Overview
Jamaica’s official second city, its name has varying stories surrounding its origin. Christopher Columbus named the bay there, “El Cabo de Buen Tiempo”, or “Fairweather Gulf”, and it is said that the entire area was named for Montego de Salmanaca, an early colonizer. A more popular (and probable) idea however, is that the name “montego “was derived from the Spanish word “Manteca”, meaning lard or butter. An early map of Jamaica has the Montego Bay area listed as “Bahia de Manteca” or “Lard Bay”. This region was densely populated with wild hogs which the Spanish are said to have slaughtered in large numbers, in order to collect lard for export to Cartagena.
