Montego Bay

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Montego Bay

Montego Bay is the second largest city in Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about south of Cuba, and west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated....
and is the location of Jamaica's largest airport, the Sir Donald Sangster International Airport

Sir Donald Sangster International Airport

Sir Donald Sangster International Airport is an international airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and is one of the largest, busiest and most modern airports in the Caribbean....
.

Montego Bay is known for its duty free shopping and cruise line terminal at its Free Port on a beautiful, man-made peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
jutting into the bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water bordered by land on three sides. Bays generally have calm waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some ocean surface wave and often reducing winds....
.

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Montego Bay is the second largest city in Jamaica

Jamaica

Sir Donald Sangster International Airport

Peninsula

Bay

Doctor's Cave Beach Club

Doctor's Cave Beach Club, Montego Bay has been one of the most famous beaches in Jamaica for nearly a century.It is noted for its crystal clear turquoise waters and near white sand....
with clear turquoise waters is one of the most famous beaches on the island. The bay is surrounded by picturesque low mountains.

Montego Bay is third in population to Kingston

Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the Capital and largest city of Jamaica and is located on the southeastern coast of the island country. It faces a natural harbor protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit which connects Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island....
and Spanish Town

Spanish Town

Spanish Town is the capital and largest city in the parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the former Spanish and English capital of Jamaica from the 16th to the 19th century....
St. Catherine

St. Catherine

St. Catherine may refer to:...
with about 230,000 people and lies in St. James Parish

Saint James Parish, Jamaica

St James is a suburban parish, located on the north west end of the island of Jamaica. Its Capital , Montego Bay, originally called Manteca by the Spanish, was named the second city of Jamaica, behind Kingston, Jamaica, in 1981....
on the northwest coast of the island. Air Jamaica

Air Jamaica

Air Jamaica, Ltd is Jamaica's national airline and the largest Caribbean based airline. Headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, it operates scheduled services from Kingston and Montego Bay to 14 destinations in the Caribbean, Canada, the United States....
and several American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
and British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
airlines run their Caribbean hub in "MoBay" (Sangster International Airport) connecting the island with the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, and recently Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
with flights to Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
, Montreal

Montreal

Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....
and Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is the largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and High Plains, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies....
. The southern U.S. city of Miami

Miami, Florida

Miami is a global city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, the most populous county in Florida....
can be reached within 70 minutes. The southern U.S. cities of Charlotte

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is the largest city in the state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The List of United States cities by population in the United States....
, Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
, Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the Capital and most populous city in Georgia , as well as the 33rd largest city in the United States of America with a population of 519,145....
, and Tampa

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County, Florida, on the west coast of the state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County....
are reached by nonstop flights in less than three hours. Other locations like New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, Boston, Washington D.C., and Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
are reached in under four hours.

The name "Montego Bay" is believed to have originated as a corruption of the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
word manteca ("lard

Lard

Lard is Domestic pig fat in both its Rendering and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a Spread similar to butter....
"), allegedly because during the Spanish period it was the port where lard, leather

Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of rawhides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material for various uses....
, and beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, European cuisine and the Americas, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia....
were exported. Jamaica was a colony

Colony

In politics and in history, a colony is a Territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies....
of Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
from 1511 until 1655 when Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English people Military history of the United Kingdom and Politics of England leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's Caribbean expedition, the Western Design, drove the Spanish from the island. Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
, when he first visited the island in 1494, named the bay Golfo de Buen Tiempo ('Fair Weather Gulf')

During the epoch of slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
, from the mid-17th century until 1834, and well into the 20th century, the town functioned primarily as a sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
port. The island's last major slave revolt, the Christmas Rebellion or Baptist War

Baptist War

The Baptist War also known as the Christmas Uprising and the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831-32, was a 10 day rebellion that mobilized as many as 60,000 of Jamaica's 300,000 slave population....
(1831–1832) took place in the area around Montego Bay; the leader of the revolt, Samuel Sharpe

Samuel Sharpe

Samuel 'Sam' Sharpe, or Sharp, was the slavery leader behind the Jamaican Baptist War slave rebellion....
, was hanged there in 1832. In 1975, Sharpe was proclaimed a national hero of Jamaica, and the main square of the town was renamed in his honour.

In 1980, Montego Bay was proclaimed a city by act of parliament, but this has not meant that it has acquired any form of autonomy as it continues to be an integral part of St. James parish.

Today, the city is known for its large regional hospital (Cornwall Regional Hospital), port facilities, second home

Second home

Second home may refer to:* Vacation property* Pied-?-terreSee also*Second home ownership...
s for numerous upper class Jamaicans from Kingston as well as Americans and Europeans, fine restaurants, and shopping opportunities. The coastland near Montego Bay is occupied by numerous tourist resorts, most newly built, some occupying the grounds of old sugar cane plantation

Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
s with some of the original buildings and mill-works still standing. The most famous of these are the White Witch's

White Witch (of Rose Hall)

The White Witch, Annie Palmer, was born in Paris. She is a character in Jamaica folklore.According to legend, she was a beautiful but spoiled young white woman who arrived on the island as the wife of the owner of Rose Hall Plantation, east of Montego Bay in 1820....
Rose Hall and Tryall, both of which now feature world-class golf course

Golf course

A golf course consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, Golf course#Fairway and rough, rough and other hazards, and a green with a pin and cup, all designed for the game of golf....
s.

The Infrastructure of the City of Montego Bay is going through a series of explosive modernizations which once completed will aim to make the city the top destination in the Caribbean.

Montego Bay, Jamaica is one of the top resort destinations in the Caribbean because of the depth and beauty of its attractions and the wide variety of hotel choices ranging from 3 Stars such as Sandals and Breezes to 5 Star posh hotels like the Ritz Carlton, Half Moon, Round Hill and so on.

In Popular Culture

It was the set of movies such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back. The home of Reggae Sumfest and Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues. The city was the subject of the namesake song

Montego Bay (song)

"Montego Bay" is a song by Bobby Bloom about the Montego Bay. The song was a Top 40 hit record for Bloom in September 1970 in both the UK Singles Chart, and reached #8 in the United States, Billboard Hot 100, record chart....
by Bobby Bloom

Bobby Bloom

Robert "Bobby" Bloom was an United States singer-songwriter. He is known best for being a one-hit wonder with the 1970 song "Montego Bay ," which was co-written and record producer by Jeff Barry....
in 1970, later covered by Jon Stevens

Jon Stevens

Jon Stevens is a New Zealand-born singer, now an Australian citizen. Stevens is the brother of New Zealand Idol judge Frankie Stevens.Stevens moved to Australia after success as a pop star in New Zealand in the 1970s ....
ten years later, and was revived by Amazulu

Amazulu (band)

Amazulu were a United Kingdom ska and new wave music band from the 1980s....
to became a minor hit in the U.S.

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard Single popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on airplay and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the airplay tracking-week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday....
in September 1986.

A large section of the book Rule of the Bone

Rule of the Bone

Rule Of The Bone is a 1995 novel by Russell Banks. It is a bildungsroman about the 14-year-old American narrator, Chappie, later dubbed Bone , who, after having dropped out of school, turns to the guidance of a Rastafarian Jamaican illegal immigrant....
by Russell Banks

Russell Banks

Russell Banks is an United States of America writer of fiction and poetry....
takes place in Montego Bay.