team in 1988 would lead to the creation of the Disney movie Cool Runnings five years later which was based on Jamaica's 1988 bobsled team.

Historically, the Kingston waterfront was Jamaica's main port with many finger piers at which freighters and passenger liners could dock.

In August 2012 it was announced that Tosh would be posthumously awarded Jamaica's fourth highest honour, the Order of Merit, in October that year.

Rocksteady was the music of Jamaica's rude boys by the mid-1960s, when The Wailers and The Clarendonians dominated the charts.

Reid, one of the major figures in early Jamaican music alongside rival Clement ' Coxsone ' Dodd, ran Treasure Isle studios, one of Jamaica's first independent production houses, and was a key producer of ska, rocksteady and eventually reggae recordings.

In 1964, Cliff was chosen as one of Jamaica's representatives at the World's Fair and he soon signed to Island Records and moved to the UK.

The second son of Jamaica's Premier Norman Washington Manley and Jamaican artist Edna Manley, Michael Manley was a charismatic figure who became the leader of the Jamaican People's National Party a few months before his father's death in 1969.

In the 29 December 2011 general election, the PNP was returned to power with 42 of the 63 seats in Jamaica's parliament.

U-Roy was awarded Jamaica's Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer on 15 October 2007 .< ref >

Patterson was Jamaica's longest-serving Prime Minister, serving exactly 14 years.

This was a result of the PNP's victory in Jamaica's December 29, 2011 general election.

Moore was active in Jamaica's colonial affairs, and by 1756 he had risen to the rank of Governor.

Moore's reward for good performance as Jamaica's governor was first to be made a Baronet, and then in 1764 he was named royal governor for New York.

* April 18-Eddie Perkins retains the world Jr. Welterweight title over Bunny Grant, who was attempting to be Jamaica's first boxing world champion, with a fifteen round decision, Kingston, Jamaica.

It was Bustamante's decision that the JLP would not contest a by-election to the federal parliament that resulted in his rival and cousin, Premier Norman Manley, calling the referendum in 1961 that led to Jamaica's withdrawal and the break-up of the Federation.

His retirement from political life marked the end of Jamaica's founding generation in active politics ; he was the last serving politician to have entered public life before independence.

This record was Jamaica's first to involve an element of African music-the drumming in the record was provided by Count Ossie, the lead nyabinghi drummer from the rastafarian camp, Camp David, in the hills above Kingston.

He was a member of the Senate from 1962 to 1967, at the same time filling the role of Jamaica's chief spokesman on foreign affairs as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United Nations.

Jamaica's signing of this treaty was regarded by critics as a de facto recognition of Colombian sovereignty over the two banks.

Norman Washington Manley was born in Roxborough in Jamaica's Manchester parish, on 4 July 1893.

Upon Jamaica's independence in 1962, the Cayman Islands broke its administrative links with Jamaica and opted to become a direct dependency of the British Crown, with the chief official of the islands being the Administrator.

The British also used Jamaica's free people of color, 10, 000 strong by 1800, to keep the enslaved population in check.

The buccaneers were invited by Jamaica's Governor Thomas Modyford to base ships at Port Royal.

* Jamaica's Baptist War, 1831 – 1832, led by the Baptist preacher, Samuel Sharpe.

Manley's second term focused on liberalizing Jamaica's economy, with the pursuit of a free-market programme that stood in marked contrast to the interventionist economic policies pursued by Manley's first government.

U-Roy had become one of Jamaica's biggest stars by the early 1980s, also garnering significant acclaim in the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister is formally appointed into office by the Governor General of Jamaica, who represents Elizabeth II, the Queen of Jamaica ( Jamaica's Head of State ).

Montego Bay is served by Jamaica's largest airport, the Sir Donald Sangster International Airport.

The Earl of Elgin, Jamaica's Governor presided over the opening ceremonies, by the late 1860s the line extended 105 miles to Montego Bay.

Jamaica's state ensign is a Blue Ensign with the Jamaican national flag in the canton ; it is normally only used by the Jamaican Government.

Jamaica's naval ensign is a White Ensign with a Saint George's Cross and the Jamaican national flag in the canton, although due to the island's lack of a navy, it is normally only used by the Jamaican Coastguard.

It is expected to be explained in detail Monday 18 May 2009 by the Governor of Jamaica's Central Bank Derick Milton Latibeaudiere.

The heat itself was led by the United States ' Shawn Crawford ( 20. 55 seconds ) and Jamaica's Christopher Williams ( 20. 57 seconds ).

He produced further hits during 1967-68 by Lester Sterling and Stranger Cole, Derrick Morgan, Slim Smith and The Uniques (" My Conversation "), Pat Kelly, and The Sensations, establishing him as one of Jamaica's top producers.

Johns, despite his antipathy towards Jamaica's Rastafarians, also provided exposure for Count Ossie's group of drummers after singer Marguerita Mahfood refused to appear on his show unless she was backed by Ossie's Mystic Revelation group ; The group proved popular with the audience and went on to perform regularly in Kingston.

Mentored by the late, great Peter Tosh, one of Jamaica's original Wailers with Bob Marley, Jimi, a native of Oklahoma, met Peter Tosh in 1976 and went to live in Jamaica in 1981, getting the roots of the music and " kulcha " from the source.

Although the studio itself was somewhat rudimentary in its set-up and particularly basic with regard to some of the dated equipment employed by Perry, it was nonetheless the breeding ground for some of Jamaica's ( and arguably the world's ) most innovative sounds and recording techniques in the latter half of the 1970s.

Maxwell qualified for the Scripps competition by winning Jamaica's National Spelling Bee Championship, which her sister Janice had also won in 1990.

In past years, when Jamaica's economy was dominated by plantation slavery, some slaves Maroons were able to escape to the Blue Mountains and live independently.

The organ was played by Winston Wright who, as a member of Tommy McCook's Supersonics, was acknowledged as Jamaica's master of the Hammond organ.