The Tramways of Kingston, Jamaica

The island of Jamaica is about 50 miles wide and 150 miles long. Its north coast is about 100 miles south of Cuba and 100 miles west of Haiti. Jamaica was a British colony from 1655 until 1958; it became a fully independent state in 1962. A steam railroad that opened in 1845 between its capital, Kingston, and Spanish Town was one of the first railroads in the Americas, preceded only by lines in the U.S., Canada and Cuba. Kingston's population was about 50,000 in 1900, is about 100,000 today.