Kingston, Jamaica
The
City of Kingston is the
capital and largest city of
Jamaica. It is located on the southeastern coast of the island country at . It faces a natural
harbour protected by the
Palisadoes, a long sand
spit 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.
The local government bodies of the parishes of Kingston and
St Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC). Greater Kingston or the "Corporate Area" refers to the KSAC, and not just the
Parish of Kingston, which consists of only the old downtown and
Port Royal.
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,
Sean Paul 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.
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 opera house known as the Ward Theatre, first in Harbour Street and then moved in 1774 to North Parade. Both are still in existance.
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.
|
Devon House, home of the first West Indian millionaire of African descent. Now a much visited reminder of the luxury in which the rich lived in the 19th century. |
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.
The largest ethnic population is
black. The largest non-Black 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
Great Britain, and there are also a number of Christian
Syrians and
Lebanese.
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,
Roman Catholic,
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.
Famous people born in Kingston include:
*
Beenie Man (
1972-), DJ.
*
Buju Banton (
1973-),
reggae singer.
*
Frederic Hymen Cowen (
1852-
1935), British composer.
*
Desmond Dekker (
1941-
2006) singer and songwriter
*
Sandy Denton (
1969) - rapper of hip hop group
Salt-N-Pepa.
*
Patrick Ewing (
1962-) basketball player for the
New York Knicks.
*
Sean Paul (
1973-) - dancehall artist
*
Shaggy (
1968-) reggae singer.
*
Courtney Walsh (
1962-) world famous
cricketer.
Kingston has two
sister cities.{| valign="top" |
*
Miami-Dade County,
Florida *
Kalamazoo,
Michigan* Bob Marley Museum
* Devon House
* Hope Botanical Gardens
* Institute of Jamaica
* King`s House
* Kingston Craft Market
* Kingston Parish Church
* National Gallery of Jamaica
* University of the West Indies
*
Extract from Tour Jamaica by Maragret Morris*
Jamaica Library Service: brief history of Kingston*
2001 Census*
Accounts of 1907 Earthquake in The Times*
Kingston City Guide
