City in Cornwall, Jamaica
About Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, home to more than half a million people. As a result, Montego Bay is the second-largest anglophone city in the Caribbean, after Kingston.
Toponymy
Christopher Columbus named the bay of Montego, Golfo de Buen Tiempo ("Fair Weather Gulf"). 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.
History
The Arawak tribe of South America are Jamaica's first known inhabitants and were there to greet Columbus when he ventured to the island in 1494. 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. After the British removed the Spanish rule, along with the majority of all buildings and infrastructure, the colonials established the parish of St. James which directly influenced the area in becoming a huge contributor of sugar cane. In fact, during this period of British governing, Montego Bay was the largest producer of sugar cane on the island of Jamaica, giving the region more value than originally anticipated. Throughout the duration of slavery, from the mid-17th century until 1834, and well into the 20th century, the town of Montego Bay functioned primarily as a sugarcane port. …
Geography
Montego Bay is located on the northwest coast of Jamaica in the parish of St. James, roughly ninety minutes west of Kingston. A broad valley comes down to the Caribbean Sea from the Bogue, Kempshot and Salem limestone hills. The coastal plain is narrow as the descent from the hills is quite steep. There are white sand beaches on the eastern side of the bay with outlying coral reefs to the north and south of the bay. Mangrove swamps have formed on the coast where protected by the coral reefs. Part of the bay, almost sixteen square kilometers, including Bogue Island has been set aside as the Montego Bay Marine Park. Montego Bay Point is the cape forming the northern boundary of the bay, it is located just southwest of the airport. The climate is tropical with little temperature variation, averaging 23.7°C (74.7°F) to 29.8°C (85.6°F). …
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