No. I October 1989
Jamaican Geographer Newsletter of the J amaican Geographical Society
ESSAY COMPETITION
The awards ceremony for the 1989 JGS essay competition was held on Saturday 10th June at the Interfacul ty lecture theatre, UWI. The nation al essay competition was the first of its kind held by the Society and was a resounding success. There were entries from 104 students from schools across the island . The topic they all tackled was 'The importance of managing our natural resources.'
Our congratulations are especially du e to the first-prize winner s: Kerry-Ann Chamberlain of Knox Co llege (Category 1) and Pijanka Roy of Campion College (Category 2) . Kerry-Ann' s essay was published in t ","0 part s in the Jam aica Re ord.
The JG S Council was able to solicit sponsorship from a number of organizations, and the total funds raised in order to cover the prize money and the Society's costs was over $6,000. Our thanks are due to the support and generosity of these organizations in contributing to the success of the competition and to the promotion of geographical education in schools. We must single out
ICL for special thanks as they acted as the principal sponsor.
The main speaker at the function was Dr . Ray Davies, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Education. Another speaker was Robert Phillips, Marketing Manager ofI CL. Joy Douglas, outgoing president of the Society, chaired the meeting, and Dr. Wilma Bailey summarized th e judges ' comments . Several sponsors sent representatives to the meeting to assist in the prize-giving, and the media and JBC television were in at tendance. Eleanor Jones wrapped up the meeting with the vote of thanks.
The Council has decided to organize further national essay competitions to encourage the development of geography in schoo ls. Competitions willbe held biennially, so we can look forward to the next one in 1991.
AGM APPROVES NEW CONSTITUTION
The 1989 AGM was held on Saturday 10th June, following the awards presentation of the essay competi
tion. The meeting was chaired by Vice-President Michael Tharkur.
In her presidential address, Joy Douglas reviewed the work of the Society over the past year. The activities of the Societyhad been severely disrupted by Hurricane Gilbert. Nevertheless, Dr.Alan Eyre was able to lead a field excursion to Guava Ridge and Content Gap to look at hurricane damage in one of Kingston's watersheds. The main activity and thrus t of the Council's work for the rest of the year was the national essay competition. The outgoing president once again raised the question of clarifying and formalizing the legal status of the JGS. The alternatives needed to be carefully considered by the Society because of the legal implications. Much depended on what the members felt ought to be the future role of the JGS.
The outgoing Council had prepared a draft version of a revised Constitution . This was considered, clause by clause, and during the discussion some minor modifications were proposed. The new Constitution was adopted by the AGM.
(continued on next page)
Essay Competition Prizewinners
CATEGORY 1 CATEGORY2
lst Prize: Kerry-Anne Chamberlain, Knox High Pljanka Roy, Campion College
2nd Prize: Catherine Booth, St Catherine High Nata lya Edwards, Campion College
Certificates 0/ Comm endable E//on:
Lisa Armstrong. St Andrew High June Ramdon, St Andr ew High Suzette Chin, St Andrew High Ardean Samuda, Knox College Eatel Davis, Knox College Raoul Williams, Knox College Marie Reece, Herbert Morrison Camp. Marc Sajabi, Tichfield High
Kathya Beckford, Campion College Avlnash Potluri, Campion College Simone Lopez. Campion College Pierre-Anthony Leake. Campion College Rashida Reed, Campion College Kevin Alcock, Campion College Shaul Parchment, Campion College Monique Sinclair , Immaculate Conception High
Scho ols Knox High and Cam pion College for winning entries. Campion College for most entries.
Teachers Hyacinth Baker (Knox High) and Yvonne Jones (Campion College)
Jamaican Geographer (1), October 1989 - 1
National Essay Competition
The Council had also created a new p ost: Membership Secretary. This po st was formally approved by the AGM during the nominations and election of a new C ouncil. Claudia J ames was elected as our new president.
THE ENVIRONMENT STRIKES BACK
The main guest speaker at the JGS's national essay competition awards ceremony in June wa s D r Ray Davies, T echnica l Advisor to the Minister of E ducation.
