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Jamaica
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Administratively, Jamaica is divided into fourteen parishes. They are grouped into three historic counties, which have no administrative relevance (traditional capitals in parentheses):

	Parish	Area km²	Population Census 2001	Capital
Cornwall County
1	Hanover	450.4	67,037	Lucea
2	Saint Elizabeth	1,212.4	146,404	Black River
3	Saint James	594.9	175,127	Montego Bay
4	Trelawny	874.6	73,066	Falmouth
5	Westmoreland	807.0	138,947	Savanna-la-Mar
Middlesex County
6	Clarendon	1,196.3	237,024	May Pen
7	Manchester	830.1	185,801	Mandeville
8	Saint Ann	1,212.6	166,762	Saint Ann's Bay
9	Saint Catherine	1,192.4	482,308	Spanish Town
10	Saint Mary	610.5	111,466	Port Maria
Surrey County
11	Kingston (parish)⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾	21.8	96,052	Kingston
12	Portland	814.0	80,205	Port Antonio
13	Saint Andrew⁽¹⁾	430.7	555,828	Half Way Tree
14	Saint Thomas	742.8	91,604	Morant Bay
	Jamaica	10,990.5	2,607,631	Kingston

⁽¹⁾ The parishes of Kingston and Saint Andrew together form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation.
⁽²⁾ The parish of Kingston does not encompass all of the city of Kingston. Most of the city is in the parish of St. Andrew.

[edit] Former Parishes

Parishes have been a feature of local administration in Jamaica since the island was captured by the English in 1655.^[1] The number has varied over time and some no longer exist having either been absorbed into or divided between neighbouring parishes.^[1] At the peak, 1841-1865, there were 22 (the current 14 plus those listed below).^[1]

The current set of parishes was established in 1866 with the elimination of the 8 listed below (roughly by county):^[1]

Surrey:

Port Royal (now divided between Kingston and Saint Andrew)
Saint George (now divided between Saint Mary and Portland)
Saint David (now part of Saint Thomas)

Middlesex:

Metcalfe (now part of Saint Mary)
Saint Dorothy (now part of Saint Catherine)
Saint John (now part of Saint Catherine)
Saint Thomas in the Vale (now part of Saint Catherine) – note that the current Saint Thomas used to be named “Saint Thomas in the East” to differentiate between the two parishes at the time.
Vere (now part of Clarendon)

[edit] See also

ISO 3166-2:IM

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Prestwidge, Bill. "Jamaican Parish Reference". http://prestwidge.com/river/jamaicanparishes.html. Retrieved 2009-10-24.

[edit] External links

Jamaican Parish Reference, a concise and well illustrated history of parish naming in Jamaica.

[JPR-0] Prestwidge, Bill. "Jamaican Parish Reference". http://prestwidge.com/river/jamaicanparishes.html. Retrieved 2009-10-24.

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