Mona | |
|---|---|
Community | |
  Mona | |
| Coordinates: 18°00′33″N76°44′58″W / 18.0091821°N 76.7494583°W Coordinates: 18°00′33″N76°44′58″W / 18.0091821°N 76.7494583°W | |
| Country | Jamaica |
| City | Kingston |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| Postal code | Kingston 7 |
Mona is a neighbourhood in southeastern Saint Andrew Parish, approximately eight kilometres from Kingston, Jamaica. A former sugarcane plantation, it is the site of a reservoir serving the city of Kingston and the main campus of the University of the West Indies.
The neighbourhood is named for the former Mona Estate. [1]
Mona is bordered by the neighbouring communities of Liguanea, Hope Pastures, Beverly Hills, August Town, and Papine. [2]
The Mona Reservoir replaces the system of aqueducts that were used at the sugar plantations and then the city of Kingston. The reservoir is now the main water source for Kingston and a recreational area for hikers. [1]
Much of Mona was on what was earlier part of estate holdings awarded to British officers who took over Jamaica from the Spanish in the 1655. [3] [4]
The Mona Estate was once a large sugar plantation with water supplied via stone aqueducts. [1] Evidence of its existence can be found in the ruins of water wheel, mills, and aqueducts on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies. [5]
During World War II, a refugee camp was established for Gibraltarian [6] and Jewish refugees from Portugal and Spain. [7] [8] By 1942, approximately 1,500 evacuees from Gibraltar, a British territory, were in Jamaica; other civilians were evacuated to Britain and Madeira. They were removed to make way for a military force of 30,000 who fortified the area against German attack. [9]
To speed up the development of the camp, barrack frames were built on the Jamaica-bound ship. The camp was situated on 252 acres of the former Mona Estate. It had housing for the evacuees, staff, and Roman Catholic priests and nuns. Facilities included a hospital, police station, and store. It was outfitted with electrical, water, and telephone service. [9] There was a kosher kitchen and synagogue for Jewish refugees. People who had a trade could work within the camp. [9]
The camp was designed to take 7,000, but the population of Malta had refused to be moved to Jamaica and the authorities wanted to use the unused capacity as a prisoner of war camp or as barracks for the local militia in 1943. [6] [7]
Formerly the College of Arts, Sciences and Technology (CAST), the University of Technology offers hospitality and architectural programmes. It has the largest sculpture garden in the Kingston area. [1]
In 1948, the Mona campus was established as a college of the University of London. [10] It is the first campus of the multi-campus University of the West Indies system. In October 1948, it accepted 33 medical students. In 1949 and 1950, Natural Science and the Arts were added to the curriculum, respectively. It now offers undergraduate, masters and doctoral courses in a wide range of subjects. [7]
The University of the West Indies Mona campus is situated on the former site of the camp. Wooden buildings erected for the refugee camp were repurposed to become the original campus structures, [5] which included lecture halls, laboratories, residence halls, and office buildings. These buildings were augmented with new construction that began in the early 1950s. [7] Ruins from the Mona Estate, a sugar plantation, are present on the campus, including a water wheel, aqueducts, and mills. [5] The chapel was built from stone blocks from an old, abandoned mansion in Trelawny. [1]
The University Hospital of the West Indies was opened in 1953. In addition to offering patient care, the hospital also facilitates research and teaching along with the Medical Services department of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies. [11]
Sugar plantations in the Caribbean were a major part of the economy of the islands in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Most Caribbean islands were covered with sugar cane fields and mills for refining the crop. The main source of labor, until the abolition of chattel slavery, was enslaved Africans. After the abolition of slavery, indentured laborers from India, China, Portugal and other places were brought to the Caribbean to work in the sugar industry. These plantations produced 80 to 90 percent of the sugar consumed in Western Europe, later supplanted by European-grown sugar beet.