In his address, Dr Davies pointed out that the year 2000 was fast app roaching, and that this had galva nized the whole world into a concern for the future of planet earth. He reviewed the energy crisis, touching on the oil crisis of the 1970s, nonrenewable resources and energy conservation. He characterized the man-environment theme as one in which, initially, industrial society had launched an attack on the environment. The environment had taken a battering, and some of the bruises had become household names, like the Greenhouse effect, acid rain and Che rnobyl.
The 'environment' was striking back, through worldwide concern about the global environment. This fightback was taking many forms. One form was a spiritual response: oriental philosophies which emphasize the importance of man's har mony with the environment were becoming more popular in the west ern world. A second form was the increasing influence of international o rgan iza tio ns ( ne tworks of concerned pe ople) and political organi
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zat ions (like the Greens). A final and crucial form was environmental education.
Dr Davies said tha t environmental education was at the forefront of the fightback, and was one of the main fronts on which to halt the det erioration of our natural resources . It was being done on a formal and a non-formal level. On a formal level it was necessary for schools and colleges to develop a general awareness of the physical world and envir onmental principles, and to incorporate new topics in the years ahead. Nonformal approaches, like clubs and other organizations, help reinforce this learning. The JGS has been ac tively involved in such activities during its 32 years of existence.
He congratulated the Society, JCL, schools, students and the other sponsors on an impressive es say competition, and exhorted the audience to 'think globally and act loc ally' and to 'think globally and act personally' .
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Speaking at the awards presentat ion, Robert Phillips , Marketing Manager of ICL (the main sponsors of the competition) lauded the organizers for the ir efforts to sensitize young people to the importance of environmental issues through the choice of essay theme.
Mr Phillips pointed to the importance of government planning bodies having the capability to share geographical information - information such as population pro files, road routes, electricity lines, sewer systems, communication systems and so forth. H e suggested that the Jamaican government should be developing strategies designed to make com puterized information available between its many planning organizations. To do this , he said, government must begin to examine its planning and geographical needs.
He noted that in Europe and North America, governments were actively pushing for information technology standardization.
JUDGES' COMME NTS ON ES SAY COMPETITION
General Comments 1. TI,e presentation of essays
was often poor,' som e essays were submitted without folders. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar were commonplace, and essays which had been typed often had many typographical errors, suggesting that they had not been properly p roof read. B ibliographies were inconsistent in style and rarely followed conventional fo rmats.
2. Students tended to lise outof-date material, and there wasfar too great a dependence on official handouts and public relations material. More lise might have been made of newspapers, news magazines, business and environmental magazines and journals such as Jamaica Journal.
3. Not enough lise was made of maps and diagrams, which are often important aspects of geographical essays. Where maps and diagrams were used, few had prope r titles or indicated their source.
Frequent Misunderstandings 1. Bauxite lands are not more
f ertile after they have been recla imed. They are generally suitable for grass, and are most economically developed as cattle properties.
2. The manatee is not the only aquatic animal in Jamaica . TIley ar e the mo st [re quent ly en countered, because they live in shallow waterand are docile.
Th e j udges ' comments were circulated to all the 13schools who participated in the competition. Thanks are due for the time and effort put in by the pan el: Dr Wilma Bailey, Dr Joyce Glasgow (Faculty of Education, UWI), Eleanor Jones (Caritech), Joy Douglas (outgoing JGS President), and Mrs Phyllis Reynolds (Sam Sharpe Teachers College).
2 - Jamaican Geographer (1), October 1989
Classroom Geography
GEOGRAPHY TE ACHE RS' ASSOCIATIO N OF JAMAICA
T he defunct Geography Teachers' Association was revived in 1988. The first meeting was held on Tuesday, June 14, 1988, in the auditori um at the Caenwood Cen tre, Arnold R oad. Teachers from 25 high schools across the island were present. This first me eting was called because of a need to get geo graphy teachers involved in draft ing a curriculum for Grades 7 to 9 (1st to 3rd form) students. The rationalization of secondary educatio n necessitat es the devel opment of a com mon curr iculum fo r these grades in all secondary high schools in J amaica.
