Jamaica to develop historic tourist attraction for Columbus
January 31, 2007
A site on the Jamaican coastline where Christopher Columbus was marooned on his ill-fated fourth voyage will be developed as a tourist attraction, the premier’s office said Wednesday.
The park at St. Ann’s Bay, on the Caribbean island’s northern coast, will undergo a US$1 million renovation this year, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s office announced. Local artisans will sell crafts at kiosks inside the upgraded Seville Heritage Park.
The oceanside park of mangroves and scrubland is about 65 miles northwest of the capital, Kingston.
Columbus began his fourth voyage from Spain on April 3, 1502, with four caravels and a crew of 140. He was seeking a western passage to the Orient, but he encountered several storms, an Indian attack, disease, a mutiny and the destruction of his fleet by wood worms.
The explorer deliberately ran his Capitana and the Santiago de Palos ships aground on Jamaica’s northern coast and built huts to house the stranded men while they awaited rescue.
Columbus and his winnowed-down crew were eventually rescued by two ships summoned from neighboring Hispaniola, an island now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
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