Codrington College is an Anglican theological college in St. John, Barbados now affiliated with the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill. It is the oldest Anglican theological college in the Americas. It was affiliated to the University of Durham from 1875.
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory. The aim of the university is to help 'unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth' in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy. The University was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.
Saint Andrew is a parish, situated in the southeast of Jamaica in the county of Surrey. It lies north, west and east of Kingston, and stretches into the Blue Mountains. In the 2011 census, it had 573,369, the highest population of any of the parishes in Jamaica. George William Gordon, one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes, was born in this parish.
Liguanea is an area of the island of Jamaica. Its name came from the language of the Yamaye people who currently inhabit some of the island's rural areas in Cornwall County. and named it after the iguana lizard that is endemic to the island, and an important source of food for the Yamaye.
The history of Madeira begins with the discovery of the islands by Portugal in 1419. There is no record of anyone living on the islands at that time. Portugal began colonizing the island in 1420.
Sir Kenneth Octavius Hall was Governor-General of Jamaica from 16 February 2006 to 26 February 2009. He was Jamaica's fifth Governor-General since independence in 1962.
Petersfield is a small town in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica. It shares its name with five other places in Jamaica.
Charles Rose Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford was a British politician.
The military history of Gibraltar during World War II exemplifies Gibraltar's position as a British fortress since the early 18th century and as a vital factor in British military strategy, both as a foothold on the continent of Europe, and as a bastion of British sea power. During World War II, Gibraltar served a vital role in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Mediterranean Theatre, controlling virtually all naval traffic into and out of the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
The Otram River, formerly the Port Maria River or the Port Maria Western River, is a river in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica. It reaches the sea in the parish capital of Port Maria and contributes to flooding in that town.
Williamsfield is a settlement in Manchester Parish Jamaica.
The British Government's decision to enforce a mass evacuation of the civilian population during the Second World War from the Crown colony of Gibraltar, in order to increase the strength of The Rock with more British Armed Forces personnel, meant that most Gibraltarians were forced to be away from Gibraltar and did not have a place they considered to be home. Only those civilians with essential jobs were allowed to stay. However, this event gave the entire community a heightened sense of "Britishness" by sharing in the war effort.
John Mackintosh Square is a main square in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It has been the centre of city life since the 14th century and takes its name from John Mackintosh, a local philanthropist. Notable buildings on John Mackintosh Square include the Parliament Building and the City Hall.
Solomon "Momy" Levy MBE JP, was a Gibraltarian estate agent and the Mayor of Gibraltar. He held office from 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.
Jamaica was an English colony from 1655, and a British Colony from 1707 until 1962, when it became independent. Jamaica became a Crown colony in 1866.
Sheila Dorothy King, CD was a Barbadian-born, Jamaican academic and physician. She was the second woman to be appointed as full professor at the University of the West Indies. She was the first woman appointed as a professor in the Faculty of Medicine in 1983, ten years after she was appointed as head of UWI's Microbiology Department. A specialist in infectious disease and viral epidemiology, she advised numerous national, regional and international departments and governmental agencies on such diseases as dengue, influenza, and typhoid. In 1998, she was honored as a Commander of the Order of Distinction.
Trinity was a plantation in colonial Jamaica, located south of Port Maria, in Saint Mary Parish, one of several plantations owned by Zachary Bayly that formed part of the area known as Bayly's Vale. By the early nineteenth century, over 1,000 people were enslaved there producing mainly sugar and rum for which a mile-long aqueduct was built by Nathaniel Bayly to supply water for the refining process.
Albion was a sugar plantation in Saint David Parish, Jamaica. Created during or before the 18th century, it had at least 451 slaves when slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833. By the end of the 19th-century it was the most productive plantation in Jamaica due to the advanced refining technology it used. By the early 20th century, however, its cane sugar could not compete with cheaper European beet sugar, and it produced its last sugar crop in 1928. It subsequently became a banana farm for the United Fruit Company.
