Jamaica牙买加

Curatorial Note

The National Atlas of Jamaica, produced by the Town Planning Department of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, represents a modest yet significant chapter in Caribbean cartography. Emerging in the post-independence era, when many newly sovereign nations sought to assert their identity through official mapping, Jamaica’s atlas tradition began in 1971 as a tool for national planning and resource management. The two editions—1971 and 1989—reflect a period of institutional continuity, with the same department overseeing both. Their editorial approach prioritized thematic clarity, integrating physical geography, demography, and economic activity into a cohesive national portrait. While no external commentary survives in this collection, the atlas’s role as a planning instrument is evident in its structure, which emphasizes land use, infrastructure, and population distribution. Together, these volumes stand as a durable reference for scholars and planners, documenting Jamaica’s landscape and development priorities across two decades. They also illustrate a broader trend in the Anglophone Caribbean, where national atlases served as both scientific records and symbols of sovereignty, though Jamaica’s contribution remains a focused, practical example rather than a lavish production.