t The city hills of Kingston, spilling down to the large harbor
t The city hills of Kingston, spilling down to the large harbor
Experience Jamaica
The Caribbean’s third-largest island –146 miles (234 km) long and up to 50 miles (80 km) wide – encompasses white-sand beaches, tumbling cascades, and the misty Blue Mountain range. Its reggae and dancehall music and spicy jerk cuisine have helped make the country famous, as has a certain Jamaican called Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world.
Jamaica’s natural abundance was the major draw for the island’s various colonizers. First to settle were Amerindians from South America, who farmed and fished here until the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. He claimed the island on behalf of Spain, initiating the establishment of the slave-driven plantation economy which the English developed when they captured Jamaica in 1655. Freed slaves – the Maroons – were a thorn in the side of the plantocracy, who used guerrilla tactics to win armed campaigns against English forces. Slavery was finally abolished in 1834, and Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962.
The once all-important sugar and banana industries continue, but are now eclipsed in economic importance by tourism. To the west lie the dazzling beaches and limestone cliffs of the laid-back resort of Negril. Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, ports of call for cruise ships, are the big resorts in the north, while Port Antonio over in the east has a slow-paced, old-world charm. For a taste of the “real Jamaica,” head down to Kingston, the capital, an intense, edgy but rewarding city, overlooked by the coffee-growing Blue Mountains.