Trenchtown is a neighbourhood located in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. It gets its name from a large open-trenched sewer that runs through the neighborhood. The majority of the residents here live in squalor and infant mortality is rampant. The location of Kingston Kingston (population 652,000) is the capital of Jamaica. ...

History

Trenchtown was originally built as a housing project in West Kingston, replacing squatter camps that were destroyed by Hurricane Charlie in 1951. Many who came from rural Jamaica to find work settled there as it was a desirable location. Shanty town near Cape Town, South Africa Shanty towns (sometimes called bidonvilles) or the academic term informal settlements, are units of irregular low-cost and — usually on lands belonging to third parties, most often located in the periphery of the cities. ... Hurricane Charlie was a strong Category 4 hurricane in the 1951 Atlantic hurricane season, causing one of Jamaicas worst hurricane disasters. ...

Most of the new development was one- or two-story concrete buildings, built around a central courtyard with communal cooking facilities and a standpipe for water. Due to lack of funds no sewage system was planned for Trenchtown. Before the hurricane, the squatter camps had emerged around Kingston’s landfill and had become the home of one of Kingston’s Rastafarian communities. The neighborhood became unstable and dangerous from the early 1970s onwards. Two major rival Jamaican political parties — the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party, had emerged in Kingston and enforced code that ensured only their party’s supporters had access to jobs and services. They sponsored "dons" to enforce their authority in the so-called "garrison communities" and shot any opponents with guns. Trenchtown was controlled by the PNP, which put it at war with neighboring Rima, a JLP stronghold. The road connecting the two became the front-line in an all-out war. After a while the "dons" outgrew their masters and turned to drug trafficking and extortion, and Trenchtown, like other parts of downtown Kingston, was carved up into warring gang territories. A freestanding fire standpipe at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA A standpipe is a type of rigid water piping which is put in multi-storey buildings or placed in the street to be used in the event of a fire. ... Landfill is a waste disposal site for the deposit of the waste onto or into land (i. ... Rasta hairstyle Rastafarianism is a religious movement that believes in the divinity of ex Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. ... Peoples National Party or Peoples National Party existed or exists in a number of countries. ... The Jamaica Labour Party is a conservative political party in Jamaica. ...

Community projects such as The Trenchtown Reading Association [1] setup in 1993 and The Trenchtown Development Association setup in 1996 were formed to increase literacy and encourage government spending in the area. Things have been getting better recently and the murder rate in west Kingston has more than halved in the past four years^[1].

Trivia

• Famous Jamaicans who lived in this area include Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer as well as numerous other Reggae musicians.
• Bob Marley and the Wailers dedicated a song to the neighbourhood of the same name, titled "Trenchtown Rock".
• Marley's song No Woman, No Cry also makes a reference to it.
• Trenchtown is also mentioned in many songs by the band Sublime.

Robert Nesta Marley, OM, (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) better known as Bob Marley, was a Jamaican singer, guitarist, songwriter, Rastafari and activist. ... Peter Tosh (October 9, 1944 – September 11, 1987) was a pioneer reggae musician. ... Bunny Wailer, also known as Bunny Livingston, was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. ... Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica. ... Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 - May 11, 1981), better known as Bob Marley, was a singer, guitarist, songwriter and Rastafarian from the ghettos of Jamaica. ... No Woman, No Cry is a reggae song made famous by Bob Marley and the Wailers. ... Sublime was a garage punk, ska band from Long Beach, California, playing a mix of reggae and dub, ska, punk, and hip hop. ...

References

1. ^ Pressly, Linda, "One Love in Trenchtown?", BBC, 2 December 1999.

• Trenchtown: A Spiritual Powerpoint by Eddie Brannan

December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Further reading

Voir Trenchtown et mourir, by Helene Lee, 2004, Flammarion, France, ISBN 2080684051 Helene Lee is a French journalist specialized in Jamaican and West African music. ...