Kingston, Jamaica

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Image:Kingston.png Kingston (population 652,000) is the capital of Jamaica. It is located on the southeastern coast of the island country at Template:Coor dm. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sandspit which connects Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. In the Western Hemisphere, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States.

Note that Kingston the city (often called Greater Kingston or the "Corporate Area") is much larger than the parish of Kingston which includes only the old Downtown and Port Royal. Much of the modern "Corporate Area" of Kingston is situated in the Parish of St. Andrew. The local government bodies of the parish of Kingston and that of the parish of St Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Corporation of Kingston and St.Andrew

Two parts comprise the central area of Kingston: the historic but troubled Downtown, and New Kingston, which is home to the city's most visited attraction, the Bob Marley Museum (built at his former residence). Several other reggae stars, including Buju Banton and Beenie Man, also hail from Kingston. Other attractions include the nearby Hellshire and Lime Cay beaches, the National Gallery of Jamaica, the ruins of Port Royal, and Devon House, a mansion with adjoining park that once belonged to Jamaica's first black millionaire.

Kingston is served by Norman Manley International Airport and also by the smaller and primarily domestic Tinson Pen Airport.

Several annual and well-visited festivals are held in Kingston.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Religion
4 Prominent people
5 External links

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History

Kingston was founded in 1693 by refugees from the disastrous earthquake which destroyed much of the previous main port city of Port Royal. Initially the refugees lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barry's Hog Crawle. The town did not begin to grow until after the further destruction of Port Royal by fire in 1703. Surveyor, John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West and Harbour Streets. By 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica.

Gradually wealthy merchants began to move their residences from above their businesses to the farm lands to the north on the plains of Liguanea. The first free school, Wolmers, was founded in 1736, and there was a theatre, first in Harbour Street and then moved in 1774 to North Parade.

As a centre of commerce and fashion, Kingston rapidly out-distanced the somnolent official capital in Spanish Town and Kingston continued to grow despite calamities: a devastating hurricane in 1784, a huge fire in 1843, a cholera epidemic in 1850 and another fire in 1862.

In 1755 the governor had decided to transfer the government offices from Spanish Town to Kingston. But, it was thought by some to be an unsuitable location for the Assembly in close proximity to the moral distractions of Kingston, and the next governor rescinded the Act. However, by 1780 the population of Kingston was 11,000 and the merchants began lobbying for the administrative capital to be transferred from Spanish Town, which was by then eclipsed by the commercial activity in Kingston. This campaign was to continue for a century as Kingston grew still further as an important trading port during the Napoleonic wars. The city finally became the administrative capital of Jamaica in 1872. It kept this status when the island was granted independence in 1962.

On January 14, 1907, an earthquake in Kingston destroyed about 75% of the buildings. Fire broke out and spread widely adding to the death toll which eventually reached about 800, rather less than some initial reports. The damage was estimated to exceed £2m. Brick and stone buildings suffered the worst damage. Reinforced concrete was widely used in the rebuiling of the city, and building heights were restricted to 60 feet. These building codes were considered to be progressive at the time.

The city became home to the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies founded in 1948 with 24 medical students.

The 1960s saw the commercial activity expanding north. The old Knutsford race course became New Kingston, and uptown shopping plazas were developed causing the decline of the commercial and shopping centres of King Street and Harbour Street. An area of 95 acres along the waterfront was redeveloped with wide landscaped boulevards and multi-storey buildings which include the Bank of Jamaica, Scotia Bank Centre, the Jamaica Conference Centre, and Kingston Mall. Later, from the 1980s, there have been continuing efforts by the Urban Development Company to improve roads systems and trading conditions in the downtown area.

In 1966 Kingston was the host city to the Commonwealth Games.

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Demographics

Despite most of the population being Black, Kingston, Jamaica has many non-Blacks. The largest groups are those who are mixed race. Moderate numbers of Hispanics mostly from Latin America are also to be found in the city.

East Indians and Chinese are the next largest groups and this is evident from the many Asian restaurants that dot Kingston's streets. There is also a modest number of Whites, mostly from Cuba, and Great Britain, and there are also a number of Christian Syrians and Lebanese.

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Religion

There is a wide variety of Christian churches in the city. Most are Protestant, a legacy of British colonization of the island. The chief denominations are Church of God, Baptist, Anglican, Seventh-day Adventist and Pentecostal. Afro-Christian syncretic cults are also widespread.

There is a Jewish synagogue in the city as well as a small number of Buddhists. The major non-Christian religion is the Rastafari movement.

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