A t this first meeting, Wi lma Bail ey discussed some of the problems in geography brought out by the CXC examinations. The draft document for a Grades 7-9 geography curricu lum was examined and discu sse d. A subject committee was named and officers were elected.
Two meetings were held during the 1988/89 academic year. Teachers from 30 to 35 independent, secondary and high schools were present at these meetings. The issues dis cussed were: the textbook rental project, the CXC syllabus and field component and problems in teaching ce rtain areas of the syllabus, the need for regional chapters of the Association.
The focus for the 1989/90 academic year will be on: field work, CXC school-based assessment, 6th form geography, and the prod uction of resource materials for geography teachers.
It is hoped that the response and ent husiasm shown by ge o graphy teachers du ring this first year will co ntinue to grow and that more teachers will eventually be involved in the Association.
Marjorie Vassa/l
MAPS FOR SCHOOLS
One of the main projects being undertaken by the present JGS Council is to sup ply all secondary- le vel schools that teach geography in Jamaica with much-needed te aching maps for the classroom. The project is still at the planning stage, and sponsorship is being sought from the b usiness co mmunity to purchase these maps, particularly for schools in rural areas. It is envisage d that the p roject will proceed on a phased basis.
We need your help in organizing this project in the rural areas, and in contacting local businesses. The amount of money to purchase, say, a wall map of the Caribbean or copies of 1:50,000 topographic maps for in dividual schools is qui te mode st.
Contact person: Gaudio James President
BOOKREVlEW
The CXC examinations have generated textbooks on var ious subjects. T here are a few geogra phy books at th is particular level, and the most recent is Mark Wilson's The Caribbean Environm ent (Oxford University Press, 1989) . Wilson is a British national who has been teaching in
Barbados for sever al year s an d has spent four to five years travelling to var ious Caribbean terri tories researching mater ial for this textbook. T remendo us effort and extensive research have gone into its compilation.
The author states that the book gives wide coverage of the CXC sylla bus, bo th human a nd physic a l geography, as well as mapwork. It contains colourful and up-t o-date maps , photographs, diagrams and sta t is t ic a l rep resent a t ions. He brings out the re lati onship between human and physical geography and shows how these impact on people in the reg ion. The text covers the Caribbean and makes comparisons with other areas of the world, such as Nigeria, India, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and Canada, by the use of case studies.
Detailed , lucid and uncomplicated accoun ts of the Car ibbean ar e contained in most of the 273 pages of text. Numero us challenging exercises ar e inte rspersed th roughout and thes e, along with the profusion of maps, diagrams, tables and graphs, provide an oppo rtunity for the stu de nt to 'find out for himself.' These are also used as bases for the development of practical and cognitive skills.
The use of colour thr oughout the text has done much to en hance the presentation of the mat er ial. T he cover, with the picturesque Kaieteur Falls of Guyana, captures the attention of the re ader. (contin ued on page 5.)
QUIZ: Matching Pairs
The place-names of some cities and countries have changed in recent history. Below, 24 suc h place-nam es ar e jumbled together. Pick out 12 matching pairs. For each pair, indicate which is the old nam e and which the new name of the particular cou ntry or city. There are six cities and six countries represe nted in the list.
BEIJING ET HIOPIA GDANSK HARARE SR I LANKA GI LBERT ISLANDS CAMBOD IA ISTANBUL BANGLADESH PERSIA CONSTANTINO PLE LENINGRAD PEKING ST PETERSBUR G KIRIBATI KINSH ASA DAN ZIG LE OPOLD VILLE IRAN ABYSSINIA SALISB URY EAST PAKISTAN CEYLO N KAMPUCHEA
(Answers are given on the back page.) If you do not know where these places are, use an atlas to locate their modern names. Try to discover when and why each of the modern names was intr oduced.
Jamaican Geographer (1), October 1989 - 3
The Cockpits
EDITORIAL
The first JGS newsletter appeared in 1967, and since then over 50 issues have been produced, albeit on an interm ittent basis. The publication of Jamaican Geographer marks a ne w phase in the newsletter's life: a new name and a new format to take advantage of the new desktop-computer pu blishing technology.
