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Total population | |
---|---|
~2,000,000 (~1,300,000 Jamaican-born) [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States | 1,100,000+ [2] |
United Kingdom | 400,000 [3] |
Canada | 309,000 [4] |
The Jamaican diaspora refers to the body of Jamaicans who have left the country of Jamaica, their descendants, and to a lesser extent the subsequent developments of their culture. Jamaicans can be found in the far corners of the world, but the largest pools of Jamaicans, outside of Jamaica itself, exist in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, the Cayman Islands and all across the Caribbean Coast of Central America, namely Panama, Cuba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras.
Early instances of Jamaican emigration were motivated by employment opportunities abroad. During the economic transition from slavery to wage labor, Indian-Jamaican migration to former slave industries (like sugar production) allowed select Black Jamaicans to find work in more skilled industries and to attain higher social statuses. [5] Jamaicans of various skill levels supplied labor internationally, especially during the two phases of the Panama Canal's construction in the 1880s and 1910s. [6] Job opportunities aimed at Jamaicans in Britain starting with post-war reconstruction in the 1940s, and unemployment during the 1950s, [7] both of which continued following the country's independence in 1962, and slow economic growth at home also influenced increased Jamaican emigration. Ample immigration opportunities in Canada, the US and Britain also helped, providing Jamaicans with a thriving community of their kinsmen to join.
In the late 20th and early 21st century close to a million [8] Jamaicans have emigrated, especially to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Though this emigration appears to have been tapering off somewhat in recent years, the great number of Jamaicans living abroad has become known as the "Jamaican diaspora". Most Jamaican emigrants have followed a path first to the UK. Many who do not remain in the UK move on to other Commonwealth countries such as Canada. Jamaican emigrants also migrate directly to the United States, Canada, other Caribbean nations, Central & South America mainly in Panama and Colombia. There has also been emigration of Jamaicans to Cuba [9] and to Nicaragua. [10]
The United Kingdom, and in particular London and Birmingham, have a strong Jamaican diaspora. An estimated 4% of Londoners and 3.5% of Brummies are of wholly or partly Jamaican heritage. Many are now at least second, if not third or fourth-generation Black British Caribbeans. Currently the fastest growing ethnic minority group in Britain is the mixed race category, with the mixed black & white Caribbean category (many of whom are half Jamaicans) being the single largest mixed ethnic minority.[ citation needed ]
Jamaicans first started migrating to Britain in the 1950s. After World War 2, Great Britain experienced a massive labor shortage. To solve this problem they invited people from the West Indies, mostly Jamaicans, to migrate to Britain. This lasted from 1948 to 1971. These people are known as the Windrush Generation, named after the first ship that carried passengers from Jamaica to the UK, Empire Windrush . [11]
One of the largest and most famous Jamaican expatriate communities is in Brixton, South London. More large Jamaican communities in London are Tottenham in North London, Hackney in East London, Harlesden in North-West London and both Croydon & Lewisham in South London. The highest concentration of Jamaicans are more precisely in the South London boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham & Croydon.
On the last bank holiday of the year during late August the Annual Notting Hill Carnival takes place in west London which is the second biggest street party in the world after Rio Carnival. It spans areas of north-west London such as North Kensington, Ladbroke Grove, Kensal Green and of course Notting Hill. Many other Caribbean nations have large communities in this part of London such as Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Antigua. The Caribbean community including many Jamaicans are involved in the Carnival which starts on Saturday and finishes late on Monday. Jamaicans have many food stalls, soundsystems and floats involved in the procession. Well over a million Londoners come to Notting Hill on the Monday. There is also a much smaller carnival called the Tottenham Carnival which takes place in Tottenham during June, approximately 40,000 people attend. Other Jamaican communities include the areas of St Pauls in Bristol, Chapeltown in Leeds, Moss Side, Longsight and Hulme in Manchester, Toxteth in Liverpool, Burngreave in Sheffield, Handsworth, Ladywood, Lozells, and Aston in Birmingham, and St Ann's, Top Valley, and Basford in Nottingham.
Throughout the 1920s, Jamaican-U.S. migration was circular, with Jamaicans returning to home after working abroad. Immigration restrictions from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 possibly influenced increases in Jamaican migrants over-staying contract limits. [6] Jamaican-U.S. emigration increased dramatically during the 1960s, primarily of skilled Jamaican nurses. [12] Possible factors behind this increase include high U.S. labor demand for nurses and medical workers during the 1960s, a shift in emigrant destinations after restrictions from the British Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, and the American Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 favoring higher skilled Jamaicans and other West Indians.
