PORTLAND: THE OTHER JAMAICA

Description:

Portland...offers a glimpse into the history of this most beautiful Jamaican parish. Shaped by the heavy hand of Mother Nature, the parish is blessed with outstanding beauty and challenged by remarkable geography, which provided the perfect homeland for the Windward Maroons as they fled the terror of colonial oppression under their spiritual leader of Nanny. The eventual end of slavery in 1838 opened up abandoned sugar plantations to modest opportunities for liberated slaves. Within a generation they were enterprising banana farmers turning Portland into the Banana Capital of the World. Tourism soon followed as did celebrities, including Errol Flynn.

subjects: Jamaica,  history,  Portland parish,  banana industry,  Maroons

People: Errol Flynn

Places: Port Antonio,  Moore Town,  Nanny Town,  Frenchman's Cove

Times: 1500-1960