[8] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Northeast Regional Laboratory as well as the New York District Office are located in Jamaica.

The neighborhood was named Yameco, a corruption of the word yamecah, meaning "beaver", in the language spoken by the Lenape, the Native Americans who lived in the area at the time of first European contact.

[13][14] Jamaica Avenue was an ancient trail for tribes from as far away as the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, coming to trade skins and furs for wampum.

[15] It was in 1655 that the first settlers paid the Native Americans with two guns, a coat, and some powder and lead, for the land lying between the old trail and "Beaver Pond" (now filled in; what is now Tuckerton Street north of Liberty Avenue runs through the site of the old pond, and Beaver Road was named for its western edge).

Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant dubbed the area Rustdorp ("rest-town") in granting the 1656 land patent.

[11] Among its founding settlers was Robert Coe, who was appointed as the first magistrate by the Dutch government, serving until the English took over in 1664, making it a part of the county of Yorkshire.

[12] Colonial Jamaica had a band of 56 minutemen who played an active part in the Battle of Long Island, the outcome of which led to the occupation of the New York City area by British troops during most of the American Revolutionary War.

[23] The many foreclosures and the high level of unemployment of the 2000s and early 2010s induced many black people to move from Jamaica to the South,[24] as part of the New Great Migration.

[25][26] The First Reformed Church, Grace Episcopal Church Complex, Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Building, Jamaica Savings Bank, King Manor, J. Kurtz and Sons Store Building, La Casina, Office of the Register, Prospect Cemetery, St. Monica's Church, Sidewalk Clock at 161-11 Jamaica Avenue, New York, NY, Trans World Airlines Flight Center, and United States Post Office are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Jamaica and Hollis are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

Throughout the 19th to early 20th centuries, Jamaica was mainly populated with whites as Irish immigrants settled around the places known today as Downtown and Baisley Pond Park.

In the 1950s, however, a long period of white flight began that lasted through the 1970s and 1980s with mainly middle-income African Americans taking their place.

Decrease in crime[34] attracted many families to Jamaica's safe havens; Hillside Avenue reflects this trend.

Mainly of Guyanese and Trinidadian origin, these merchants serve their respective populations in and around the Jamaica Center area.

Departing retailers included brand name stores and movie theaters that once thrived in Jamaica's busiest areas.

The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, the local business improvement district, acquired valuable real estate for sale to national chains in order to expand neighborhood commerce.

As well they have completed underway proposals by allocating funds and providing loans to potential investors who have already established something in the area.

In 2006, a $75 million deal between the developers, the Mattone Group and Ceruzzi Enterprises, and Home Depot cleared the way for a new location at 168th Street and Archer Avenue.

The station, which served the Long Island Rail Road, was expanded with a transfer to the AirTrain JFK to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

[37] Efforts have been made to follow the examples of major redevelopment occurring in Astoria, Long Island City, Flushing, and Downtown Brooklyn.

To improve infrastructure the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation has agreed to create more greenery and open spaces to allow pedestrians to enjoy the scenery.

The Federal Aviation Administration Eastern Region has its offices at Rockaway Boulevard in South Jamaica, near JFK Airport.

[47] The Northeastern Program Service Center (NEPSC) is located in the Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building at Parsons Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue.

The NEPSC serves approximately 8.6 million retirement, survivor, and disability insurance beneficiaries, whose Social Security numbers (SSN) begin with 001 through 134, 729, and 805 through 808.

[28]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Jamaica and Hollis is 0.007 milligrams per cubic metre (7.0×10−9 oz/cu ft), less than the city average.

[28]: 6  The percentage of Jamaica and Hollis students excelling in math rose from 36% in 2000 to 55% in 2011, and reading achievement increased slightly from 44% to 45% during the same time period.

[29]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [28]: 6  Additionally, 74% of high school students in Jamaica and Hollis graduate on time, about the same as the citywide average of 75%.

[93] The Jamaica Yard, at the south end of Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, abuts Grand Central Parkway and the Van Wyck Expressway.

Jamaica's bus network provides extensive service across eastern Queens, as well as to points in Nassau County, the Bronx, the Rockaways, and Midtown Manhattan.

Public transportation passengers are connected to airline terminals by AirTrain JFK, which operates as both an airport terminal circulator and rail connection to central Jamaica at the integrated LIRR and bi-level subway station located at Sutphin Blvd and Archer Avenue.