The JGS Council decided to upgrade its newsletter as part of a wider strategy to promote geography within Jam aica. The national essay competition, held earlier this year, focused attention on geography in schools, and this em phasis will continue during the present Council's term of office. Details of f orthcom ing events, projects and fi eld trips are con tained ill this issue .
The content of Jamaican Geographer will refle ct the activities of the Society. Thus, some articles will address the principal concerns ofthe JGS over the years: environmental issues and the problem s surrounding geographical education. There will be news items, information on careers for geographers, reviews of geographical books an d magazine, and travel and fie ld trip reports.
Editorial policy is designed to keep you in touch with geography and geographers in Jamaica and abroad. We will try to stimulate and m aintain your interest in the subject and broaden your horizons by informing, challenging and entertaining. We may also surprise you. The acquisition of geographical knowledge is not onlypersonally satisfying and enriching, but professionally trained geographers now make significant con tributions to national development, ill Jamaica and in other de veloping countries.
MembershipoftheJGS entitles you to receive Jamaican Geog· .ra pher free. You can help the Society and the newsletter by encouraging friends and colleagues to join the JGS, and by sending in your news and views.
4 - Jamaican Geographer ( 1), October 1989
The Status of Environmental Education in Jamaica: A Critical Review
Hopeton Peterson
'I can tell you , the fann ers knew about the forest without environmental education, and furthe rmore know they are destroying the very sustenance upon which future lives depen d. However, this knowledge does not translate into attitude change, for less behavioral change, because the fanners are facing fulldamental problems of socio-econom ic insecurity'. (Charlene Easton)
Developing countries are becoming increasingly aware that there is a strong relationship between environmental protection and economic development. This trend has largely been stimulated by the Stockholm Conference on the Environment, which led to the establishment of environmental agencies in many developing countries. Recently, in Jamaica, there has been increased focus on matters relating to the environment in response to glaring evidence of environmental degradation.
E nvironme ntal degradation is proceeding rapidly in our rural areas as a result of inappropriate land use, poor farming practices. charcoal burning and timber and coffee cultivation. The situat ion has deter iorated to the extent that Jam aica reportedly loses 80 million tons of topsoil annually. In the urban areas, air, water and solid waste pollution have become major problems. In fact, the basic health routine of many urban residents is already being affected.
Environmental decline in Jam aica can only be reversed if measures are implemented to protect the resource systems being affe cted. Therefore, environmental edu catio has a great role to play in a proc ess in which Jamaicans become aware of and understand ecologica l principles and their relationship to human activities.
Formal environm ental education has been written into the education system of Jamaica covering the pr imary, secondary and tertiary levels, However, there is considerable disparity between written objectives
and reality, because the education system has failed to sensitize the Jamaican population about the importance of sound environmental management. The failure of the formal education system is due to a number of factors, as will be shown later.
According to the Jamaica Country Environmental Profile, at the primary level students are 'exposed to general awareness of the environment, the relationships between living and non-living components and the development of desirable alti tudes towards their surroundings' (p, 72). The method of teaching at this level is one in which environmentally relevant content is infused with other subjects in the curriculum. Although not an ineffective method by itself, it falls short because many teachers at the primary level are inadequately prepared to teach critical aspects of environmental education. A more effective approach in this case would be to have children participate in action learning projects addressing specific environ mental problems.
The secondary level lacks a structured approach to environmental education although aspects of it are offered in subjects such as general science, agricultural science, social studies, geography and biology. The fact is that students at the secondary level are examination-oriented; for most of them, one the exams are over very little remains of what they were taught. In light of this inherent constraint in the secondary schoo l system, the wisdom of D~ Henry Lowe's call for the CXC to develop
The Cockpits
an exclusive environmental syllabus has to be questioned. This approach certainly does not lend ~elf to the internalization of environmental concepts by students whose main aim is to pass an exam. Further, the introduction of such a subject would be meaningless unless it wer e made compulsory because, depending on their subject combinations, students could easily bypass this particu lar subject. This is another constraint to e nvir onme nta l ed ucation at the secondary level. For example, the student opting for a business focus takes subjects such as commerce, accounts, principles of business and economics. He may learn a 101 about the business environment but very littie about the physica l environment which determines to a large extent the activities of the former.
