A range of eastern Jamaica rising to 2,252 m (7,388 ft) at Blue Mountain Peak. It is a coffee-growing area.
Blue Mountains
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The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region of Jamaica. It is the largest mountain range in Jamaica. They include the island's highest point, Blue Mountain Peak, at 2256 m (7402 ft). From the summit, accessible via a walking track, both the North and South coasts of the island can be seen. On a clear day, the outline of the island Cuba, 210 km (130 mi) away, can be seen. As one of the longest continuous mountain ranges in the Caribbean, the Blue Mountains dominate the eastern third of Jamaica, while bordering the eastern parishes of Portland and St. Thomas and St. Andrew to the south. The Blue Mountains form a cooling relief from the sweltering heat of Kingston below. These summits rise and fall along for 24 miles long and 14 miles at its widest point, where the temperature decreases from around 27°C (80°F) at sea level to 5°C (40°F) at Blue Mountain Peak, just 16 km (10 miles) inland. This climatic diversity has enabled the high rainfall that feeds the lush vegetation, which includes towering trees and over 500 species of flowering plants, of which half are found nowhere else on earth. The Blue Mountains are home to the world's second largest butterfly and the largest in the Americas, the Homerus swallowtail (Papilio homerus), the Jamaican Coney (Geocapromys brownii), a type of rodent, and the Jamaican boa (Epicrates subflavus). More than 200 species of birds live in the Blue Mountains, most of which are exclusively neotropical. Also two possibly extinct species occurred in the Blue Mountains, the moth Urania sloanus and the Jamaican Petrel.
The famous Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is cultivated on the lower slopes, while higher slopes are preserved as forest. Hagley Gap and Mavis Bank are farming communities located on Blue Mountain with Hagley Gap being closest to Blue Mountain Peak. Both towns rely upon the area's rich, fertile soils for growing Blue Mountain Coffee, considered by many[who?] to be the finest coffee in the world.
Part of the Blue Mountains is contained in the Blue Mountain John Crow Mountain National Park established in 1992, which is maintained by the Jamaican government.
In past years, when Jamaica's economy was dominated by plantation slavery, some slave Maroons were able to escape to the Blue Mountains and live independently.
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Coordinates: 18°06′N 76°40′W / 18.1°N 76.667°W
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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