Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) 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 (the others are in Virginia, Maryland, and Bermuda).
Portmore (Jamaican Patois: 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, both of which it neighbours. On February 11, 2025, the Jamaican House of Representatives voted that Portmore be designated the 15th parish in Jamaica. This parliamentary action was ratified in the senate on February 28, 2025.
Montego Bay (Jamaican Patois: Mobay or Muhbay) is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, home to more than half a million people. As a result, Montego Bay is the second-largest anglophone city in the Caribbean, after Kingston.
Montego Bay is a popular tourist destination featuring duty-free shopping, a cruise line terminal and several beaches and resorts. The city is served by the Donald Sangster International Airport, the busiest airport in the Anglophone Caribbean, which is located within the official city limits. The city is enclosed in a watershed, drained by several rivers such as the Montego River. Montego Bay is referred to as "The Second City", "MoBay" or "Bay".
An English expeditionary force captured Spanish Jamaica in May 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660). It was part of an ambitious plan by Oliver Cromwell to acquire new colonies in the Americas, known as the Western Design.
Although major settlements like Santiago de la Vega, now Spanish Town, were poorly defended and quickly occupied, resistance by escaped slaves, or Jamaican Maroons, continued in the interior. The Western Design was largely a failure, but Jamaica remained in English hands, and was formally ceded by Spain in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid. The Colony of Jamaica remained a British possession until independence in 1962.
Montego Bay (Jamaican Patois: Mobay or Muhbay) is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, home to more than half a million people. Montego Bay is the second-largest English-speaking city in the Caribbean, after Kingston.
Montego Bay is a popular tourist destination featuring duty-free shopping, a cruise line terminal, several beaches and resorts. The city is served by the Donald Sangster International Airport, the busiest airport in the English Speaking Caribbean, which is located within the official city limits. The city is enclosed in a watershed, drained by several rivers such as the Montego River. Montego Bay may be referred to as "The Second City", "Mobay" or "Bay" locally.