The John Crow Mountains are a range of mountains in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

. They extend parallel with the northeast coast of the island, bounded to the west by the banks of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, and joining with the eastern end of the Blue Mountains in the southeast. The highest point in the range is a little over .UK

Directorate of Overseas Surveys The Ordnance Survey International or Ordnance Survey Overseas Directorate its predecessors built an archive of air photography, map and survey records for the United Kingdom from 1946 to 1999. The Ordnance Survey International Collection (formerly ...

1:50,000 map of Jamaica sheet N, 1967. The name John Crow was first recorded in the 1820s and comes from the Jamaican name for the

turkey vulture The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus '' Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of So ...

. It has been suggested that previous to this, the range was known as the "Carrion Crow Ridge", after an earlier name for the vulture."Eager for Ecclesdown Road"
a
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Accessed 29 July 2011. In 1885 Inspector Herbert T. Thomas of the local constabulary began an attempt to reach the highest peak of the range, and in 1890 was successful, publishing an account in his book 'Untrodden Jamaica'. He requested the then governor

Sir Henry Blake Sir Henry Arthur Blake (; 8January 184023February 1918) was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903. Early life, family and career Blake was born in Limerick, Ireland. He was the son of Peter Blake of Corb ...

to consent that they be renamed the Blake Mountains, but admits in his book the change met with opposition. The new name did not stick and they remain the John Crow Mountains. In 1920 the explorer Scoresby Routledge claimed to have been the first person to have crossed the John Crow mountains, leading to an exchange of letters in ''The Times'' regarding Inspector Thomas's prior claim. The matter was settled by the Jamaican Surveyor-General, who decided that though Thomas had been the first to scale the highest peak, and explore the ridge in a north-south direction, Mr. Routledge had traversed the valley and further range beyond: and thus he first "actually crossed them from west to east". The John Crow Mountains are also home to the endangered ''Papilio'' homerus, the largest butterfly in the Americas. The most well-studied and understood populations of the dwindling species is found where the John Crow Mountains and Blue Mountains meet.

References

{{Geography of Jamaica Mountain ranges of Jamaica World Heritage Sites in Jamaica