EMBRACING MANY areas of historic association with both the Spanish and English settlers, St. Catherine, with a recognised size of 483 square miles in 1867, was named after the wife of Charles II, the British monarch, when it was formed in 1660.
Established as an amalgamation of several small parishes, including St. Dorothy, St. John and St. Thomas-in-the-Vale, St. Catherine's borders include historic Spanish Town, which up to 1872, was Jamaica's capital.
Spreading westwards, St. Catherine encompassed vast plain lands, running down to historic Old Harbour Bay, originally called Puerto de la Vega (Cow Bay) by Christopher Columbus, who paused there after discovering the island's north coast in 1494. There he met what he described as the most intelligent and civilised of all the aborigines he had encountered in the West Indies.
There are numerous points of much significance along the 50-mile strip partly through neighbouring St. Ann to the north coast. From the Flat Bridge and the Bog Walk Gorge, to the Mountain River Cave and the market-immortalised town of Linstead, northern St. Catherine has stood tall in the area in both history and culture.
It is located in the southern section of the island. The south of the parish is very flat except for the Hellshire Hills near the coast. The central and northern sections are very mountainous.
