ABSTRACT
William J. McCluskey Introduction The island of Jamaica is situated in the Northern Caribbean Sea and is the regions third largest island after Cuba and Hispaniola (Haita and the Dominican Republic). The country is divided into three counties, Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey and fourteen parishes. The total area of the island is approximately 4,411 square miles or about 2.8 million acres. It is 146 miles long and approximately 51 miles wide at its widest point. The terrain of Jamaica is in the most part rugged and the economic use of a large part of the island is dictated, to a great extent, by the size of the parcels of land, the elevation, the depth and quality of the soil. The surface of the island is extremely mountainous, particularly the central range which is known as the Blue Mountains and reaches an elevation of 7,400 feet above sea level. This terrain has been an important consideration in the development of the property tax system of the island.
