Everything about Saint Mary Parish Jamaica totally explained
Saint Mary is a
parish located in the northeast section of
Jamaica. It is one of Jamaica's smallest parishes, located in the
county of Middlesex. Its chief town and
capital is Port Maria, located on the
coast. It is also the birthplace of established dancehall reggae artists, such as
Capleton,
Lady Saw,
Ninja Man,
Sizzla and
Tanya Stephens.
Brief history
There are a few traces of
Taíno/
Arawak presence in the parish. Saint Mary was also one of the first sections of the
island to be occupied by the
Spaniards. Puerto Santa Maria, later Port Maria, was the second town the Spaniards built on the island. In
1655, after the
English captured Jamaica from the Spanish, the area around the north coast town of Santa Maria became known as St. Mary, with the chief town called Port Maria.
There are indications of strong
resistance to
slavery in the parish. The
Easter Rebellion led by Tacky in
1760 and the existence of the
Maroons at Scotts Hall showed that the parish was one of the most active in the fights for
freedom. Its present size was determined in
1867, when the parish of Metcalfe was merged with St Mary.
Geography
St. Mary is located at
latitude 18°09'N,
longitude 77°03'W. It is bordered by
Portland in the
east,
St. Ann in the
west, and parts of
St. Catherine and
St. Andrew in the
south.
The parish covers an area of 610
sq km, making it Jamaica's fifth smallest parish. The
terrain is
mountainous, rising up to almost 4000 feet at the highest point, but there are no distinctive
mountain ranges. The
climate is varied, like most parishes on the island. The
eastern section of the parish has
shale rock and an intricate surface
draining pattern, while the
western section is
limestone with predominantly underground
rivers. There are three main rivers in Saint Mary; the Rio Nuevo River, Wag Water and White Rivers. These rivers are often slow, and at times create
swamps in the surrounding area.
Commerce
The parish has a good variety of agricultural resources. The principal products are
bananas,
sugar,
citrus,
pimento,
cocoa,
coconuts,
coffee,
vegetables,
breadfruit and anatto.
Pastoralism is also practised. In recent years, however,
agriculture has been on the decline, which may be due to the problems that Jamaican banana
export has been facing. There is also a lack of
investment and praedial
larceny at varying levels.
The parish, for several years, has been listed as one of the poorest in Jamaica, althouth there's potential for vast development. It boasts what is thought by some to be one of the best secondary level
schools in the nation, St. Mary High, from which several outstanding people have come. They occupy several reputable positions in varying sectors both at home and overseas.
Essential
services includes
banking and
postal services.
Tourism is a relatively small sector in the parish.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Saint Mary Parish Jamaica'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://saint_mary_parish__jamaica.totallyexplained.com">Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
