Jamaica - (North America)
Information about Jamaica
Capital |
Kingston |
Area |
10991 square kilometres |
Population |
2554000 |
Religions |
"Protestant 61.3% (Church of God 21.2%, Baptist 8.8%, Anglican 5.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 9%, Pentecostal 7.6%, Methodist 2.7%, United Church 2.7%, Brethren 1.1%, Jehovah´s Witness 1.6%, Moravian 1.1%), Roman Catholic 4%, other, including some spiritual cults 34.7%" |
Christian (%) |
65.30 |
Protestant (%) |
61.30 |
Reformed (%) |
Arrawak Indians were living on Jamaica when Christopher Columbus arrived there on April 5, 1494. First a Spanish colony (1509-1655), later a British colony (1655-1962), Jamaica is today a parliamentary democracy and a member of the British Commonwealth. Some 60% of the state income and 75% of the jobs are provided by tourism alone.
The earliest recorded Ref presence on the island was in 1688 when Presb and members of other denominations worshiped together in Hampden Trelawn. Organized missionary work began after 1800 with the arrival of the Scottish Missionary Society (SMS). Until 1824 schooling of Afro-American children was the only church activity tolerated by the colonial government. From 1832 to 1838 Presb greatly contributed to the gradual abolition of slavery. The emancipation in 1838 of more than 300,000 slaves led to a boom in conversions and church planting. In 1836 the Jamaican Missionary Presbytery (JMS) and the Presbyterian Academy were established. The first ministers graduated in the early 1840s.
Churches
- The Protestant Reformed Churches of Jamaica
PRCJ - The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands
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