Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital of the island nation of Jamaica. It has grown into a major shipping port and the center of economic, cultural, and educational activity for Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. However, Kingston is also known for its widespread poverty and high crime rates. The city is internationally associated with reggae music, which was popularized by Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley during the 1960s and 1970s. Jamaica is considered the birthplace of the Rastafarian religious movement.

Since 1994, Kingston has served as the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority, the division of the United Nations responsible for the administration of sea law. Kingston is the largest English-speaking city in the southern Western Hemisphere.

Landscape

Kingston is located on the southern coast of Jamaica, on the Liguanea Plain, the fertile land that borders the coastline. It is sheltered from the Caribbean Sea by Kingston Harbour, one of the largest harbors in the world.

The Palisadoes, a 16-kilometer (10-mile) long peninsula on which Jamaica's largest airport is situated, juts out from the east and protects the harbor. At the tip is Port Royal, which was once the pirate capital of the Caribbean until an earthquake in 1692 destroyed much of the city. A ferry operates between Kingston and Port Royal.

Kingston's area is 25 square kilometers (10 square miles), but greater Kingston, known as the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation, which comprises both Kingston and St. Andrew parishes, spreads out over 492 square kilometers (191 square miles).

To the north, the foothills of the Blue Mountains provide a beautiful backdrop to the city. To the west lie the Dry Harbour Mountains. These mountain ranges contribute to tropical Jamaica's moderate humidity and rainfall levels. During the winter, Kingston receives an average of 30 millimeters (1.18 inches) of rainfall each month, with 108 millimeters (4.25 inches) a month during the rest of the year.

Kingston's average temperature varies little throughout the year. In the winter, temperatures range from 23 to 31 degrees Celsius (73 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit) and in the summer, from 26 to 32 degrees Celsius (79 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit).

The hurricane season lasts from July through November. Kingston has been hit hard by several hurricanes, including Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, Hurricane Dean in 2007, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The city experienced some flooding from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 but was largely spared.

Kingston is vulnerable to climate change. Its coral reefs, mangrove forests, and sea grass beds have a high risk of being damaged by increasing water temperatures. Flooding from heavy rain is another concern. Extreme weather events such as stronger hurricanes are also anticipated. Jamaica is dependent on groundwater, which decreases with reductions in precipitation.

People

According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, by the end of 2017, the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, known together as the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation, had a population of 670,312. According to the US Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook, Kingston had a 2022 population estimate of approximately 595,000 people. Kingston is comprised mostly of Black people or people of mixed heritage (98 percent), with small percentages of Hispanics, East Indians, Chinese, Middle Easterners, white people, and others.

Most major religions are practiced in the city, although the majority of residents are Christians. Kingston is the site of the only Jewish temple on the island of Jamaica. In addition, many Jamaicans belong to the Rastafari religion, which holds former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I as "Jah," or the messiah.

The official language is English, but many Jamaicans speak a mixture of English, African dialects, Creole, Spanish, and Rastafarian slang.

Despite the fact that approximately 17.1 percent of the population lived below poverty level as of 2016, Jamaicans enjoy one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world (75.75 years as of 2022), according to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. The western neighborhoods of Kingston, including Trenchtown, represent some of the worst living conditions in the country. Residents in these ghettoes struggle with gang warfare and other crime. The 1972 film The Harder They Come depicts the violence common in Kingston in the context of a story about the career of a hopeful reggae musician.

Kingston's wealthiest suburbs, including Beverly Hills, are located in the north just beyond the New Kingston area, where hotels, restaurants, banks, and office buildings provide jobs for the middle class.

Kingston offers a smorgasbord of ethnic food from around the world. Traditional Jamaican meals consist of rice and beans, supplemented by goat or chicken and fruits. Jamaican jerked meats, which are notoriously spicy, are first marinated in a hot sauce and then barbecued over pimento wood. Local fruits include mangoes, naseberry, breadfruit, coconut, ackee, and bananas. Popular breakfast foods include ackee, the national fruit; saltfish; and bammies, pancakes made with cassava root.

