Interesting Facts About Jamaica

• Jamaica is the largest English-speaking island in the Caribbean and the third largest overall. The island spans 4,400 square miles.

• Jamaica is populated by over 2 million people, largely descendents of the freed African slaves brought over to the island by the spanish and British. Jamaica is classified as a developing country. Tourism and mining are the two most profitable economic sectors along with agriculture and manufacturing. Jamaica has been an independent country since 1962 when it ceased to be a British colony but remains part of the British Commonwealth.

• Jamaica is an independent nation and a member of the British Commonwealth. After enjoying full internal self-government for a number of years Jamaica achieved independence in August of 1962. Queen Elizabeth II however, is still Queen of Jamaica by tradition and the titular head of state is her representative on the island—the Governor General. It is similar to Canada.

• Jamaica is the third largest Caribbean island, measuring 146 miles at its widest point. Primarily of volcanic origin, the lush island features a mountain ridge that peaks at Blue Mountain which is 7,402 feet high. Many white-sand beaches and clear seas ring the island.

• Democracy is complete, with an elected Parliament, a Prime Minister, an elected House of Representatives and a Senate. It works on similar lines to the British parliament. The constitution embodies absolute safeguards to personal liberties and democratic rule of law.

• Parliament sits at Gordon House on Kingston's Duke Street and visitors can watch proceedings from the visitors gallery.

• Population standing at 2,731, 832 at the end of 2005 is made up of the following approximate ethnic groups: African 76.3%, Afro-European 15.1%, European 0.8%, Chinese and Afro-Chinese 1.2%, East Indian and Afro-East Indian 3.4% and others 3.4%.

• Arawak Indians were the original inhabitants exterminated by the Spanish after Columbus discovered Jamaica in 1492. The Spanish were defeated by the British in 1655.

• Snakes are extremely rare. They were killed off by the mongoose, imported to exterminate canefield rats.

• Climate is year-round summer with no definite rainy season, although it usually rains most in May and October. North-easterly trade winds blow continually.

• Obeahism the Jamaican form of Voodoo exists but is seldom heard of. The Obeah man is supposed to marshal evil spirits to bring good or bad fortune. The practice of Obeahism is a still considered a crime punishable by imprisonment here.

• Industries in order of importance are tourism bauxite, agriculture (sugar, bananas, coffee, pimento, cocoa and tobacco). No other country in the world produces pimento, also known as Allspice.

• Orchids grow wild all over Jamaica—200 species of them, 73 of which are found nowhere else. There are also 500 species of fern and 1,000 species of trees.

• Blue Moons happen in Jamaica. Sapphire-coloured moons have been observed half a dozen times during the last 40 years.

• The Coconut Palm is not native to Jamaica or the West Indies. Surprisingly nor are sugar cane, bananas, mangoes, breadfruit or bamboo. They were all brought to the island at various stages in its history. The original Arawak inhabitants lived mainly on corn, fish and yams.

• Unexplored country still exists in the Cockpit Country, part of which is inhabited by the Maroons, slaves turned loose by the Spanish before they fled the island, and who went to this wild country to form settlements. They later harassed the British so much they were granted independence in a treaty of 1734 and still govern themselves today.

• Miscellaneous Departure Tax-Most important to remember, you will be asked to pay a departure tax of US$22 unless it was already calculated into your ticket when you bought it.

• Official Matter Entry Regulations- No passports are required of Canadian or U.S. Citizens/Residents entering as tourists for any period up to six months provided that they have a return ticket and identification such as a social security card or driver's license. All other visitors must carry a valid passport.

• Your home country may however impose other travel requirements in order for you to leave and return. Please check with your local officials for more information and to prevent any confusion.

• Visitors can obtain a special licence after a 24-hour period on the island. You must produce your passport and two witnesses. If either party has been divorced or widowed, necessary documents must be produced to vouch for their current status. Young people under 21 years of age must produce written consent from a parent, signed by a notary public.

• Jamaica's currency is the Jamaican dollar, not to be confused with the U.S. dollar. The value of the Jamaican dollar fluctuates but in November 2004 it was approximately JA$61 to US$1

• With a size of 4411 square miles, Jamaica is a little smaller than the state of Connecticut in U.S. Jamaica has a length of 146 miles and a width of 22-51 miles. The annual population growth is 0.46%.Hot and humid weather conditions typical of a tropical climate, with a temperate interior, prevails in Jamaica. The average annual rainfall is 78 inches. Some significant places in Jamaica are: Kingston/ Montego Bay/ Mandeville/ Port Antonio/ Ocho Rios/ Negril/

• Though the locals speak Jamaican language-Patois, the official language is English. The Ethnic groups comprising Jamaica are: Black (90.9%), mixed (7.3%), East Indian (1.3%), White (0.2%), Chinese (0.2%). The dominant religion of Jamaica is Christianity. Natural resources of Jamaica include bauxite, gypsum and limestone. The major exports of the country are bauxite, sugar, coffee, citrus products, rum, cocoa etc. The GDP per capita of Jamaica is US 3350.