At the tertiary level, various aspects of environmental education are loosely taught in institutions such as UWI, the West Indies School of Public Health, the College of Arts, Science and Technology, teachers' colleges and the College of Agricu lture. The progress of environmental education a t this level is inhibite d by a lack of integration of the environmental disciplines taugh t and many students still see the specific parts instead of taking a holistic approach to its analysis. In this regard, the introduction of an Environmental Science option in the Faculty of Natural Sciences (U WI) must be praised. However. the effectiveness of this will depend largely on the ability to attract or retain adequate staff. If this can be done, the university might even be able to develop an environmental studies/science department.
Informal environmental education has received far less attention than its formal relative, yet this approach to environmental education stands to be a major torchbearer in the educational process. The Jamaica Country Environmental Profile defines informal environmental edu cation as 'the promotion of an awar
ness and understanding of ecological principles and their relevance to human activities outside of the institu tionalized education system' (p . 75). In Jamaica, this is undertaken by public sector agencie s and non-government organizations (NGOs) .
The activities undertaken by public sector agencies are few and far between . These agencies, in addition to their bureaucratic structure, which slows down project implementation, simply lack the personnel and financial resources needed to implement meaningful environmental education programmes.
The work of NGOs in environ mental education has become entrenched in the national life of Jam aica. There are two types of NGOs, those comprising professionals and those operating at the community level. Professional NGOs include the Natural History Society of Jamaica, the Jamaica Society of Scientists and Technologists, the Geological Society of Jamaica and the Jamaican Geographical Society . These organizations operate without full-t ime staff but still manage to carry out public environmental education programmes from time to time. The major problem with these organizations is that their activities are centred around groups of professionals and academics and ther efore lack the mass appeal which may be necessary to sensitize Jamaicans about important environmental issues .
NGOs operating at the comm unity level are poised to make a significant contribution to environmental education in Jamaica.
These organizations have developed the ability to communicate to the large majority of Jamaicans. So fa r, community GOs have contributed very little to the advancement of environmental education in Jamaica as they have traditionally concentrated on welfare and community dev elopmen t activitie s. However, they will have to playa major role in environmenta l
programmes because the prob lems facing Jamaica ar e largely community-base d, and that is where they will be most effectively tackled.
To be effective, environmental programmes will have to bring a critical social anal ysis to bear on the problems of environmental degradation . Aware ness of environtnental problems is not enough to effect behavioural changes; people must see the need for change. The man in upper Clarendon or St Mary who cuts down trees from the forest for charcoal burning might be contributing to a po te ntial environmental problem, but he continues to do it out of economic need - there are few other opt ions open to him. To lecture him on the causes and effects of deforestation would be a meaningless exercise.
Effective environmental management cannot be achieved without emphasis on environmental education, both formal and in formal. In general, our education system is not providing our people and policy makers with knowledge of our natural resources. We owe it to our nation' s youth, in particular, to devise a sound environmental education pr ogramme as par t of our progres s towards sustainable development.
BOOKREVIEW (continued from page 3)
Like any other book which attempts to do everything, there are shortcomings. Although the section on physical geography is made relevant by the use of selected Caribbean examples, the material lacks some of the details required at CXC level. In spit e of this, the book will help geography come alive in the classroom, as both teachers and students are taken to o ther countrie s, and from one Caribbean territory to another on a new adventure.
Marjorie Vassal!
Jamaican Geographer (1), October 1989 - 5
Campus Geography
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
In 1987 the Depa rtment of Geography, UwI,co-s ponsored two internat ional conferences in Jamaica. T he pr oceedings of these conferences were recently published.
