This statement refers to the diversity of ethnic divisions within the country.

Languages
The languages of the Jamaican people are English and Creole, called "Patois." Patois is a mixture of English, African, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese. While the Jamaicans can understand English, it is more difficult for Americans to understand a Jamaican conversation even though it is in English, because Patois is interjected into everyday language. A sample of Patois is as follows: "Tek de pickney dem to school." The sample means "Take the children to school."

Migration
Many Jamaicans have migrated to other countries. Large populations of Jamaicans reside in Barbados, the Bahamas, England, and North America. Miami, Atlanta, New York, Boston, and Toronto have the largest population of Jamaican immigrants.

It is estimated that more than two million Jamaicans reside in America. As a result, the Jamaican people are quite aware of many aspects of American culture. While in some ways they try to be like the Americans, the preference is to maintain their own identity through culture and customs.

Culture
Jamaican people are very patriotic and respectful about their culture and heritage placing a major emphasis on National Holidays such as Independence Day and Heroes' Day.

The National Dish of Jamaica is ackee and saltfish. Some of the more basic staple foods are rice and peas, escovitch fish and curry chicken. Other foods include curry goat, jerk pork, pepper shrimp, roasted breadfruit, johnny cake, and mackerel.

Sporting events are popular in Jamaica. The major sports are soccer, called football, and cricket.

There are several Jamaican athletes who have brought fame to Jamaica through their accomplishments in track and field and bobsledding. It is not unusual to see groups of children playing soccer and cricket "sandlot" style in open areas.

Music is a major part of the culture. The popular singing artist Bob Marley brought reggae music to fame and this style of music has permeated the society.

Dance hall music is also very popular, but is associated with a very lewd expression of dance. Lewd dance also accompanies the annual Carnival celebration which is held near the Easter holiday.

With slavery out of the picture, the English brought in Indians and Chinese to help the mainly African population work the plantations. Over the years new people arrived from England, France and Scotland, Spain and Portugal, Syria and Nepal - producing a unique and exciting mixture of races, including Jews whose families dated back to the early Spanish settlements.

While most Jamaicans are of African descent, there has been much inter-marriage over the centuries. This is reflected in the diverse appearance of Jamaicans. And in the complex cultural heritage that forms the high-spirited, warm-hearted psyche of the Jamaican people.

Culture and Language
According to the 1844 census, there were 293,128 black, 68,549 coloured and 15,776 white people living in Jamaica. In the 1990s, there are estimated to be about 4.5 million Jamaicans, 2.5 million of which live in Jamaica and about 2 million elsewhere, chiefly in England, United States and Canada. Recognizable by their names and accents, descendants of Jamaicans live in communities in Panama and Belize. And, of course, there are the descendants of the Maroons transported to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. All these people have roots on an island of about 4,400 sq. miles in size.

From Britain, Jamaica inherited a sound system of government and justice, Christianity, and in a lesser sense, forms of architecture. From Africa came a tradition rich in folklore, music, magic and a strong belief in religion. The rest of Jamaica’s rich and varied culture is all its own. Unique religions, music, foods and art forms have developed on the island and, in some cases, spread overseas to influence others cultures.

Jamaicans have their own language, a dialect of English with African influences. Many Jamaican words passed from common usage in main-stream English over a hundred years ago. And because of the African origin of most Jamaicans, there is a widespread avoidance of constructions like th. Th at the beginning of a word is therefore substituted with a d. Thus the becomes de, them becomes dem, and that becomes dat. Th at the end of a word is simply reduced to t, so teeth becomes teet. Stress is placed differently than in main-stream English so mattress becomes "mat-rass." The pronoun, him, is a substitute for most other pronouns regardless of gender or case. Plurals are often expressed by adding "dem" (them) to the singular form, so two or more cars become "de car dem" which means "the cars." In recent years, Rastafarian influence has added the use of "I" (and the plural "I and I") to emphasize the importance of the individual. Words of African origin also pepper the language.

Then, of course, there is the accent and rhythm of the language, probably a mixture of African forms and patterns of speech used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in British seaports. Some hear echoes of Welsh. Others are too busy trying to figure out how the language could possibly be related to any form of English. A form of the Jamaican dialect is also spoken in Belize.

In this the dawning of the twenty-first century, Jamaicans have many concerns about their future; however, these concerns should not be allowed to blind them to all they have accomplished. Theirs is a heritage of which they can be very proud.