Parishes of Jamaica

Parishes of Jamaica
Category	Unitary state
Location	Jamaica
Number	14 Parishes
Populations	68,000 (Hanover) – 541,000 (Saint Andrew)
Areas	25 km^2 (9.7 sq mi) (Kingston) – 1,213 km^2 (468 sq mi) (Saint Ann)
Government	Parish government, National government
Subdivisions	Cities, Towns, Villages

Administratively, Jamaica is divided into fourteen parishes. They are grouped into three historic counties, which have no administrative relevance. Every parish has a coast; none is landlocked.

The traditional county towns were Savanna-la-Mar for Cornwall County, Spanish Town for Middlesex County, and Kingston for Surrey County.

Parish		Capital	Area km²	Population Census 2011
Cornwall County
1	Hanover	Lucea	450.4	69,533
2	Saint Elizabeth	Black River	1,212.4	150,205
3	Saint James	Montego Bay	594.9	183,811
4	Trelawny	Falmouth	874.6	75,164
5	Westmoreland	Savanna-la-Mar	807.0	144,103
Middlesex County
6	Clarendon	May Pen	1,196.3	245,103
7	Manchester	Mandeville	830.1	189,797
8	Saint Ann	Saint Ann's Bay	1,212.6	172,362
9	Saint Catherine	Spanish Town	1,192.4	516,218
10	Saint Mary	Port Maria	610.5	113,615
Surrey County
11	Kingston Parish^(1) ^(2)	Kingston	21.8	89,057
12	Portland	Port Antonio	814.0	81,744
13	Saint Andrew^(1)	Half Way Tree	430.7	573,369
14	Saint Thomas	Morant Bay	742.8	93,902
Total			10,991.0	2,697,983

⁽¹⁾ The parishes of Kingston and Saint Andrew together form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation.
⁽²⁾ The parish of Kingston does not encompass all of the city of Kingston. Most of the city is in the parish of St. Andrew.

Map of the parishes of Jamaica.

Former Parishes

Parishes have been a feature of local administration in Jamaica since the island was captured by the English in 1655.^[1] The number has varied over time and some no longer exist having either been absorbed into or divided between neighbouring parishes.^[1] At the peak, 1841–1865, there were 22 (the current 14 plus those listed below).^[1]

The current set of parishes was established in 1866 with the elimination of the 8 listed below (roughly by county):^[1]

Surrey:

• Port Royal (now divided between Kingston and Saint Andrew)
• Saint George (now divided between Saint Mary and Portland)
• Saint David (now part of Saint Thomas)

Middlesex:

• Metcalfe (now part of Saint Mary)
• Saint Dorothy (now part of Saint Catherine)
• Saint John (now part of Saint Catherine)
• Saint Thomas in the Vale (now part of Saint Catherine) – note that the current Saint Thomas used to be named "Saint Thomas in the East" to differentiate between the two parishes at the time.
• Vere (now part of Clarendon)

See also

• List of Caribbean First-level Subdivisions by Total Area
• ISO 3166-2:JM

References

1. Prestwidge, Bill. "Jamaican Parish Reference". Retrieved 2009-10-24.

External links

• Jamaica Parishes , a concise description of the parishes n Jamaica.