The firs t conference was the In tern ation al Symposium on the Physical and H uman Resources of the T ropics, held at the Mona campus between Au gust 4 and 7, 1987. T he JGS was a co-sp onsor, as were CrDA and the Department of Geogra phy, University of Calgary. T he principal sponsor was the Intern ational Geographical Union (IGU), through its W ork ing G roup on Clima tology. The proceedings were published in 1988, edited by Lawrence C. Nkemdirim. Wi lma Bailey ('Child Mor bid ity in the KM A, 1983') , Alan Eyre ('Evidence of Man-Induced Climatic Change in the Fall and Hope River Basins ofJamaica') , an d former UWl g e o gr a phe r Je r em y C o l lymo r e (' G eophysical E vents and Human Use Systems: A Revised Research Agenda') are all re presented in the volume.
The second conference was the Meeting of Experts on Hazard Map pin g in the Caribbean, he ld at the Jamaica Conference Centre, Kings
ton, from 30 November to 4 December, 1987. The principal sponsor was the Pan Caribbean Disaster Prepa r e d n e ss a nd P revent ion Project!U ND RO ; the other co-sponsor was t he O ff ice of Di sas te r Preparedness. The proceedin gs were published in 1989, edited by David Barker. Among its contents are papers by former UWI geography lecturer E leanor Jones ('Prelimin ary Survey of the Coastline Vulne r ab ility of the Ca r ibbean: A Summary R eport') and former UWI geographer s Jeremy Collymore and Mark Griffith (' Flooding in Speights town: T owa r d s a F lo o d Ma nagement Strategy') .
POSTGRADUATE RES EARCH: The Nutrit ional Effects of Cash
Crop Production on Pre- Schoolers
P rotein calorie malnu tr ition constitutes a grave problem for health per sonnel and the peoples of the Third World. Health surveys conducted in Jamaica over the last three decades have indicated that this continues to be a serious health concern .
In the most re cent Nati ona l H ea lth Survey, by the Ministr y of He alth in 1985, 7.6% of the children
Recent Publications by UWI Staff
Bailey, W., Wynter, H. and Lee,A. (1988) 'Women in search of stability', Social Science Medicine, 26(6), pp 619-623. .
Bailey, W. (1988) 'Child morbidity in the Kingston Metropolitan Area' , Social Science Medicine, 26(11), pp 1117-1124.
Barker, D. (1989) 'A periphery in genesis and exodus: reflections on rur al- urban relations in Jamaica', in Potter, RB. and Unwin, T. (eds) The Geography of Urban-Rural Interaction in Developing Countries, Routledge, Lo ndon, pp 294-322.
Barker, D. and McGregor, D.F.M. (1988) 'Land degr adation in the Yallahs Basin, Jamaica: histor ical notes and contemporary obs ervations', Geography, 73(2) , pp 116-124.
Barker, D. and Spence, B. (1988) 'Afro-Caribbean agr iculture: a Jamaican Maroon community in transition ', Geographical Journal, 154(2), pp 199-210.
Eyre, L.A. (1988) 'Kaka du stage three - the way ahead', National Parks Journal, 32(6), pp 31-34.
Eyre, L.A. (1989) 'Hurricane Gilbert: Car ibbean record breaker', Weather, 44(4), pp 160-164.
Eyre, LA . (1989) 'Slow death of a tro pical rainforest : t~~ Coc~pit Co untry of Jamaica' , Environm ental Quality and Stability, Iv -A, pp 599-606.
6 - Jam aican Geographer (1), October 1989
in their sam ple were moderately or severely malnourished. T heir find ings also disclosed that the ra tes of undernutrition on the southern coast of the island were noti ceably high er tha n those on the north side. This north-south dic hotomy has raised new questions, answers to which, it is hoped, will lead to a clearer under stan ding of the factors re sulting in unde rn utrition.
The objective of the resear ch is to assess the relationship be tween cashcrop agric ulture and undernutrition. Field work was condu cted in te n enumeration districts in St Catherine and St Ann. The res ear ch is evaluating the effects of an involvement in cash-crop production on food-crop product ion, co nsumption , income and, in particular, the nutritional impact on pr e-schoolers.
