Morant Bay is a town in southeastern Jamaica and the capital of the parish of St. Thomas, located about 25 miles east of Kingston, the capital. The parish has a population of 94,410.
During the nineteenth century, the parish was an area of sugar cane plantations, with a majority of black enslave descendant after the abolition of slavery. The Morant Bay Rebellion started on October 11, 1865, with a march by hundreds of peasants from the parish to the court house to protest poor conditions in the parish. After seven men were shot and killed by volunteer militia, the peasants burned the court house and other nearby buildings; a total of 25 people died on both sides in this confrontation.
Over the next two days, hundreds of black peasants took control throughout the parish. The governor ordered troops to arrest and suppress the rebels; they killed more than 400 persons outright and arrested more than 300, in both cases including many innocent people. Many of those arrested were executed, flogged or sentenced to long terms. This was the only major peasant revolt, in Jamaican history. The court house was rebuilt. It stood until 2007, when it was burned down.