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Saint Elizabeth Sint Elizabet | |
|---|---|
 Saint Elizabeth in Jamaica | |
| Country | Jamaica |
| County | Cornwall |
| Capital | Black River |
| Other towns | Treasure Beach,Santa Cruz,Malvern,Junction, Balaclava,Prospect,Southfield |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,212.4 km2 (468.1 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 2[2] |
| Population (2012)[3] | |
• Total | 150,993 |
| • Density | 124.54/km2 (322.56/sq mi) |
Saint Elizabeth (Jamaican Patois:Sint Elizabet) is one ofJamaica's largestparishes. It is located in thesouthwest of theisland, in thecounty ofCornwall. Its capital,Black River, is located at themouth of theBlack River, the widest on the island.
Saint Elizabeth originally included most of the southwest part of the island, butWestmoreland was taken from it in 1703, and in 1814 a part ofManchester. The resulting areas were named after the wife of SirThomas Modyford, the first EnglishGovernor of Jamaica.
There are archeological traces ofTaíno/Arawak existence in the parish, as well as of 17th-century colonial Spanish settlements. After 1655, when the English settled on the island, they concentrated on developing large sugar cane plantations with enslaved African workers. Today, buildings with 'Spanish wall' construction (masonry of limestone sand and stone between wooden frames) can still be seen in some areas.
St Elizabeth became a prosperous parish, and Black River an important seaport. In addition to shipping sugar and molasses, Black River became the centre of thelogging trade. Large quantities oflogwood were exported to Europe to make a blue dye very likePrussian blue, which was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.[citation needed]
St Elizabeth was the first parish to have electric power, where it was first introduced in a house called Waterloo in Black River in 1893.
In October 2025, St Elizabeth was directly hit byHurricane Melissa, causing devastation throughout the parish including destroying a majority of the parish capitalBlack River,[4] with damage dubbed by media as a "disaster of unprecedented catastrophe".[5][6]
The parish is located atlatitude 18°15'N, andlongitude 77°56'W; to the west ofManchester, to the east ofWestmoreland, and to the south ofSt. James andTrelawny. It covers an area of 1,212.4 km2, making it Jamaica's second-largest parish, smaller only thanSaint Ann's 1,212.6 km2. The parish is divided into four electoral districts (constituencies), that is North-East, North-West, South-East and South-West.
The northern and northeastern parts of the parish aremountainous. There are three mountain ranges —the Nassau Mountains to the north-east, the Lacovia Mountains to the west of the Nassau Mountains, and the Santa Cruz Mountains which, running south, divide the wide plain to end in a precipitous drop of 1,600 feet (490 m) at Lovers' Leap. The central and southern sections form an extensiveplain divided by the Santa Cruz Mountains. A large part of thelowlands is covered by morass, but it still providesgrazing land forhorses andmules.
The main river in the parish is theBlack River, and measuring 53.4 kilometres (33.2 mi), it is one of the longest rivers in Jamaica. It is navigable for about 40 kilometres (25 mi), and is supported by manytributaries including Y.S., Broad, Grass and Horse Savannah. The river has its source in the mountains ofManchester where it rises and flows west as the border between Manchester andTrelawny then goes underground. It reappears briefly in several surrounding towns, but reemerges near Balaclava and tumbles down gorges to the plain known as the Savannah, through the Great Morass and to the sea at Black River, the capital of the parish.
The geology of the parish is primarily alluvial plains to the south, andkarsticlimestone to the north. The karstic zones are known to contain over 130 caves (Jamaica Cave Register as of 2007 - from Fincham and JCO). These include Mexico Cave and Wallingford River Cave, near Balaclava, which are two associated sections of a major underground river that has its source in south Trelawny, as well as Yardley Chase Caves near the foot of Lovers' Leap, and Peru Cave, near Goshen, which hasstalactites andstalagmites. Mineral deposits includebauxite,antimony, white limestone,clay,peat andsilicasand, which is used to manufacture glass.
The parish had an estimatedpopulation of 148,000 in 2001, 4000 of whom live in thecapital town. The distinct feature of this parish is that numerousethnic groups can be found here; St Elizabeth has the greatest ethnic mixture in Jamaica. The Meskito (corrupted to ‘Mosquito’) Indians brought to Jamaica to help capture theMaroons, were allowed to settle in southern St. Elizabeth in return for their assistance and given land grants in this parish. This parish has also attracted Dutch, Spanish, Indian,Maroon, mulatto, English, and other European inhabitants from the 17th century onwards, with the result that many observers feel that it has more people of mixed-race ancestry than can be found in any other part of the island.
In the 19th centuryIrish,Spanish,Portuguese,Scottish,Germans, Chinese, and East Indians have migrated to Saint Elizabeth. There are pockets of ethnic concentrations in the parish, includingMulatto,Creole, andEnglish notably found in the southeast.
Saint Elizabeth Parish has fourMPs based in fourconstituencies:Saint Elizabeth North Eastern,Saint Elizabeth North Western,Saint Elizabeth South Eastern andSaint Elizabeth South Western.
The parish has been a major producer ofbauxite since the 1960s. Port Kaiser, near a town calledAlligator Pond, has a leading deep-waterpier for bauxiteexport. The Alpart alumina refinery was constructed in the 1960s at Nain and produces nearly 2 million tonnes of alumina annually for export. The replacement cost of building the refinery is approximately $2 billion.
There are other alumina refineries close to the nearby town of Mandeville.
Apart frombauxite mining, the parish also produces a large quantity of Jamaica'ssugar; there are two sugar factories in the parish.Fishing is a majorindustry in the parish, as is tomato canning; a plant is at Bull Savannah. The parish also cultivatescrops such ascassava,corn,peas,beans,pimento,ginger,tobacco,tomato,rice sweet potatoes andcoffee. As a result of the fertile soil that provide for grazing fields,pastoralism is possible.Livestock includegoats,sheep,hogs, andcattle,horses.
Since the 1990s, the parish has become a significanttourist destination, with most visitors going to theTreasure Beach area. TheAppletonrumdistillery, near the roughCockpit Country in the north of the parish, is also a tourist destination. The Cockpit area was the site of Maroon settlements through much of the 18th century.Ecological tourism along the Black and YS rivers, and in the Great Morass, has been developed in recent years.
The parish has 12 high schools and 75 primary level institutions as well as 167 early childhood institutions.[citation needed] Notable institutions include:
The Social Development Commission's national grid of communities has sixty one communities in St. Elizabeth broken down into 465 districts. The communities which include major towns are:
Flagaman
St. Elizabeth has approximately 44caves, including:
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