Kingston Jamaica: The Earthquake That Created Kingston, Jamaica has a history so dramatic that it reads like fiction. Founded in July 1692 after an earthquake completely destroyed the nearby city of Port Royal, Kingston emerged from catastrophe to become the Caribbean's most culturally significant capital. But Kingston's story doesn't stop there. In 1914, two young Jamaicans—Marcus Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey—founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Kingston, which became