Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, and amounts to 10, 990 square kilometres (4, 243 sq mi). It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs".
Once a Spanish possession known as, in 1655 it became an English, and later a British, colony, known as "Jamaica". It achieved full independence in 1962. With 2. 8 million people, it is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Kingston is the country's largest city and the capital.
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