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.


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