L orraine Campbell
M.Sc. FOR LEARIE MILLER
L earie Miller , who gr ad uated from UWI's Geography Department in 1981, was awarded a Co mmonwealth Scholarship in 1987. He recently re turned fro m the U niversity of Toronto , where he successfully completed an M.Sc. in E nvironmental Manage men t and Physical Geography. At Toronto, he was jointly registered at the Institute for Environmental Stud ies and the Department of Geography, the latter having over 80 postgr aduates.
H e maintain ed an excellent A record in the seven postgraduate courses he stu died. His rese arch pr oj ect wa s e n t it le d ' T h e A pplicability of Soil Erosion Models to a D eveloping Country: A Jamaica n Ca se Study' and evalua te d so il erosion prediction models. H is su pe rvisor was Pr of. Shiu Hung-L uk, wh o has wo rked extensive ly on erosion pr oblems in China.
Learie is one of a num ber of former U WI geography graduates who have achieved outstanding record s at the postgraduate level at overseas universities. A keen geographer, he brings back to Jamaica valuable technical skills in physical geography and computer mapping.
Hill and Gully Notes
Old Jamaican Parishes
Day-Dawn Sim on and DavidBarker
The map of 1amaican parishes has not always looked the same as it does in Fig. 1. It is interesting to trace the evolut ion of the map of parish boundaries through history.
Aft er the English took Jamaica in 1655, the y star ted to divide the island into p ar ishes and precincts. Sir Thomas Modyford, in 1664, note d that there were seven established parishes: St John 's, Clarendon, S t David's, St Andrew's, and St Thom as, with Port Roval and St Kat harine (now St Catherine '; both designat ed as 'Town and Parish'. In 1763, Vere was carved out of Clarendon, being named after th e first wife of the L ieut enant-G overn or Sir Thomas Lvnch. In 1675, C larendon lost another portion to the new parish of S t Dorothy, and in the same year St Thom as-in -the-Vale, nam e d in honour of the then Governor, was created out of a portion of St Katharine.
By 1683, there wer e 15 parishes: Clarendon, Vere, S t Joh n, St George, St M a ry , S t A n n , S t James, St E lizabeth, St Thomas, S t David. Port Royal, S t Andrew, S t Katharine, S t Dorothy, and St Thomas-in-the-Vale. In 1693, the 'Town and Parish' of Kingston wa s fo r m e d a ft e r the earthquake whic h had devastat ed Port Roy al a year earlier.
Four new parishes were created in the eighteenth century: Westmoreland (1703) from part of St Elizabeth, Portland ( 1723) fr o m pa rt of St George and part of St Thomas -inthe-East, Hanover (1723) from part of Wes tm orel and , an d Trelawny (1770), which appeared after a subdivision of St James.
In 1814, Manchester was forme d, made up of parts of Clarendon, Vere and St E liza be t h. Metcalf wa s founded in 1841, from parts of St George and St Mary, and named in honour of the then Governor, Sir Charles Metcalf. Thus, at this dat e, Jamaica had 22 parishes (see Fig. 2).
Fo llowing bitter disputes be tween planter and labouring classes
Jam aican Geographer (1), October 1989 - 7
N
t
40 I
kmo''- ----'
Figure 1. Modem parish boundaries in Jamaica.
t
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Figure 2. Parish boundaries immediately p rior to 1867 reorganization.
in eastern Jamaica, which led to the Mora nt Bay Rebe lli on in 1865, Crown Colony Government was introduced. The new Governor, Sir Pe ter Grant , was a n able a dministrator amd set about reorganizing the institut ions of the colony. Thus, in 1867 the number of parishes was reduced from 22 to the 14 we are familiar with today. Eight parishes disappeared from the map of lamaica: St George, Metcalf, St Th omas-in-the-Vale, St John , St Dorothy,
N
Vere, St David, and Port Royal. An inspection and comparison of the two map s will reveal the fate of those eight parishes.
SOURCES: Compiled from a variety of sources at the Institute ofJamaica, the principal one being Frank Cundall's Historic 1amaica,published by the Institute in 1915.
