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Jamaica Country Profile
Jamaica -
Memory of the World - Latin America and the Caribbean
The Indentureship Collection, 1845-1958
This collection covering the period 18451958 addresses the system of indentureship of East Indians and Chinese in Jamaica These archives were part of the records transferred to the Jamaica Archives by the Colonial Secretarys Office 1B592 and the Protector of Immigrants Department 1B9 which was established to oversee the immigration of labourers into Jamaica? The collection outlines the application process that Calcuttabased Indians desirous of working in Jamaica were required to pursue The fonds also provides information on each emigrant Of interest in these applications is that East Indians signed their applications with a thumb print Ships records for the period 18451916 also form part of this collection The entries in these records provide information on the names of the ships on which immigrants travelled between Jamaica and Calcutta the number of migrants East Indians on board medical reports on East Indians the number of deaths on a voyage and items received from the Agent General for Emigration to Jamaica in Calcutta The collection also details the number of indentured servants who returned to India after their contracts those removed as a result of vagrancy and correspondence re applications from aliens for admission and naturalization during the period 19091940 Additionally the collection includes correspondence for the period 19091958 between the Immigration Department the Secretary of State the Protector of Immigrants and the Agent General in Calcutta Annual reports for 19041954 from the Immigration Department are also included in this fonds These documents outline the operations and expenditure of the Immigration Department to maintain immigrant labour Also provided by this fonds is information on the importation of Chinese labourers in 1884 via the steamship SS Prinz Alexander Information on the removal of some indentured Chinese who were considered to be vagrants is also provided These removals took place between 1921 and 1924 The Indentureship Collection was inscribed in the Memory of the World Regional Register for Latin American and the Caribbean in 2010
Jamaica -
Memory of the World - Latin America and the Caribbean
The Helen Adelaide Wood Collection (circa 1900-1927)
The Helen Adelaide Wood Collection housed in the Natural History Museum of Jamaica NHMJ Division of the Institute of Jamaica IOJ consists of approximately 480 original and annotated illustrations of plants and animals from the early 1900s All are dated and signed by Miss Wood The illustrations of both native and introduced species including cacti orchids birds caterpillars lizards have been in the custody of the IOJ since 1927 the year of her death The exact date of Miss Woods birth is not known however she was generally believed to have been born sometime in the 1800s Over 200 drawings are bound and numbered in two large folios Some of the illustrations are in plastic and paper frame kits and others are on acidfree paper Quite a number of the illustrations are on mounting boards Miss Woods original drawiThe Helen Adelaide Wood Collection housed in the Natural History Museum of Jamaica NHMJ Institute of Jamaica IOJ consists of approximately 480 original and annotated illustrations of plants and animals from the early 1900s All are dated and signed by Miss Wood The illustrations of both native and introduced species including cacti orchids birds caterpillars lizards have been in the custody of the IOJ since 1927 the year of her death The exact date of Miss Woods birth is not known however she was generally believed to have been born sometime in the 1800s? Over 200 drawings are bound and numbered in two large folios Some of the illustrations are in plastic and paper frame kits and others are on acidfree paper Quite a number of the illustrations are on mounting boards? Miss Woods original drawings were reproduced in William Fawcetts and Alfred Barton Rendles impressive book on the Flora of Jamaica Orchidaceae vol1 1910
Jamaica -
Memory of the World - Latin America and the Caribbean
The Patents (Land Grants) 1661-1940
The Patents Land Grants provide information on the settlement and distribution of land in Jamaica between 1661 and 1940?These grants were recorded in the Patent Libers which document the names of patentees acreage received location of the land and the name of those who owned land contiguous with any land that had been granted under this scheme All land in colonial Jamaica was vested in the British Crown To encourage settlement it was the policy of the Crown to make to prospective settlers by Letters Patent land grants which were held on the payment of an annual quit rent ?The Proclamation of December 1662 which ratified previous proclamations regarding settlement and land distribution in Jamaica stipulated the amount of land granted to each settler By 1663 the majority of the landholders were independent agricultural workers with the pattern of land tenure in Jamaica being characterized by the concentration of large landholdings in the hands of a few private entrepreneurs The smallscale peasant type farming economy shifted to that of a plantation economy based primarily on the cultivation of sugar cane on large estates owned by a few individuals and worked by a mass of slaves This mode of land tenure dominated the socioeconomic and political life of the island through to the 20th century ?Jamaican Patents for the period 16611940 are part of a series of documents from the Island Records Office and are now housed at the Jamaica Archives and Records Department JARD All are carefully indexed For the 17th century alone there are five thousand records
Jamaica -
Memory of the World - Latin America and the Caribbean
The West India Committee collection
The West India Committee WIC collection is a unique documentary heritage crucial to the comprehension of the Transatlantic Slave Trade providing insight into many unacknowledged innovations institutions and inventions derived directly from the trade Its archival collection enhances the historiography and general understanding of the contribution made by West Indians to the development of the global economy and civil society The WICCollection?refers to all those documentary records and related artefacts generated or acquired by the West India Committee its members and associates or presented to the WIC by its members administrators governments institutions and individuals relating to the administration development and management of the Caribbean and Bermuda These holdings span the period from the formal inception of operations of the WIC 1750 covering the period of its most active period of engagement in operations and strategic developments of the indicated associated bodies and organs 1750 1840 until the subsequent distribution and permanent loan of these archival holdings to the respective identified entities These incorporate the records and deposits of The West India Committee The Crown Agents the West India Dock Company and East West India Dock Company The Thames Police Association and the documents relating to the specified voyages of the HMS Bounty and HMS Providence and the associated discovery of the Pitcairns and Fiji Islands The documentation proposed for inscription includes various profound milestones some of which continue to benefit the world at large today together with the business practices of WIC and its founding members for over 230 years It takes the form of certificates documentation minutes records plans maps pictures and photos Each holding is limited to those materials that have been assigned a unique catalogue identification number by each entitys archival or curatorial staff as indicated This nomination was inscribed on the Memory of the World International Register in 2016
Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Montserrat, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Anguilla -
Policy Monitoring Platform
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Jamaica -
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News
Jamaican Stakeholders Explore Sustainable Development in Education Curriculum
Education stakeholders unite for the UNESCOled Future Teacher Kit Education Workshop aligning efforts for Sustainable Development Goals
News
Caribbean digital creators present their work and explore latest industry trends at the PIDS Enghien festival in France
Five Caribbean creators participated in the tenth edition of the PIDS Enghien Special Effects Festival an initiative of the UNESCO programme Transcultura Integrating Cuba the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity funded by the European Union
Story
#SIDs4Youth: Tamoy, A Master Class in Sustainability
TAMOY CAMPBELL UNESCO Youth Peace and Security Support Group Member 2023 Jamaica shares her experience at the SIDS 4 global Children and Youth Action Summit
Article
Young people from the Caribbean are trained in sound editing in Cuba with the support of UNESCO and the EU
The UNESCO Transcultura programme funded by the European Union has granted 24 scholarships to young filmmakers from 7 Caribbean nations to participate in two courses sound editing and soundtrack design at EICTV