Bluefields, Jamaica

Parish

Bluefields is a country town in the southwest of Jamaica. The city is located in the County ( Parish ) Westmoreland County Cornwall. In 2010, the population was 2826 people.

History

Bluefields is one of the three oldest settlements in Jamaica. Christopher Columbus was here in 1494, during his second voyage of discovery, for the first time on land .. He named the stretch of coast Oristan. Under the same name, a settlement was in 1519 by Spanish navigators in this place built .. After Sevilla Nueva, it was the second Spanish settlement on the island. Bluefields had one of the most protected anchorages of Jamaica and is located at the foot of a mountain range. Therefore, the place and its about one kilometer long sandy beach were mainly used by pirates since its inception. 1655 Oristan was captured by British troops and got its present name in Bluefields. In 1670 the buccaneer Henry Morgan came to Bluefields and used the place as a rallying point for its fleet, with which he conquered in 1671 Panama. William Bligh, a British naval officer and Governor of New South Wales, lived from 1793 in Bluefields Great House. He also planted the first breadfruit trees on the island. Bligh became well-known all through the mutiny on the ship under his command HMAV Bounty and the subsequent, about 3,600 nautical mile journey in an open boat from Eastern Polynesia to the island of Timor. In the 18th century Bluefields was named because of its successful sugar cultivation as " The richest sugar bowl of Jamaica ". The place seems just as important as the capital Kingston on maps of that time. Today, the beach of Bluefields is under the name of Bluefields Beach Park is a known tourist destination on the island.