Montego Bay
Montego Bay is a city in
Jamaica that contains
Jamaica's largest airport, the
Sir Donald Sangster International Airport.
Montego Bay is known for its
duty free shopping and cruise line terminal at its Free Port on a beautiful
peninsula jutting into the
bay. Its sheltered
Doctor's Cave Beach with clear turquoise waters is one of the most famous beaches on the island. The bay is surrounded by picturesque low mountains. The whole island of Jamaica is quite hilly, culminating on the other side of the island near
Kingston in the 7400+ ft Blue Mountains, known for their
coffee beans which many say are the world's best.
Montego Bay is fourth in population to
Kingston, Portmore and Spanish Town with about 120,000 people and lies in
St. James Parish on the northwest coast of the island.
Air Jamaica and several
American and
British airlines run their Caribbean hub in "MoBay" (
Sangster International Airport) connecting the island with the US, the UK,
Germany, and recently
Canada with flights to
Toronto. The southern US cities of
Houston,
Atlanta,
Tampa, and
Miami are reached by nonstop flights in less than three hours.
The name "Montego Bay" is believed to have originated as a corruption of the
Spanish word
manteca ("
lard"), allegedly because during the Spanish period it was the port where lard,
leather, and
beef were exported. Jamaica was a
colony of
Spain from
1511 until
1655 when
Oliver Cromwell's Caribbean expedition, the Western Design, drove the Spanish from the island.
Christopher Columbus, when he first visited the island in
1494, named the bay
Golfo de Buen Tiempo ('Fair Weather Gulf')
During the epoch of
slavery, from the mid-
17th century until
1834, and well into the
20th century, the town functioned primarily as a
sugar port. The island's last major slave revolt, the Christmas Rebellion or Baptist War (
1831–
1832) took place in the area around Montego Bay; the leader of the revolt,
Samuel Sharpe, was hanged there in 1832. In
1975, Sharpe was proclaimed a national hero of Jamaica, and the main square of the town was renamed in his honour.
In
1980, Montego Bay was proclaimed a city by act of parliament, but this has not meant that it has acquired any form of autonomy as it continues to be an integral part of St. James parish.
Today, the city is known for its large regional hospital (Cornwall Regional Hospital), port facilities,
second homes for numerous upper class Jamaicans from Kingston as well as Americans and Europeans, fine restaurants, and shopping opportunities. The coastland near Montego Bay is occupied by numerous tourist resorts, some newly built, some occupying the grounds of old
sugar cane plantations with some of the original buildings and mill-works still standing. The most famous of these are the "White Witch's" Rose Hall and Tryall, both of which now feature world-class
golf courses.