Economy

Kingston serves as Jamaica's primary shipping port for agricultural exports. These include sugar, rum, bananas, citrus, yams, coffee, and crustaceans. Agriculture is also an important industry in the country. The service industry represents the largest area of economic growth in Kingston, with many new hotels and restaurants catering to business travel and tourism. Dancehalls and concerts featuring reggae, calypso, soca, mento, and "dancehall" rap attract music lovers. However, Kingston struggles to maintain its share of the island's tourists. Violence has kept many people away from the city. Kingston's dangerous roads make travel risky, although the government continues to make improvements. The city also lacks "destination" resorts, such as those being developed along the northern coast and in other parts of Jamaica.

In 2021, Jamaica's gross domestic product (GDP) was $27.2 billion. Increasing economic activity brought down the country's unemployment rate to 2.5 percent in April 2023, the lowest in its history. However, despite this progress, 33 percent of Jamaicans were severely food insecure in May 2023.

Landmarks

Kingston is laid out on a grid system, making the city easy to navigate. The downtown area, which includes the waterfront, is the oldest part of the city. While downtown offers a bustling port, a view of the bay, and several historic sites, the uptown area of New Kingston is considered the safest part of the city.

Museums in the downtown area include the National Gallery of Jamaica and the Institute of Jamaica, dedicated to the history of the island. The National Library and the Natural History Museum are also located at the Institute. Perhaps the most popular landmark is the Bob Marley Museum, located uptown at the musician's former home.

Other cultural landmarks include the Ward Theatre, built after an earthquake in 1907 destroyed the Theatre Royal. One of the largest venues in the Caribbean area, it features many theatrical, musical, and dance events.

National Heroes Park is the largest green space in Kingston. A former racetrack, it is now popular with families for gatherings and for playing sports. Monuments of Jamaica's most prominent citizens, including Marcus Garvey, Samuel Sharpe, and Nanny of the Windward Maroons, decorate the park. Other outdoor spaces include the Hope Botanical Gardens and William Grant Park, named for a famous labor leader.

Kingston has lost many historic buildings to natural disasters, including earthquakes and hurricanes, throughout the past few centuries. Surviving buildings of architectural interest include Vale Royal, built in 1697 for the British Colonial Secretary and now the residence of the prime minister; Devon House, built in 1881 by George Steibel, Jamaica's first black millionaire; and King's House, home of the governor-general since 1872. Headquarters House, built in 1755 by merchant and slave-trader Thomas Hibbert, is now occupied by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.

History

The Arawak Indians were the first inhabitants of what is now Kingston, but they were wiped out by the end of the seventeenth century by the Spaniards who had invaded Jamaica a century earlier.

In 1655, Oliver Cromwell defeated the Spanish and claimed the island for Great Britain. At the time, Kingston was little more than grazing land for wild animals.

The British chose Port Royal for a fort. Situated across the harbor from the mainland, at the tip of the Palisadoes peninsula, it offered an ideal position from which to protect the island. Eventually, Port Royal became the bustling center of pirate activity in the Caribbean.

In 1692, Port Royal was devastated by an earthquake, and much of the city sunk into the bay. Nearly 5,000 residents died. Disaster struck again in 1702, when a fire destroyed most of the homes in the area. The survivors fled and began a new life across the bay, naming Kingston for the British king, William of Orange.

The city grew during the next century, and played a central role in the development of sugar plantations and the slave trade in Jamaica. The British continued to operate Port Royal as a naval base.

During the eighteenth century, slave uprisings and attacks by the Maroons, slaves who had been freed by the Spanish or had escaped, weakened Spanish Town, the Jamaican capital. In 1872, Kingston, a vital city where many freed slaves had taken refuge, was named the new capital.

For some freed slaves, Kingston represented opportunity, while others barely survived there. By the end of the nineteenth century, a sharp divide had developed between the community's wealthy and poor residents. These tensions increased throughout the twentieth century.

Since the 1960s, the local government has undertaken initiatives to improve education, reform land ownership, and to create new jobs, although these projects have typically not kept pace with the increase in population. At the same time, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization named Kingston a Creative City of Music in 2015. However, economic frustration has resulted in the formation of dangerous gangs and the growth of the illegal drug trade in the city.

Bibliography

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Brill, Mark. Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. Prentice Hall, 2011.

"End of Year Population by Parish." Statistical Institute of Jamaica, statinja.gov.jm/demo‗socialstats/EndofYearPopulationbyParish.aspx. Accessed 12 Mar. 2019.

"In Jamaica, Farmers Struggle to Contend with a Changing Climate." UN Environment Programme, 27 May 2022, www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/jamaica-farmers-struggle-contend-changing-climate. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

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