Communications
CARIBBEAN GE OGRAPHY
The next issue of Caribbean Geography, Volume 2 Number 4, will be published in November. I.ts con tents include th e foll owmg ar ticles:
• Predicting traditional farmers ' responses to modernization: case of a Jamaican Maroon village Balfour Spence
• W aterfront development and redevelopment in the West Indies - BrianJ. Hudson
• The Bahamas: the cost of fragmentation - Gerald Fish
• Pattern of abandonment of sugar est ates in Jamaica during the late nineteenth century - Veront Satchell
• The changing Caribbean: national park development in Grenada - L. A/all Eyre
Caribbean Geography is published by Longman Jamaica. Ltd. Subscription rates are available on request from:
Longman Jamaica Ltd 43 Second Street Newport West P .O. Box 489 Kingston 10 Te l: 92-34393, 35017, 34568-9
This is the eighth issue of the jour na l to be published. Back i sues ar e available from the publisher or from the UWI Bookshop.
NEW J GS COUNCIL
President, Claudia James Vice President, Michael Tharkur Secreta ry, Day-Dawn Simon Treasure r, Vernon Mulchansingh Membership Secre ta ry, Fitzroy Wi/-
Iiams Chairman of Pu blica tions Subcom
mittee, David Barker Ordinary Members, Cheryl .Dixon,
Karen Sinclair, Donna SImon, Carol Thomas, Lilieth Daley
Co-opted Member, Hopeton Peterson
JGS T·SHIRTS
All-cotton JGS T-shirts will soo n be available. They ar e white, have the JGS logo on the front and a.specially commissioned map of Jamaica on the back. Price: $40. Advance payment is needed with your order. Please indicat e the size(s) you need (S, M, L, XL).
Contact person: Fitzroy Williams Membership Secretary
JGSCALENDAR
October: National Wood and Water Day. Jointly organized with the Natural History Society of Jamaica. A seminar on 'Fast Growing Trees,' to be held at the UWI cam pus.
October: Field Trip to Mandeville and environs, organized by lGS members in the Mandeville area.
November: Weekend Field Trip to the John Crow Mountains.
January: Clean-up of Lime Cay. Supervised group of school children to collect litter and gar bage.
February/March: LectureSeries for 'A' level geography students at UWI. Teachers invited too; refreshments will be provided.
Jamaican ~ogi.~lJher· D~~d:Barkef) : : : : : : : : ' ; : :beparttrientpC Geogr~p~y, U.n.iversitypf
. , .:
.the West.Indies"Kingston} , phone: 92-72,1.29 UWrpublishei~ \~o¢ianoti , PO Box 42, . Mooa.Kirigston7':, .i ""
Printing;, Q\\'lSchbofbf pri~ti~.
8 - Jamaican Geographer (1), October1989
NElWORKING
Caribbean Conservation Association
The CCA was founded in 1967 as a regional, non-gov~rn~entai, non profit-making orgamzation. T~e re
are a present over 200 Ass~cia~e members fro m some 20 countries 10
the wider Car ibb ean. The CCA publishes a regular newsletter, Caribbean Conservation News, and a magazine , Caribian a. If you. ~re interested in joining the Association (stude nt membership is av.ailable) ~r would like to obtain de ta ils of their act ivities, the contact address is:
Savannah Lodge The Garrison St Michael Barbados
Geography Teachers' Association ofJamaica
Geography teachers who are in terested in becoming involved in the Association are asked to contact:
Marjorie Vassal/ Core Curriculum Unit Ministry ofEducation Caenwood Centre phone: 92-29370
QUIZ ANSWE RS
Cities' Names
Modem Old Leningrad St Petersburg Istanbul Constantinople Beijing Peking Gdansk Danzi g Harare Salisbury Kinsh asa Leopoldville
Countries' NIlD1e5
Modem Old Ethiopia Abyssinia Sri Lanka Ceylon Iran Persia Bangladesh East Pakistan Kampuchea Cambodia Kiribati Gilbert Islands