PHYSICAL FEATURES

• Physical features in the landscape are natural

features such as hills ,mountains, plateaus,
plains, valleys, and rivers, but no vegetation
 HIGHLANDS
• Jamaica is a mountainous country with many highlands,
also referred to as hills and mountains.

• A mountain is a highland which rises above 500 metres.

Jamaica’s highest mountain is the Blue Mountain
(2256m) which spread across four parishes(Portland,
St. Thomas, St. Mary and St. Andrew).

• A hill is lower than a mountain. Hills are landforms

between 150-500 metres.
JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN PEAK
Cockpit Country Hills (Jamaica)
 IMPORTANCE OF HIGHLANDS
• Encourage rainfall
• Provide wood for lumber,furniture,utility poles
and for making charcoal
• Natural habitat for birds, insect and some
animals
• Some crops like coffee and cocoa grow well on
the slopes of mountains and hills
• Some tourists and also natives enjoy hiking and
camping out in our highlands.
 LOWLANDS
• Lowlands: These are landforms 150 metres or
less. These include plains and valleys
• Plains: Area of low, flat land, usually large and
often along the coast
• Valley: This is a low-lying long area between two
hills or mountains, often formed by a river
BLUE MOUNTAIN VALLEY
GEORGES PLAIN
PEDRO PLAINS
 IMPORTANCE OF LOWLANDS
• Used for building homes,
schools,hospitals,factories as well as
government and commercial buildings.
• Many farmers find it easier to establish farms on
lowlands rather than on highlands
• It is easy to build roads on plains
• Valleys are also natural paths for rivers
 RIVERS
• A river is a body of fresh water which flows from
a source a ,where it begins( a mountain is
usually the source of a river) ,through a valley, to
a mouth, where it ends (the mouth of a river
usually has another river or the sea).
• The rivers of Jamaica generally flow from the
mountains in the centre of the island to the north
or south coasts and into the Caribbean sea.
 IMPORTANCE OF RIVERS
• Domestic purposes
• Fishing
• Land-mark
• Recreation
• irrigation
 PLATEAU
• A plateau is a mountain with a flat top.
Lime Tree Farm on a plateau (Jamaica)
Diagrams showing natural and man-made physical features