Port Maria
| Port Maria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 18 ° 22 ′ N , 76 ° 54 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Jamaica | ||
| county | Middlesex | ||
| Saint Mary | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | JM-05 | ||
| Residents | 7713 (2010) | ||
| politics | |||
| mayor | Richard Creary | ||
Port Maria is a small town in northern Jamaica . The second oldest city on the island is in County Middlesex . It is the capital of the Parish Saint Mary . In 2010 Port Maria had a population of 7,713 people. In the west of the coastal city, the Otram River flows into the Atlantic . The small island of Carbarita Island belongs to the city .
history
Port Maria is the second oldest city in Jamaica after Saint Ann's Bay . It was founded by Spanish explorers under the name Puerto Santa Maria . In the 16th century the city was conquered by English colonialists . In 1655 a large number of African slaves formed on the hills around the city, who were now free after the escape of the Spanish colonial masters, and founded the Maroon Societies. Occasionally these attacked British settlements.
In 1760 a notorious British slave named Tacky, who was a tribal chief before he was abducted from Africa, led a revolt against slave owners. This broke into the port of Port Maria on the night before Easter Monday and captured muskets , gunpowder and bullets. By the time the day came, hundreds had joined him. They moved inland, destroying one hated plantation after another and killing the owners. The rebels were able to capture several ammunition dumps in Port Maria. In the end, however, they were outnumbered and poorly equipped, so that British soldiers, with two full companies , were able to suppress the uprising after more than a month of resistance. Tacky was shot from behind. After the rebellion, many slaves tried to escape the soldiers by taking refuge in the nearby mountains. There they joined the Maroons. Nevertheless, around 300 slaves were executed for the uprising. The event was named Easter Rebellion or Tacky's War and was one of the central slave uprisings in Jamaica's history.
Under Spanish and English rule, the city was an important trading center for a long time. Little is left of its wealth today.
Historical buildings
Several buildings from the 18th century have been preserved in the city. The oldest building in the city is the Port Maria courthouse from 1820. The building suffered severe fire damage in 1988. In 2000 it was redeveloped as the Port Maria Civic Center , in the style of the original. In addition to the court, the building also houses the police and the municipal council office.
Across from the Civic Center is St. Mary Parish Church, an Anglican church that was completed in 1861. In 1987 the building won an award entitled "Heritage in Architecture" ( heritage of architecture ).
Next to the church is a memorial called the Tacky Monument in memory of the slave revolt in 1760.
sons and daughters of the town
- Ini Kamoze (* 1957), Jamaican musician
Individual evidence
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives:
- ↑ a b c d e f g Port Maria at VisitJamaica.com ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Jamaica Travel and Culture
