Portmore, Saint Catherine

Last updated

Portmore
City
Nickname: 
Sunshine City
Jamaica location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Portmore
Coordinates: 17°57′00″N76°52′48″W / 17.9499936°N 76.879921°W / 17.9499936; -76.879921
Country Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica
County Middlesex
Parish Saint Catherine
Founded1960
Municipalities Act grants municipal status [1] 2003-05
Government
Population
[2]
 • Estimate 
(2011)
156,468
Time zone UTC-5 (EST)
Area code +1876
Website Portmore Municipal Council

Portmore (Jamaican Creole : Puotmuor) is a large urban settlement located along the southeastern coast of Jamaica in Saint Catherine, and a dormitory community for Kingston and Spanish Town, which neighbour it.

Contents

Geography

Portmore is on the south coast in the Parish of St. Catherine. It is approximately 15 miles south-west of the capital of Kingston. [3] It is divided into two regions, the plains to the north and the limestone hills of Hellshire to the south. [4]

The most densely populated areas are located on low-lying reclaimed lands. Portmore consists of communities such as Old Portmore, Greater Portmore, Braeton and Hellshire. [3] Portmore is one of the largest urban areas in St. Catherine with respect to human settlement, having a population 156,468(2001 census) and an annual growth rate of 4% since 1991. [3]

Portmore is built on a generally flat plain facing the Kingston Harbour with an intricate canal system which prevents flooding. [5] Much of the land is reclaimed swamp. [5] Port Henderson Hill, formerly known as Salt Pond Hill, is visible from neighbouring parishes and was a possible Arawak grave site because the Arawak buried their dead in caverns, which Port Henderson Hill is riddled with. The most famous cave is named "Twin Sisters". [5]

Formed through the amalgamation of various communities the city encompasses areas like Greater Portmore and even iconic destinations like Hellshire Beach. Some of the communities within Portmore include:

History

Portmore began as a large area for schematic residential development in the late 1960s, [5] as the West Indies Home Contractors (WIHCON) organization built thousands of prototype housing units in an effort to alleviate the over-population of Kingston; the first was called Independence City. [5] It has since grown into a suburban city to Kingston; its large population travels into Kingston daily for work, schooling, and many other essential services via the Portmore toll road.

Portmore was granted Municipality status in 2003 [1] and has its own city council and mayor, following the British-based model of Jamaican local government. [1] It now houses approximately 10% of the population of the Kingston Corporate Area.

Currently the mayor of Portmore is His Worship the Mayor Leon Thomas.

Economy

While Portmore is not marketed as a tourist destination for the millions of incoming travelers to Jamaica every year, there are many places for entertainment, eating, relaxing and enjoyment such as beaches, restaurants, hotels and much more.

Transportation

Portmore is served by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) which provides bus transportation for Portmore residents both locally and into Kingston and Spanish Town.

The Portmore Toll Road is the major commuter Highway which connects the city of Kingston and the town, Portmore, via the Hunts Bay Bridge, and Portmore to the old capital of Spanish Town with three lanes in each direction and a speed limit of 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph).

The city is served by the Norman Manley International Airport with over 130 flights weekly.

Sport

Portmore has a professional football team that plays in the top flight Jamaica National Premier League. It was originally Hazard United from May Pen but following its relocation is now called Portmore United F.C..

Since 2020, the tightly contested football match known as the Portmore derby involving Portmore United F.C. and Dunbeholden F.C. [6]

Horse Racing is popular and all major horse races are run at Caymanas Park located in north Portmore.

Notable people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston, Jamaica</span> Capital and chief port of Jamaica

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. Kingston is the largest English-speaking city south of the United States in the Western Hemisphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bounty Killer</span> Jamaican musician (born 1972)

Rodney Basil Price OD(born 12 June 1972), known as Bounty Killer, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay. AllMusic describes him as "one of the most aggressive dancehall stars of the '90s, a street-tough rude boy with an unrepentant flair for gun talk". He is considered one of the best dancehall lyricists of all time.

