Cagway Bay as the English called it following their arrival in Jamaica during the invasion of 1655 had been known to the earlier Taino and Spanish occupiers as ''Caguay'' or ''Caguaya'' bay. The bay in turn got its name from the Taino name for the

sand spit A spit (cognate with the word for a rotisserie bar) or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drif ...

now known as the

Palisadoes Palisadoes (word apparently of Portuguese origin) is the thin tombolo of sand that serves as a natural protection for Kingston Harbour, Jamaica. Norman Manley International Airport and the historic town of Port Royal are both on Palisadoes. ...

which protects the bay or, as it is now known as,

Kingston Harbour Kingston Harbour in Jamaica is the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world. It is an almost landlocked area of water approximately long by wide. Most of it is deep enough to accommodate large ships, even close to shore. It is bordered to th ...

. Edward Long argued in his 1744 ''History of Jamaica'' argues that the names were "a corruption of ''caragua'', the Indian name for coratoe, or great aloe, which overspreads the adjacent Saltpan Hill".

References

{{Geography of Jamaica Ports and harbours of Jamaica Bays and coves of Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica

See also

References