Spanish Town, city in southeastern Jamaica, in Saint Catherine Parish, on the Cobre River, near Kingston. A road hub on a railroad, the city lies in an area in which sugarcane, citrus fruit, coffee, bananas, livestock, and cacao are produced; industries include rum distilling, sugar milling, and vegetable and fruit processing and canning. Of interest are the old House of Assembly, the Rodney Memorial, King's House (the residence of early governors), and Saint Catherine's Cathedral (17th century), the oldest Anglican church in the country. Founded by Diego Columbus, the oldest son of the explorer Christopher Columbus, in the early 1520s as Villa de la Vega, the city was first called Saint Jago (or Santiago) de la Vega. It was the capital of the island under Spanish and English rule from 1535 to the 1870s. Population (1991) 92,383.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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