Concentrations of expatriate Jamaicans are large in a number of cities in the United States, including New York City, Buffalo, Miami, Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Houston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Providence, Boston and Los Angeles. Westchester County, New York and nearby Stamford, Connecticut also have significant Jamaican ex-pat communities.
New York City is home to a large Jamaican diaspora community. The Brooklyn communities are centred along Flatbush, Nostrand and Utica Avenues in the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Canarsie, and Flatlands. Flatbush, Nostrand, and Utica Avenues feature miles of Jamaican cuisine, food markets and other businesses, nightlife and residential enclaves. The Bronx neighborhoods are Wakefield, Eastchester, Baychester. The borough of Queens also has a Jamaican diaspora presence.
In New York City a large percentage of the Jamaican High School & College graduates are associated with their High School Alumni organizations which are unified into the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (USA) Inc http://ujaausa.org/.
In Toronto, the Jamaican community is also large, with a metropolitan population of approximately 200,330 (3.4%). [13] Jamaican populated areas of the city are located in the neighbourhoods of Rexdale in Etobicoke; Jane and Finch, Downsview and Lawrence Heights in North York; Malvern and West Hill in Scarborough; Regent Park, Alexandra Park, and Parkdale in Old Toronto; and Weston, Mount Dennis, Silverthorn, and Oakwood–Vaughan in York, which also includes a Little Jamaica district that is identifiable along Eglinton Avenue West. In recent years, many Jamaicans have been moving out to suburbs such as Mississauga, Brampton and Ajax. The Jamaican community has had an influence on Toronto's culture. Caribana (the celebration of Caribbean culture) is an annual event in the city. The parade is held downtown on the first Saturday of August, shutting down a portion of Lake Shore Boulevard. Jamaica Day is in July, and the Jesus in the City parade attracts many Jamaican Christians. Reggae and dancehall are popular among Toronto's youth, of various ethnic backgrounds.
Outside the Greater Toronto Area, cities such as Montreal, Ottawa, and Hamilton also have sizable Jamaican communities.
More recently many resort- and wild-life-management-skilled Jamaicans have been trending emigration toward such far-flung nations as Australia, New Zealand (especially in Wellington and, to a lesser extent, Auckland), Mexico, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia.[ citation needed ]
Jamaica continues to have a severe problem with barrel children - those left with family members (primarily grand parents) or selected guardians, by parents seeking a better life abroad. The term "barrel children" refers to the common practice of shipping goods, gifts and necessities in shipping barrels to these children (and family members). Once the parents become financially or legally stable, the children usually join the parents abroad.
Around 800,000 Britons are of Jamaican origin. [14] Located especially in London, Birmingham, Luton, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Slough and Bristol.
Around 1,171,915 people of Jamaican origin live in the United States, [15] mostly concentrated in New York City (416,000), Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Florida.
1986–1990 | 113,245 |
1991–1995 | 90,731 |
1996–2000 | 82,682 |
2001–2005 | 76,280 |
2006–2010 | 104,436 |
Total | 467,374 |
Around 309,000, [4] especially in the Toronto metropolitan area (around 200,000), [13] other parts of Southern Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta.
Indo-Caribbean people or Indian-Caribbean people are people in the Caribbean who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. They are descendants of the Jahaji indentured laborers from British India, who were brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. A minority of them are descendants from people who immigrated as entrepreneurs, businesspeople, merchants, engineers, doctors, religious leaders, students, and other professional occupations beginning in the mid-20th century and continuing to the present.
The Italian diaspora is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Unification of Italy, and ended in the 1920s to the early 1940s with the rise of Fascist Italy. Poverty was the main reason for emigration, specifically the lack of land as mezzadria sharecropping flourished in Italy, especially in the South, and property became subdivided over generations. Especially in Southern Italy, conditions were harsh. From the 1860s to the 1950s, Italy was still a largely rural society with many small towns and cities having almost no modern industry and in which land management practices, especially in the South and the Northeast, did not easily convince farmers to stay on the land and to work the soil.
British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose recent ancestors originate from the Caribbean, and further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro-Caribbean people who are multi-racial. The most common and traditional use of the term African-Caribbean community is in reference to groups of residents continuing aspects of Caribbean culture, customs and traditions in the UK.
