People

Jamaica and Ireland are So Close

April 15, 2019

If you’ve ever wondered why many places in Jamaica are linked to Ireland, from Irish Town, Clonmel, and Dublin Castle to Kildare, Sligoville, and Belfast, then wonder no more. Jamaica and Ireland share an interesting connections that goes back hundreds of years to England’s claiming of Jamaica as a colony and the subsequent deportation of Irish men, women and children to the Caribbean isle.

As much as a quarter of Jamaicans claim Irish ancestry, including Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, and Claude McKay, and there are even traces of Irish influence in the Jamaican accent itself, because the Irish lived with the slaves, newly-arrived from Africa.

Bianca Wright

Nearshore Americas Contributing Editor Bianca Wright has been published in a variety of magazines and online publications in the UK, the US and South Africa, including Global Telecoms Business, Office.com, SA Computer Magazine, M-Business, Discovery.com, Business Start-ups, Cosmopolitan and ComputorEdge. She holds a MPhil degree in Journalism from the University of Stellenbosch and a DPhil in Media Studies from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

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