BRIEF HISTORY

Jamaica is sometimes thought of as a primitive place with modern conveniences provided only to tourists. However, electricity was operable as far back as 1893. Black River was the location and the house it was introduced in was named Waterloo. Although St. Elizabeth covered, before 1703, most of the Southwestern portion of Jamaica, as happens all over the world as a result of "progress" boundaries change.

St. Elizabeth was diminished in size in 1703. In that year, Manchester was taken. Again in 1814 it was decreased in size by losing a part of Manchester. The Governor at the time named the resulting combined areas after his wife. We can now see the influence of England on the island with its governing body consisting of the English titled class.

There was diversity in the population however. Tainos/Arawaks lived there. The influence of the Spaniards who settled in Jamaica can still be seen in the Saint Elizabeth area. Tourists can still find the old buildings with "Spanish wall masonry." It is quite amazing that portions of these walls with their limestone and sand between wood construction are still standing.

As previously mentioned the British came to rule Jamaica. In 1655 they immigrated and began to establish sugar cane plantations. St. Elizabeth with its conveniently located seaport in Black River, prospered along with the planters. Another industry that proliferated was the logging. There was a market for the log wood and it was used to make Prussian-blue dye a popular commodity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

GEOGRAPHY

St. Elizabeth Parish has a latitude of 18°15'N, a longitude of 77°56'W. It is located west of Manchester, east of Westmoreland and south of Trelawny and St. James. Jamaica's second largest parish it is right behind Saint Ann's which covers 1212.6. Three of its four constituencies, also called electoral districts are controlled by the majority voting block of the People's National Party. The Jamaica Labour Party is predominate in only one of these four electoral districts. This information was last documented in October of 2002.

DEMOGRAPHY

Presenting information estimated in 2001 we find 148,000 in the entire parish with 4000 in the capital town of Black River. A large number of folks with different ethnic background provide St. Elizabeth with an interesting racial mixture in the population. It is said to be the largest variety in all of Jamaica. Lets see, among them are the Miskito Indians, the Maroons, the Irish (who immigrated in the nineteenth century. Also German, Scots and Portuguese found Jamaica a desirable place to migrate to.

ECONOMY

Jamaica is a tourist magnet. Who wouldn't be delighted to visit a place with sun, sand, friendly people and those beautiful sunsets. There are other spots that are also very interesting to explore. It includes forty-four caves, a cliff enticingly named "Lovers' Leap", and no self-respecting tourist would leave the island without visiting the famous "Treasure Beach" a gorgeous scenic spot. No wonder tourism has been thriving since 1993.

With mining, agriculture (which consists mostly of sugar cane), and fishing predominating the prosperity of Jamaica and St. Elizabeth Parish are sure to continue.

The large hotels may be increasing the wages paid to workers due to the increasing focus on education. St. Elizabeth Parish is proud to have St. Elizabeth Technical High School in Santa Cruz. Rivals include Hampton School, and Munro College.

Combined with Black River High, Lacovia and Maggotty High (not a type) and the Bethlehem Moravian College there are many educational opportunities for the citizens. It seems that many students from all over the world might find this location a wonderful place to get their higher education degrees. While, naturally, taking advantage of all the things the tourists travel to Jamaica to enjoy.