xaymaca
Xaymaca was the original name of the island Jamaica. It is an arawak word which means land of wood and water.
xaymaca
it was called Xaymaca by the Amerindians who were the people who inhabited the island before Christopher Columbus "discovered" it
It's name comes from "Xaymaca". This an Arawak (the indigenous people of Jamaica) word which means "Land of Wood and Water.
some names for Jamaica are official name-Jamaica Xaymaca-name given by tainos Jamrock- slang name
The Spanish turned the Arawak Indian word for the island "Xaymaca" into "Jamaica". It has been known by that name since about 1500. To pronounce the name of the island in Arawak one would say "ZHAY-ma-ka" .
I remember reading a National Geographic article about Jamaica in the 80's. It said that the name Jamaica means "Jah Made Us". Jah is a shortened form of Jehovah such as in "Hall-le-lu-jah", which means "praise Jah".
The Caribbean in pre-imperial times was said to be a sort of paradise for anyone who just wanted to slop about drinking berry-wine and making love, but would drive you mad with frustration if you had any ambition or imagination.
Up until Columbus claimed it for Spain in 1494, it was called "xaymaca", meaning rich in springs, by the Taino (Arawakan) people. Columbus called it "Santiago". But England gained possession in 1655 and the name became "Jamaica".
Jamaica (pronounced /dʒəˈmeɪkə/) is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, amounting to 11,100 square kilometres (4,300 sq mi). It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harboring 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".[4]
Jamaicais an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, amounting to 11,100 km2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking taion inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs".Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British Crown colony of Jamaica. With 2.8 million people, it is the third most populousanglophone country in North America, after theUnited States and Canada. It remains aCommonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth IIas Head of State. Kingston is the largest city in Jamaica and the country's capital.The United States of America (commonly referred to as the United States, the USA., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, DC., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific