3 Things to know about Kingston Jamaica


When you think about Jamaica, you can be forgiven for thinking about sand, sea, and sun. After all, that is the dominant image of Jamaica that big tourism businesses want you to see. However, if you want to go beyond the coastal natural beauty to exploring the culture and life of Jamaica, your first stop should be our capital city, Kingston. For the intellectually inquisitive, I present in this post this list of 3 things to know about Kingston city.

1: Pirates "Ahoy, mate" 

If you are crazy about pirates, then you may want to know that Jamaica served as one of the homes of the notorious seventeenth-century buccaneers, otherwise known in pop culture as the pirates. And if you watched the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean", you may want to learn about the real history of the people and the setting that is fictionalized and glorified in film. If so, Kingston is your destination of choice. The city is next to Port Royal, the home of buccaneers or pirates like the infamous Henry Morgan until the "1692 earthquake plunged the city into the ocean" (Nicolls, 2010, p. 65). According to Noelle Nicolls (2010), the city Port Royal was "once considered the wealthiest and wickedest city in the New World" (p. 60). In visiting Kingston, you can arrange for a trip to see the remaining portion of the Port Royal that is still above water and near to the airport. You can learn more from the Jamaican National Heritage Trust's website.


2: Kingston was not always the capital city of Jamaica

Yes, that is right. Jamaica was once a Spanish Colony, believe it or not (a subject for another future post). At that time, the capital of Jamaica was once located in a place renamed by the British as "Spanish Town", a historic town about 30 minutes drive from Kingston. As Nicolls (2010) puts it, Kingston only took the capital city title from Spanish Town less than 200 years ago in 1872. Interestingly, the city of Kingston was originally established to house Port Royal's earthquake survivors after the devasting 1692 earthquake (Senior, 2003, p. 264).

3: Kingston is the birthplace of several 20th-century music genres

If you know the name Bob Marley and reggae, then you will appreciate the city that birthed it all. Kingston is the city with the first studios that produce reggae music, including the studio that recorded Bob Marley. While Bob Marley was not born in Kingston, this city not only gave him his career but also become his home, where you can visit his museum. In addition to Reggae, Kingston is also the home to Rock Steady, Dub, Dance Hall. Reggae is also considered to be the inspiration behind hip-hop music (Board, n.d.). You can learn more about the alternate Jamaican music genres from this page from the Jamaica Information Service or from this page from the World Music Network.


References/Sources:


Board, J. A. (n.d.). Reggae’s Impact on Hip-Hop. Retrieved January 07, 2018, from https://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/board.html

Nicolls, N. (2010). Kingston. In A. Ali (Ed.), Jamaica absolutely (pp. 60-65). Hertfordshire, UK: Hansib.

Senior, O. (2003). Encyclopedia of Jamaican heritage. St. Andrew: Twin Guinep.


About the author

I am  Mark-Shane Scale, a trained librarian and an educator currently residing in Kingston.  I  help connect you to the information for you plan your travel to Kingston.  I can help you plan the list of places to visit and events to attend in Kingston based on specified criteria:
- Family friendly
- Intellectually stimulating, educational, or cultural
- Where to shop for gifts, books, souvenirs
- Places of worship to visit
- free/cheap cultural/local events


Get your questions answered today.


Contact me on  the following platforms

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trench Town

If you are coming to Kingston, Jamaica in 2018, you have reason to be delighted that you selected the New York Times 24th must-visit city for 2017. As Dreisinger (2017) puts it, Kingston is a "cultural  destination, not just a stopover to the beach".  Dreisinger further lists Kingston as the city for eating local cuisine and dining at various restaurants taking in Jamaican music visiting museums That said, if you want to see urban space that gave birth to most of Jamaica's popular music, you may want to check out the Trench Town Culture Yard. According to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (2011), "Trench Town Culture Yard is located at 6 & 8 Lower First Street in Trench Town" and is today a a small museum that presents the history of Trench Town along with artefacts, "instruments and furnishing used by Tata Ford, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer". In addition to this, visitors can make use of The Casbah Cafe and the Lion of Judah
Read more

About me and why I am starting this blog

I am going to be honest with you. I am starting this blog for two reasons: 1) to share my passion for my birth city and the place that nurtured me for my early years and my university years 2) to make money as a potential travel consultant to those visiting or planning to live in Kingston. In essence, I want to share my passion for Kingston city, the Jamaican edition, and hopefully, get paid for it.  With that in mind, I want to offer those who visit this blog information that I hope you find useful, relevant, and even informative about my special city. I plan to post at least once a month on events in Kingston or historical information or other cultural information about this special city. This creative city of Kingston is home to great music and several fantastic genres of music. It may not have the beaches, but it is a good city. And you will learn more about it from me within the next few months.  I also promise you that I will post credible sources and links rega
Read more

Visiting UWI Mona Research Days: An event for the mind

Image
In February, the birth month of Robert Nesta Marley, there is another reason to visit Kingston city. Let us say that you are the type of tourist interested in more than just entertainment and want to venture into an inspiring and intellectual space to see the research and innovation being undertaken within Jamaica. So apart from listening to music and entertainment, perhaps you want to talk with some bright minds and young academics within this developing country to find out what problems they are studying and trying to address. Or you are simply interested in learning more about the university and its technological and research output and contribution to the region? Well, Kingston is definitely the place to be and early February is the month to visit Jamaica. Discovering one of the leading research university on the island, the Universty of the West Indies, Mona Campus, should be one of your priorities. For free of cost (minus your travel expenses), you can attend the many events
Read more