Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat, it was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was popular with British mods, it became popular with many skinheads. Music historians divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s. There are multiple theories about the origins of the word ska. Ernest Ranglin claimed that the term was coined by musicians to refer to the "skat! skat! skat!" Scratching guitar strum. Another explanation is that at a recording session in 1959 produced by Coxsone Dodd, double bassist Cluett Johnson instructed guitarist Ranglin to "play like ska, ska", although Ranglin has denied this, stating "Clue couldn't tell me what to play!"

A further theory is that it derives from Johnson's word skavoovie, with which he was known to greet his friends. Jackie Mittoo insisted that the musicians called the rhythm Staya Staya, that it was Byron Lee who introduced the term "ska". Derrick Morgan said: "Guitar and piano making a ska sound, like'ska, ska," After World War II, Jamaicans purchased radios in increasing numbers and were able to hear rhythm and blues music from the Southern United States in cities such as New Orleans by artists such as Fats Domino, Barbie Gaye, Rosco Gordon and Louis Jordan whose early recordings all contain the seeds of the "behind-the-beat" feel of ska and reggae. Domino's rhythm, accentuating the offbeat as in the song "Be My Guest", was a particular influence; the stationing of American military forces during and after the war meant that Jamaicans could listen to military broadcasts of American music, there was a constant influx of records from the United States. To meet the demand for that music, entrepreneurs such as Prince Buster, Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid formed sound systems.

As the supply of unheard tunes in the jump blues and more traditional R&B genres began to dry up in the late 1950s, Jamaican producers began recording their own version of the genres with local artists. These recordings were made to be played on "soft wax", but as demand for them grew some time in the second half of 1959 producers such as Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid began to issue these recording on 45rpm 7-inch discs. At this point the style was a direct copy of the American "shuffle blues" style, but within two or three years it had morphed into the more familiar ska style with the off-beat guitar chop that could be heard in some of the more uptempo late-1950s American rhythm and blues recordings such as Domino's "Be My Guest" and Barbie Gaye's "My Boy Lollypop", both of which were popular on Jamaican sound systems of the late 1950s; this "classic" ska style was of bars made up of four triplets but was characterized by a guitar chop on the off beat—known as an upstroke or'skank'—with horns taking the lead and following the off-beat skank and piano emphasizing the bass line and, playing the skank.

Drums kept the bass drum was accented on the third beat of each four-triplet phrase. The snare would accent the third beat of each 4-triplet phrase; the upstroke sound can be found in other Caribbean forms of music, such as mento and calypso. Ernest Ranglin asserted that the difference between R&B and ska beats is that the former goes "chink-ka" and the latter goes "ka-chink". One theory about the origin of ska is that Prince Buster created it during the inaugural recording session for his new record label Wild Bells; the session was financed by Duke Reid, supposed to get half of the songs to release. The guitar began giving rise to the new sound; the drums were taken from traditional Jamaican marching styles. To create the ska beat, Prince Buster flipped the R&B shuffle beat, stressing the offbeats with the help of the guitar. Prince Buster has explicitly cited American rhythm and blues as the origin of ska: Willis Jackson's song "Later for the Gator"; the first ska recordings were created at facilities such as Federal Records, Studio One and WIRL Records in Kingston, Jamaica with producers such as Dodd, Prince Buster, Edward Seaga.

The ska sound coincided with the celebratory feelings surrounding Jamaica's independence from the UK in 1962. Until Jamaica ratified the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the country did not honor international music copyright protection; this reinterpretations. One such cover was Millie Small's version of the R&B/shuffle tune, "My Boy Lollypop", first recorded in New York in 1956 by 14-year-old Barbie Gaye. Smalls' rhythmically similar version, released in 1964, was Jamaica's first commercially successful international hit. With over seven million copies sold, it remains one of the best selling reggae/ska so

This is a list of heads of state, heads of governments, other rulers in the year 1343. Ethiopian Empire – Amda Seyon I Kanem Empire – - Idris I Morocco - Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman Zeng Empire – Daud IV, King of Kilwa Aztec Empire – Tenoch, Great Speaker Kingdom of Champa – Tra Hoa China - Emperor Huizong Kingdom of Chūzan - Seii Kingdom of Dambadeniya – Bhuvanaikabâhu IV Delhi Sultanate – - Muhammad bin Tughluq Dhundhar – - Raja Junasi Dev Gondwana - Sabala Simha, Ruler of Gondwana Kingdom of Hokuzan – Haniji Japan Monarch - Emperor Kōmyō Monarch - Emperor Go-Murakami Ashikaga shogunate - Ashikaga Takauji Kamata Kingdom – - Durlabh Narayan Kedah Sultanate – Ibrahim Shah Korea – Chunghye Madurai Sultanate – Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghani Kingdom of Nanzan – Ofusato Sukhothai Kingdom – Ngua Nam Thum​ Đại Việt - Trần Dụ Tông Vijayanagara Empire - Harihara I Principality of Achaea – Robert Giudicato of Arborea – Peter III, Giudice of Arborea Bulgarian Empire – Ivan Alexander, Tsar of Bulgaria Byzantine Empire – John V Palaiologos Crown of Castile – Alfonso XI Kingdom of Denmark – Valdemar IV Kingdom of England – Edward III Kingdom of France – Philip VI Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia – Liubartas Republic of Genoa – Simone Boccanegra, Doge of Genoa Sultanate of Granada – - Yusuf I Hebrides – John of Islay, Lord of the Isles Holy Roman Empire - Louis IV County of Hainaut and County of Holland - William II, Count of Hainaut / William IV, Count of Holland Electorate of Saxony – Rudolf I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg Kingdom of Hungary – - Louis I the Great Latin Empire of Constantinople – Catherine II Aegina – Boniface II, Count of Aegina Anaphe – Domenic, Lord of Anaphe Grand Duchy of Lithuania – Jaunutis Livonia – Kingdom of Naples – Joanna I Kingdom of Norway Monarch - Magnus VII Haakon VI de facto - Magnus VII, regent Novgorod – President of the Council of Novgorod - Vasili Kalika Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves – Afonso IV Kingdom of Serbia – Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Kingdom of Scotland – David II Kingdom of Sweden – Magnus II Republic of Venice – Andrea Dandolo, Doge of Venice Jandarids - Altynbash, Bey of Sinop Kingdom of Cyprus – Hugh IV Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia – - Constantine II Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt – Imad-ad-Din Ismail Ottoman Empire – Orhan I, Ottoman Bey

David Fatialofa is a New Zealand rugby league player who played professionally in England for Whitehaven. Fatialofa was an Auckland Warriors junior and played in the 1995 Lion Red Cup final, he represented the Junior Kiwis in 1992 and 1993 and played in France during the 1995/96 season. He moved to England, joining the Whitehaven under New Zealand coach Stan Martin, he was named in the 2000 World Cup train on squad for Samoa but did not make the final squad. In 2005 Fatialofa won the club's Player of Year award, he retired at the end of the 2008 season. He returned in 2010 to play for Whitehaven in a testimonial match for Neil Frazer