A friend sent this to me last night and I find it fascinating. Many on the list I already knew but many more were new to me. We likkle but we tallawah. Enjoy!

You are familiar with Jamaica , I can probably bet you (and win) you never knew half of these interesting facts on Jamaica . I myself was even surprised at some of these findings. Here you go!
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> * Had electricity before the United States
> * Had running water before the United States
> * Had phone cards before the United States
> * Their phone system was so sophisticated it was copied by AT&T
> * Jamaica has the most "churches" per square mile of any country in the world. Source-Guinness Book of World Records. Over 1,600 "churches" all over Jamaica . That number is growing.
> * Jamaica was the first country in the Western world to construct a railway, even before the United States ! This was only 18 years after Britain !
> * Jamaica is the first Caribbean Country to gain Independence .
> * Jamaica is the first team from the English-speaking Caribbean to qualify for the Football (Soccer) World Cup. This was the 1998 championship.
> * Jamaica stands strong in 3rd place on the list of countries to win the Miss World titles the most! [Hmmm!] The only countries to have won it more than Jamaica is India , Venezuela and the UK , but considering the size of Jamaica , you have to say that this achievement is monumental!
> * On his second voyage to the New World in 1494, the tip of the Blue Mountains in Jamaica was the first land sighted by Christopher Columbus.
> * Jamaica was the first commercial producer of bananas in the Western Hemisphere .
> * Jamaica also was the first island in the Caribbean to produce rum on a commercial basis.
> * The Manchester Golf Club in Jamaica , established in 1868, is the oldest in the western hemisphere!.
> * Apart from the United States , Jamaica has won the most world and Olympic medals.
> * 2006-2007: World Fastest man and woman- you bet, are Jamaicans [Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson].
> * Jamaica has more multiple (two or more) live births than anywhere else in the world.
> * Jamaica was the first country to impose economic sanctions against the apartheid regime of South Africa .
> * Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean .
> * Jamaica was the first Caribbean island to enact legislation, "The Motion Picture Industry (Encouragement) Act" to promote the making of films.
> * Jamaica is the first country to sign a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria grant agreement.
> * Jamaica was the first tropical country to enter the IOC Winter Olympics. The bob sleigh team's efforts inspired the film ‘Cool Runnings’.
> * Jamaica was the first colony England acquired by conquest. This was in the year 1655 when the Spanish were driven from the island.
> * We have the second largest butterfly in the world? (The Giant Swallowtail).
> * Another of the interesting facts on Jamaica is that it was the first British colonial territory to establish a postal service (in 1688).
> * Jamaica was the first Caricom country to liberalize the telecommunications sector. Since then, other Caricom countries have opened up to competition.
> * Another one I found to be one of the most interesting facts on Jamaica is that Jamaica was the first country in the Caribbean region to launch a web site, jamaicatravel.com<http://jamaicatravel.com/>. This was in 1994!
> * And if you know none of the above, (which is fine) I expect you at least know that Jamaica is the birth place of Robert ("Bob") Marley [smile]
> * that the Jamaican Flag is the ONLY flag in the world, that doesn't share any of the colors of the American flag?
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> Now my friend, get out and share you new found knowledge of Jamaica .
>

Some people are saying some of the facts may not be accurate. If you know of specific examples please share them here.

-TBNet

Here is a link to an article that will clear up some of the "facts" http://jamaicagleaner.com/gleaner/20110717/cleisure/cleisure5.html

This point requires closer examination:
"Apart from the United States , Jamaica has won the most world and Olympic medals"

Is the person making reference to medals in track and field only? That needs to be clarified because Jamaica has only one non-track & field medal at the Olympics (David Weller's bronze at the Moscow Olympics in 1980). In any event it would hardly be accurate as Jamaica went through some lean years at the Olympics, thwarted no doubt by drugs cheats in several instances.

We have won 67 medals in 16 Olympic Games: 17 gold, 30 silver and 20 bronze.

Kenya has won 86 medals from participation in 13 Olympics. Like us, the Kenyans are high achievers, mostly in track and field (specifically, long distance running in their case)so in all likelihood their medals, like ours, would largely be in those disciplines.


As for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Jamaica has won 89 medals since the first event was staged in Helsinki in 1983: 18 gold, 40 silver and 31 bronze.

This places us fourth on the list of leading medal winners behind USA - 275, Russia - 151 and Kenya - 100.

Of course, Jamaica is a tiny dot on the world map with a miniscule population to match in comparison to those three countries. So, on a per capita basis, we are out performing all of them but the raw figures place them ahead of us.

In any event we don't need to over state our achievements in this area; we are quite remarkable, by any standard, as it is.

Just bear this in mind; there are 73 countries, some of them quite large, that have never won a medal at the Olympics!