Built in 1962 when the country broke free from Great Britain, is also known as the Caribbean’s Cultural Capital. Located in the world’s seventh largest port, is a bay of the southeastern Jamaican coast.Kingston stretches out alongside the Caribbean Sea shore in the outskirts of the Blue Mountains. Though English is the country’s official language, most of its inhabitants speak patois (a combination of English and African languages with terms stemming from all origins). Kingston, with one million inhabitants, stands for the island’s main economic and political center, as well as the most cosmopolitan city of all. The other two cities coming behind Kingston in importance are Spanish Town and Montego Bay.The city streamlined itself in the late 1980s when the old piers were demolished to make room for hotels, shops, malls and other facilities.Kingston began to expand around its port, whose main activity right now is to serve as a stopover point for cruise liners. Nonetheless, its streets definitely show much of the hubble-bubble of any port city, with an image of a giant outdoors bazaar, where hawkers and peddlers deal and wheel in a game of non-stop bargaining, offering all kinds of items ranging from rum to handicrafts and imported scents and perfumes. However, Kingston’s economy does not hinge solely on tourism. The city exports huge amounts of sugar, coffee, rum and molasses. Besides the fact that the city manufacturers such produce as fabrics, clothing and oil byproducts.