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Interesting Facts About Indonesia

• Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago consisting of many thousands of islands. Around six thousand of the islands are inhabited.

• The Indonesian name for Indonesia is "Tanah Air Kita" - Our Land and Water.

• Indonesia's national motto is Unity in Diversity.

• The highest point in Indonesia is Puncak Jaya (5,030 m) in the highlands of Papua.

• Indonesia's region of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) shares the island of New Guinea with Papua New Guinea.

• The Indonesian administrative divisions of Kalimantan share Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei.

• The islands of New Guinea and Borneo are two of the largest islands in the world.

• The eruption of Mount Tambora, on Sumbawa Island, in 1815 was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history. 1816 was known as the "Year Without Summer" because of the global climatic effects of the eruption.

• In 1883 the volcanic island of Krakatoa (part of the Indonesian archipelago) was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. This caused a tidal wave that killed over thirty thousand people.

• Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions sometimes cause a tsunami, a giant wave which can swamp islands and coastal settlements. A tsunami can travel as fast as 800 kph.

• Indonesia is part of the Ring of Fire which includes about seventy-five percent of all the world's volcanoes. (The rim of the Pacific Basin is ringed with volcanoes, from Alaska through the USA, Mexico and South America, then on to New Zealand and up to Japan and Russia.).

• In the early 1890s Eugene Dubois discovered a skull and thigh bone of Homo erectus in East Java. Dubois published his findings of "Java Man" in 1894, claiming that Homo erectus was an ancestor of modern humans.

• The Sangiran Early Man Site, on the World Heritage List, is estimated to have been inhabited one and a half million years ago. Half of the world's hominid fossils have been found at Sangiran in Java.

• Marco Polo was one of the first Europeans to visit Indonesia.

• Europeans went to Indonesia in search of spices. Spices were a very valuable commodity in Europe.

• Indonesia is one the world's largest producers of nutmeg.

• Thousands of statues regard Java's jungles from the heights of Borobudur—the world's largest Buddhist temple. The ancient pilgrimage site was built in the 8th and 9th centuries A.D.

• By the late eighteenth century "Indonesia" was part of the Dutch colonial empire and known as the Netherlands East Indies.

• Indonesia's island of Bali did not come under the control of the Netherlands until 1906. During the Dutch capture of the island many thousands of Balinese were killed. Puputan Square in Denpasar is named after the suicidal battle of the Balinese aristocracy in their struggle against the Dutch.

• Between 1811 and 1816 (during the Napoleonic Wars), "Indonesia" came under British rule but was returned to the Dutch.

• After the War (1939-1945) Indonesia declared independence. Sukarno, the independence leader, became the country's first president.

• Following independence, the Dutch remained in control of the western part of New Guinea (now Papua). This territory was eventually passed to Indonesia under a United Nations agreement (1963).

• In 1975 East Timor gained independence from the Portuguese but was annexed by Indonesia in 1976. East Timor voted for independence in 1999 but did not regain independence until 2002.

• In October 2002 a terrorist bomb in Bali (Kuta town) killed over 180 people. Three years later, suicide bombings in Bali killed over twenty people.

• In 2003 a car bomb outside the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta killed fourteen people. A year later, another car bomb in Jakarta outside the Australian embassy killed nine people.

• On 26 December 2004, a quake occurred under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia (8.9 on the Richter scale); this produced tsunamis causing flooding and destruction in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Thailand, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and the east coast of Africa (Kenya and Somalia).

• An earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, off the coast of Sumatra, killed between one and two thousand people in March 2005. Many of the victims lived on the small island of Nias.

• Towards the end of May 2006 an earthquake measuring 6.2 struck the Indonesian island of Java killing over three thousand people.

• A tsunami, caused by an undersea earthquake (magnitude 7.7), struck the island of Java on 17 July 2006 killing over 500 people.

• In November 2008 an earthquake near the island of Sulawesi, magnitude 7.5, killed at least six people.

• An earthquake with a of magnitude 7.6 occurred near the north coast of Papua in January 2009.

• Indonesia is a vast equatorial archipelago of 17,000 islands extending 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) east to west, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans in Southeast Asia. The largest islands are Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Sulawesi, and the Indonesian part of New Guinea (known as Papua or Irian Jaya). Islands are mountainous with dense rain forests, and some have active volcanoes. Most of the smaller islands belong to larger groups, like the Moluccas (Spice Islands).

• Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is 86 percent Muslim—and the largest Islamic country, though it is a secular state. Indonesians are separated by seas and clustered on islands. The largest cluster is on Java, with some 130 million inhabitants (60 percent of the country's population) on an island the size of New York State. Sumatra, much larger than Java, has less than a third of its people. Ethnically the country is highly diverse, with over 580 languages and dialects—but only 13 have more

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Interesting Facts About Singapore

• Singapore consists only of one main island and 63 other tiny islands. Most of these islands are uninhabited.

