President Kovind’s visit to Jamaica

About Jamaica-

• Jamaica, a Caribbean island nation of the West Indies.
• It is the third largest island in the Caribbean Sea, after Cuba and Hispaniola.
• Christopher Columbus, who first sighted the island in 1494, called it Santiago, but the original indigenous name of Jamaica, or Xaymaca, has persisted.
• The majority of its people are of African ancestry, the descendants of slaves brought by European colonists. 
• It became independent from the United Kingdom in 1962 but remains a member of the Commonwealth.
• It is situated some 160 km west of Haiti, 150 km south of Cuba, and 630 km northeast of the nearest point on the mainland, Cape Gracias a Dios, on the Caribbean coast of Central America. 

• Many of its all-inclusive resorts are clustered in Montego Bay, with its British-colonial architecture, and Negril, known for its diving and snorkeling sites. 
• It is famed as the birthplace of reggae music, and its capital Kingston is home to the Bob Marley Museum, dedicated to the famous singer.
• It is also one of the Girmitya countries with a 70,000 strong Indian diaspora, which acts as a living bridge with India (“Girmitiyas” or Indentured Labourers, is the name given to the Indians who left India in the middle and late 19th Century to serve as labourers in the British colonies, where the majority eventually settled).