Jamaican Place Names

Jamaican place names range from the commonplace to the bizarre. Densely distributed across the map of the island, they not only intrigue the visitor and the resident but also provide clues to Jamaica=s past landscapes and its social and economic history. Written from a historical and geographical perspective by two authors with an intimate knowledge of the island, this book presents an entirely new approach to the study of Jamaican place names. Maps and other sources dating from the earliest years of European contact to the twenty-first century are used to compile a data base of over 20,000 names. Analysis provides clues to the culture and national origins of the dominant planter population who were the major name-givers but also include many names with distinctive Jamaican Acreole@ meanings. Today, Kingston, May Pen, Rio Bueno, Me No Sen You No Come, George=s Plain Mountain and Content, names derived from a variety of sources, are all equally Jamaican and equally fascinating. Jamaican Place Names is written for both the scholar and the general reader with an interest in the island=s landscapes and history.

B.W. Higman is William Keith Hancock Professor of History in the History Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University; and Professor Emeritus, University of the West Indies. His award winning publications include Slave Population and Economy in Jamaica, 1807B1834; Jamaica Surveyed: Plantation Maps and Plans of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; Montpelier, Jamaica: A Plantation Community in Slavery and Freedom, and Plantation Jamaica, 1750B1850: Capital and Control in a Colonial Economy. His most recent book is Jamaican Food: History, Biology, Culture.B.J. Hudson is Adjunct Professor in the School of Urban Development, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. From 1971 to 1985, he was a member of the Department of Geography at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. In addition to his academic work at the University of the West Indies, he has served as an urban and regional planner for the governments of Jamaica and Grenada. His major books include Cities on the Shore: The Urban Littoral Frontier; The Waterfalls of Jamaica: Sublime and Beautiful Objects; and Queensland: Geographical Perspectives.