• Singapore is among the 20 smallest countries in the world, with a total land area of only 682.7 square kilometres. The USA is about 15,000 times bigger.

• Apart from Monaco, Singapore is the most densely populated country in the world, with 6,430 people per square kilometre.

• Singapore became the 117th member of the United Nations on 21 September 1965.

• Symbolism of the National Flag: Red symbolises universal brotherhood and equality of man while white signifies purity and virtue. The crescent moon represents a young nation on the rise and the five stars signify the ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.

• The national flower of Singapore, Vanda Miss Joaquim, was first discovered in 1893 by Agnes Joaquim, an Armenian. The orchid is a natural hybrid between V. teres and V. hookeriana.

• The Merlion, a half-fish, half-lion beast, is a fitting symbol of Singapore. The "Singa" or lion represents the animal that a Sumatran prince saw which resembled a lion, and the fish is a tribute to Singapore's history as "Temasek", the ancient sea town.

• Singlish, a Singaporean patois mixing English with the odd phrase of Chinese, Malay and even Tamil, has two entries - lah and sinseh - in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.

• Although English is the official working language and the most widely used language in Singapore, the national anthem 'Majulah Singapura' is actually sung in Malay.

• The flying fox, the world's largest bat with a wingspan of up to 1.5 metres, can be found on Pulau Ubin, one of the islands off mainland Singapore.

• Singapore is a stopover point for thousands of migratory birds travelling the East Asian Flyway.

• The world's first night zoo, The Night Safari, is located in Singapore.

• Despite being largely urbanised, Singapore is the largest exporter of ornamental fish (25% of the world market).

• The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore contains more species of trees than the entire North American continent.

• The highest natural point in Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill, which is only 164 metres high (Singapore has a very flat terrain).

• Buildings in Singapore cannot be higher than 280 metres. There are presently three buildings of that height: OUB Centre, UOB Plaza and Republic Plaza.

• The world's highest man-made waterfall, standing at 30 metres, is located at the Jurong BirdPark.

• The largest fountain in the world is located in Singapore at Suntec City. Made of cast bronze, it cost an estimated US$6 million to build in 1997.

• The buildings of Suntec City have been built in the shape of a palm of a hand symbolising good "feng shui".

• In 2003, Singapore's Changi Airport won the award for "Best Airport Worldwide" for the 16th consecutive year from the UK/Europe edition of the Business Traveller magazine.

• The Guinness book record for the longest human domino chain was set in Singapore on 30th September 2000. Formed by 9,234 students, it measured 4.2km.

• The world domino topple record (303,621 men) was set in Singapore on 18th August 2003 by a 24-year-old woman from China.

• The record for the biggest ever game of pass-the-parcel was set in Singapore on 28 February 1998. It involved 3,918 students removing 2,200 wrappers from a 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.5 m parcel.

• The record for the most number of people participating in line dancing was set in Singapore in May 2002 with 11,967 dancers.

• The Great Singapore Duck Race, an annual event that raises funds for charity, set a new world record in 2002 when more than 123,000 toy ducks took to the Singapore River.

• Russell Lee, a pseudonym for a team of ghost-writers, is the hottest-selling local author in Singapore. His 11 volumes of True Singapore Ghost Stories have sold more than 600,000 copies to date.

• The fastest selling book of all time in Singapore is Hello Chok Tong, Goodbye Kuan Yew: The Untold Story. Written and drawn by political cartoonist George Nonis, it sold 40,000 copies in two months.

• The highest grossing movie of all time in Singapore is Titanic, raking in S$6.65 million in 1997.

• The highest grossing locally made movie of all time is Money No Enough, raking in S$6.02 million in 1998.

• The first Singaporean film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival was director Eric Khoo's 12 Storeys in 1997.

• British pop violinist Vanessa Mae Nicholson was born in Singapore and moved to England when she was four.

• More Singaporeans are born in the month of October than any other month of the year.

• The first population census taken in 1824 revealed that the total population was 10,683.

• The 2000 census showed that the population of Singapore is 4.2 million.

• Nearly 9 out of 10 Singaporeans live in public housing flats.

• The most common Chinese surnames in Singapore are Tan, Lim and Lee.

• Singapore has more than 3,000 kilometres of roads. Stretched end to end, they can cover the distance from Singapore to Hong Kong.

• 8 in 10 people in Singapore own cell phones. In fact, telecom companies issue new numbers at the rate of 30,000 to 40,000 per month.

• Singapore's best showing in the Olympic Games: Silver medal won by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang in Rome (1960) followed by a Silver Medal won by the women’s table tennis team in Beijing (2008).

• Swimmer Ang Peng Siong was ranked world number one in the 50m Freestyle in 1982.

• The Singapore Sling was first served in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel. The ingredients are gin, Cointreau, cherry brandy, Dom Benedictine, pineapple juice, Grenadine, Angoustura bitters and limes.

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