Discovery Bay is a town in

Saint Ann Parish Saint Ann is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called "the Garden Parish of Jamaica" on ac ...

on the northern coast of

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 ...

. The city is also known locally as Dry Harbour, and gives its name to the

Dry Harbour Mountains The Dry Harbour Mountains are a range of mountains in north central Jamaica. More accurately described as a plateau than a true mountain range, they form the eastern boundary of the Cockpit Country. This is also the mountain that people used to g ...

in St. Ann. There is a dispute as to whether

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

first landed in Discovery Bay or

Sevilla la Nueva Sevilla la Nueva is a town located in the south west of the Community of Madrid, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( ...

(east of Discovery Bay) in 1494. Near to the city are Puerto Seco Beach and several historic sites, such as the Green Grotto Caves and Columbus Park. Visitors to the Green Grotto Caves can see relics of the native

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greate ...

lifestyle there. It is said that many

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ...

escaped the English invasion of 1655 through secret passages in the caves with the help of Arawaks and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n slaves, in exchange for the slaves' freedom.

Overview

The city of Discovery Bay sits on a bay of the same name. The bay was originally named ''Puerto Seco'' (Dry Harbour) by Christopher Columbus because, unlike the neighboring Rio Bueno bay, there are no permanent rivers flowing into it. However, groundwater does enter the bay through deep cracks in the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more Storey, floors of a building that are completely or partly below the storey, ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

, especially on the geologic fault line that runs through the ship channel and on the western side. The

salinities Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

of the submerged springs are greater than 20 parts per thousand, yet they cause a marked difference in temperature and salinity in the shallow western back reef. Discovery Bay's

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

is dependent upon

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...

mining. To the west of the bay is a port from which the St. Ann Bauxite Company, which employs 450 people, exports ore. The St. Ann Bauxite company was formerly named Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite Co. (KJBC), and was jointly owned by

Kaiser Aluminum Kaiser Aluminum Corporation is an American aluminum producer. It is a spinoff from Kaiser Aluminum and Chemicals Corporation, which came to be when common stock was offered in Permanente Metals Corporation and Permanente Metals Corporation's ...

and the

government of Jamaica Politics in Jamaica takes place in the framework of a representative parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The 1962 Constitution of Jamaica established a parliamentary system whose political and legal traditions closely fol ...

. It is also the site of the

Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

, operated by the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the ...

. Founded in 1965, the lab has hosted researchers from around the world focusing on coral reef biology and tropical coastal processes. The majority of the city's 2,700 residents are of African descent. The original Taíno Arawak residents did not survive the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.

External links

Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory (DBML)
{{Settlements in Jamaica Populated places in Jamaica Populated coastal places in Jamaica

Overview

See also

External links