Jamaika

Jamaica's first inhabitants were the Taíno, who called the island Xaymaca. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, and Spanish colonisation led to the rapid decline of the Taíno population through violence, forced labour …

Saint Mary was one of the first parts of Jamaica to be occupied by the Spanish, and Puerto Santa Maria was the second town they built on the island. After the English took Jamaica in 1655, it became known as Port Maria.…

Portland, on Jamaica's northeast coast, is home to the Maroon communities of Moore Town and Charles Town in the Blue Mountains. The Maroons, descendants of Africans who escaped slavery and built free communities in the …

Saint Thomas is closely linked to the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, led by Paul Bogle, who was born in the parish and was named one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes in 1969. The events at Morant Bay, the parish capita…

Kingston was founded on the Liguanea Plain to house the survivors of the devastating earthquake that struck Port Royal in 1692. Just a year later, in 1693, it became a parish by resolution of the Jamaican Assembly, and …

Saint Andrew is the birthplace of George William Gordon, one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes, remembered for his stand for the rights of ordinary Jamaicans in the 19th century. The parish surrounds Kingston on three …

Saint Catherine is home to Spanish Town, Jamaica's first capital, originally founded by the Spanish as San Jago de la Vega or Santiago de la Vega, 'St. James of the Plain'. For centuries the town was the seat of governm…

Clarendon was one of the original seven Anglican parishes of Jamaica set up by Sir Thomas Modyford in 1664, and it was named in honour of the Lord Chancellor Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. Its church registers surv…

Manchester is one of Jamaica's newest parishes. It was created in 1814 by an Act of the House of Assembly, combining parts of St. Elizabeth and Clarendon with the whole of Vere, after residents of Mile Gully, May Pen an…

Saint Elizabeth once covered most of southwest Jamaica, until Westmoreland was taken from it in 1703 and part of Manchester in 1814. The parish was named after the wife of Sir Thomas Modyford, the first English governor…

Westmoreland's earliest inhabitants were the Ciboney and Arawak peoples. The Ciboney arrived first, from the coast of South America, around 500 BC; known as cave dwellers, they lived along the cliffs of Negril, where ca…

Hanover was established on 12 November 1723 from parts of Westmoreland and St James. It was named in honour of King George I, a member of the German House of Hanover; a proposal to call it St. Sophia, after the king's m…

Montego Bay, the capital of St. James, takes its name from the Spanish word manteca, meaning lard. During Spanish rule, lard made from wild hogs in the forests was exported from here, and early maps named the harbour Ba…

Trelawny was created in 1770, when planters in St James and St Ann succeeded in having parts of those parishes form a new parish, as they were too far from the administrative centres. It was named after Sir William Trel…

Saint Ann holds a special place in Jamaica's history. When Christopher Columbus first came to the island in 1494, he landed at Discovery Bay, and on his fourth voyage he was marooned for a year at Saint Ann's Bay, which…

There are a few traces of Taíno/Arawak presence in the parish. Saint Mary was also one of the first sections of the island to be occupied by the Spaniards. Puerto Santa Maria was the second town the Spaniards built on t…

Saint Mary (Jamaican Patois: Sint Mieri) is a parish located in the northeast section of Jamaica. With a population of 114,227, it is one of Jamaica's smallest parishes, located in the county of Middlesex. Its chief tow…

Portland (Jamaican Patois: Puotlan), with its capital town Port Antonio, is a parish located on Jamaica's northeast coast. It is situated to the north of St Thomas and to the east of St Mary in Surrey County. It is one …

Saint Thomas was densely populated by the Taíno/Arawak when Christopher Columbus first came to the island in 1494. The Spaniards established cattle ranches at Morant Bay and Yallahs. In 1655, when the English captured J…

Saint Thomas (Jamaican Patois: Sen Tamas or Tahmas), once known as Saint Thomas in the East, is a suburban parish situated at the south eastern end of Jamaica, within the county of Surrey. It is the birthplace of Paul B…