Waves of Chinese emigration have happened throughout history. They include the emigration to Southeast Asia beginning from the 10th century during the Tang dynasty, to the Americas during the 19th century, particularly during the California gold rush in the mid-1800s; general emigration initially around the early to mid 20th century which was mainly caused by corruption, starvation, and war due to the Warlord Era, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War; and finally elective emigration to various countries. Most emigrants were peasants and manual laborers, although there were also educated individuals who brought their various expertises to their new destinations.
The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora refers to the global diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan and Tamil diaspora.
The Haitian diaspora consists of Haitian people and their descendants living outside of the Haiti. Countries with significant numbers of Haitians include the United States, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Chile, Canada, Brazil, Bahamas and France.
The Zimbabwean diaspora refers to the diaspora of immigrants from the nation of Zimbabwe and their descendants who now reside in other countries. The number of Zimbabweans living outside Zimbabwe varies significantly from 4 to 7 million people, though it is generally accepted at over 5 million people, some 30 per cent of all Zimbabweans. Varying degrees of assimilation and a high degree of interethnic marriages in the Zimbabwean diaspora communities makes determining exact figures difficult. The diaspora population is extremely diverse and consists of Shona people, Ndebele, white Zimbabweans, mixed-race people, Asians, Jewish people and other minority groups. The diaspora traces their origin to several waves of emigration, starting with the exodus that followed the 1965, unilateral declaration of independence in Rhodesia, but significantly since the sociopolitical crisis that began in 2000.
The Egyptian diaspora consists of citizens of Egypt abroad sharing a common culture and Egyptian Arabic dialects. The phenomenon of Egyptians emigrating from Egypt was rare until Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power after overthrowing the monarchy in 1952. Before then, Cleland's 1936 declaration remained valid, that "Egyptians have the reputation of preferring their own soil. Few ever leave except to study or travel; and they always return... Egyptians do not emigrate".
London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, has become one of the most ethnically diverse and multicultural cities in the world.
Israeli Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Israeli descent.
HMT Empire Windrush was a passenger motor ship that was launched in Germany in 1930 as the MV Monte Rosa. She was built as an ocean liner for the German shipping company Hamburg Süd. They used the ship to carry German emigrants to South America, and as a cruise ship. During World War II, she was taken over by the German navy and used as a troopship. During the war, she survived two Allied attempts to sink her.
Caribbean immigration to New York City has been prevalent since the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. This immigration wave has seen large numbers of people from Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others, come to New York City in the 20th and 21st centuries. Caribbeans are concentrated in the Bronx, particularly in the area from 211th Street to 241st Street and along Gun Hill Road. There are also large Caribbean communities in Brooklyn, especially in the neighborhoods of Flatbush and Prospect Heights.
Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora. The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed ancestry. The bulk of the Jamaican diaspora resides in other Anglophone countries, namely Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Jamaican populations are also prominent in other Caribbean countries, territories and Commonwealth realms, where in the Cayman Islands, born Jamaicans, as well as Caymanians of Jamaican origin, make up 26.8% of the population. Outside of Anglophone countries, the largest Jamaican diaspora community lives in Central America, where Jamaicans make up a significant percentage of the population.
Zimbabwean Americans are Americans of full or partial Zimbabwean ancestry. As of 2021, there were approximately 80,606 people of Zimbabwean descent were living in the United States. There are notable populations in Southern California, greater Washington, DC, New York City and Texas.
Zimbabwean Canadians are Canadian citizens of Zimbabwean descent or a Zimbabwe-born person who resides in Canada. According to the 2016 Canadian census there were 16,225 Canadian citizens who claimed Zimbabwean ancestry and 15,000 Zimbabwean citizens residing in the country at the moment of the census.
The Malaysian diaspora are Malaysian emigrants from Malaysia and their descendants that reside in a foreign country. Population estimates vary from seven hundred thousand to one million, both descendants of early emigrants from Malaysia, as well as more recent emigrants from Malaysia. The largest of these foreign communities are in Singapore, Australia, Brunei and the United Kingdom.
Sam Beaver King MBE was a Jamaican-British campaigner and community activist. He first came to England as an engineer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War but returned to Jamaica in 1947. Failing to settle there, King took passage to London in 1948, sailing on the Empire Windrush. He later became the first black mayor of Southwark and a campaigner in support of West Indian immigrants to the country.
Black Canadians make up a sizable group within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, although the population also consists of African American immigrants and their descendants, as well as many African immigrants.
Emigration from Malta or the Maltese diaspora consists of Maltese people and their lineal descendants who emigrated from Malta. It was an important demographic phenomenon throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading to the creation of large diaspora’s concentrated in English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States.