Capital and chief port of Jamaica
About Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. Kingston is the largest English-speaking city south of the United States in the Western Hemisphere.
History
Kingston was founded on 22 July 1692, shortly after the 1692 earthquake that devastated Port Royal; the original section of the city which was situated at the bottom of the Liguanea Plains was laid out to house survivors of that earthquake. Before the earthquake, Kingston's functions were purely agricultural. The earthquake survivors set up a camp on the sea front. Approximately two thousand people died due to mosquito-borne diseases. Initially, the people 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. …
Geography
Kingston is surrounded by the Blue Mountains, Red Hills, Long Mountain and the Kingston Harbour, which is the seventh largest natural harbour in the world. The city is on the Liguanea plain, an alluvial plain alongside the Hope River. Kingston experiences frequent earthquakes, including the 1907 earthquake. Kingston has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet-and-dry climate (Aw/As), characterised by a wet season from May to November, which coincides with the hurricane season, and a dry season from December to April. On October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa hit the city as a category 5 hurricane. During the dry season, there is not much rainfall, however, cold and stationary fronts occur at this time, and often bring heavy showers, especially in March. …
Religion
There is a wide variety of Christian churches in the city, most of which are Protestant. The chief denominations are Church of God, Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist and Pentecostal. There is a strong Roman Catholic community in Kingston. The Holy Trinity Cathedral is the seat of the metropolitan archbishop and was consecrated in 1911. There are several Catholic schools and institutions, including the Immaculate Conception High School and St. Francis Primary and Infant School. Holy Childhood High School was founded and is owned by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of our Lady of Perpetual Help (FMS). Afro-Christian syncretic religions such as the Rastafari movement also have a significant following. The Shaare Shalom Synagogue serves Kingston's Jewish population. …
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