The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles.

Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. Key elements of dancehall music include its extensive use of Jamaican Patois rather than Jamaican standard English and a focus on the track instrumentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montego Bay</span> City in Cornwall, Jamaica

Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, home to over half a million people. As a result, Montego Bay is the second-largest anglophone city in the Caribbean, after Kingston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Town</span> Town in Middlesex, Jamaica

Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and British capital of Jamaica from 1534 until 1872. The town is home to numerous memorials, the national archives, and one of the oldest Anglican churches outside England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Ann Parish</span> Parish of Jamaica

Saint Ann is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called "the Garden Parish of Jamaica" on account of its natural floral beauty. Its capital is Saint Ann's Bay. Saint Ann comprises New Seville, the first Spanish settlement in Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Catherine Parish</span> Parish of Jamaica

Saint Catherine is a parish in the south east of Jamaica. It is located in the county of Middlesex, and is one of the island's largest and most economically valued parishes because of its many resources. It includes the first capital of Jamaica, Spanish Town, originally known as San Jago de la Vega or Santiago de la Vega.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica</span> Parish of Jamaica

Saint Mary is a parish located in the northeast section of Jamaica. With a population of 114,227 it is one of Jamaica's smallest parishes, located in the county of Middlesex. Its chief town and capital is Port Maria, located on the coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica</span> Parish of Jamaica

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. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 573,369, the highest of any of the parishes in Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellshire Beach</span> Beach in St Catherine, Jamaica

Hellshire Beach, Jamaica, is located near Portmore, and famed for its fried fish and safe swimming. It has near white sands with a very small trace of black sand. Exposed when there is a sea running to the south, the waters close to shore are often quite cloudy due to the stirred up sand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaican dry forests</span>

The Jamaican dry forests is a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southern Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highway 2000</span> Highway system in Jamaica

Highway 2000 is a highway system in Jamaica connecting Kingston, with Ocho Rios and a planned connection to Montego Bay, passing through the parishes of St. Catherine, Saint Ann, Clarendon and proposed sections through St. James, Saint Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover.

Floyd West, also known as the Pied Piper, is a contemporary Reggae roots singer and songwriter from Jamaica. Born and raised in Portmore Saint Catherine, Floyd started music from an early age singing in a church choir. He was encouraged by his mother and sister who also sang in the local choir.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Kingston, Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaica Urban Transit Company</span>

The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is the government-owned public transport service operating within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR), Spanish Town and Portmore.

Dennis "Copper" Barth was a gangster in Jamaica, who operated out of the Rennock Lodge area in east Kingston. Barth is mentioned in the lyrics of Super Cat's dancehall reggae song "Ghetto Red Hot": "Kingston we deh when Massop get shot / We deh when Copper get shot”, referring to Claude “Claudie" Massop and Barth, who made gang peace treaty in the 1970s.

The 2023–24 Jamaica Premier League was the 50th season of the top-tier football league in Jamaica. The season began on October 22, 2023, and concluded on May 19, 2024. 14 teams competed in the league, with Mount Pleasant F.A. being the defending champions. Wray and Nephew Group replaced Digicel as the new title sponsor at the start of the season. Cavalier won the league to earn their 3rd JPL title.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Methodology Study [ dead link ], Eris D. Schoburgh, Local Government Reform - National Advisory Council, Department of Local Government.
  2. ↑ http://www.jis.gov.jm/pdf/General%20Report%20Census%202011%20Revised%20Copy%20Oct.%2019.pdf%5B%5D
  3. 1 2 3 "Portmore Project Final Report - Mines and Geology 2" (PDF). portmoremc.gov.jm. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  4. ↑ http://www.nlj.gov.jm/history-notes/History%20of%20Portmore%20Final.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 A short history of Portmore Archived 27 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine , page 2.
  6. ↑ https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20240205/all-square-hotly-contested-portmore-derby [ bare URL ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.