Rio Minho (Jamaica)

Course of the Rio Minho

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Rio Minho, with a length of 92.5 kilometers, the longest river in Jamaica.

It rises in the interior of the island and passes through the Clarendon Parish to the south, before flowing into the Carlisle Bay and the Caribbean. The 1700 -square-kilometer catchment area is separated on the west by the Clarendon watershed from that of the Black River.

The Rio Minho first passes through the limestone mountains in the interior of the island. In soft ground, the river bed changes regularly, so that length information and maps are only preliminary, particularly in the upper reaches. This can completely dry out in low-rainfall months. For this reason, the shorter Black River is given as the longest river of the island sometimes.

In the lower reaches it crosses the great alluvial plain of the Clarendon Parish. In the field intensively farmed a large part of the water is used for irrigation. The largest city along the course is May Pen with about 45,000 inhabitants.