Cayman Islands - History
The Cayman Islands are three in number: Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brae. They were taken possession of by the English soon after the conquest of Jamaica. They were discovered by Columbus on his return voyage from Porto Bello to Hispaniola (now Haiti) and were named by him Las Tortugas, on account of the turtle with which the coast swarmed.
The present name is supposed by some to be derived from "Caiman" — the alligator — which the largest island resembles in shape when approached from the east. A 1523 map shows all three Islands with the name 'Lagartos', meaning alligators or large lizards, but by 1530 the name 'Caymanas' was being used. It is derived from the Carib Indian word for the marine crocodile, which is now known to have lived in the islands.
But it was also held with some show of reason that the names of these Islands were originally "Cayo-Mano," Grand Cayman bearing a strong resemblance in outline to an outstretched hand — "Cayo Braco" — Cayman Brae — being very like a man's arm without the hand and "Cayo Chico" — Little Cayman. In an early record Grand Cayman is termed in English "The Cay of Manos."
The Cayman Islands were never occupied by the Spaniards; they were taken possession of by the English soon after the conquest of Jamaica The Cayman Islands were colonized from Jamaica by the British during the 18th and 19th centuries and were administered by Jamaica after 1863. In 1959, the islands became a territory within the Federation of the West Indies. When the Federation dissolved in 1962, the Cayman Islands chose to remain a British dependency. The territory transformed itself into a significant offshore financial center.
Various people settled on the islands from refuges from the Spanish inquisition to pirates to slaves, shipwrecked sailors and more. Majority of Caymanians are of British and African descent. Early tradition states that Grand Cayman was at one time the rendezvous of Buccaneers, who preyed upon passing ships, which they boarded at nights, far from shore in large armed boats called " Periaguas." These marauders protected themselves against attack by means of heiivy guns mounted upon the rocky shore within the coral reefs, where they could only be approached in boats. On finding the island untenable, owing to the occasional presence of ships of war, the Buccaneers escaped to America in their boats and landed on the shores of the Mississippi.
The first settlers of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman came from Jamaica. Isaac Bodden was the first recorded permanent resident of the Cayman Islands. He was actually born on Grand Cayman in 1661 and the grandson of the islands’ original settler. The first settlers were displaced by Spanish privateers attacks as the island became a favorite base among pirates and privateers. In 1670, Cayman Islands with Jamaica were captured and turned over to England under the Treaty of Madrid. In the 1730s, permanent settlement of the islands commenced.
Between the years 1734 and 1741 Grand Cayman was formally colonized. In 1794, ten vessels were shipwrecked near Grand Cayman. All passengers were saved including a member of the Royal Family. It was said that King George III, out of gratefulness to the settlers, decreed that Caymanians will never be drafted for war service and will never be taxed. To this day, residents and companies in the Cayman Islands are exempted from paying taxes.
The first local legislation was on December 31, 1831. The Governor of Jamaica approved an assembly of eight magistrates duly appointed by the governor and 10 elected representatives. In 1835, the governor of Jamaica declared all slaves free based on the Emancipation Act of 1833. In 1863 Cayman Islands became a dependency of Jamaica.
Grand Cayman is situated 178 miles to the W.N.W. of the western extremity of Jamaica. It has an extreme length of seventeen miles, and is four miles wide at the east end, and seven miles at the west. By 1890 the population numbered about 4,000. Sir Henry Norman, who visited the islands in 1884, wrote of them : " The islanders send cocoanuts and turtle to Jamaica in their schooners and bring back flour and other necessaries. They grow their own ground provisions and sugar-cane, and rear cattle. Very little money is in the island, hut there is no actual poverty, and most of the people have all they want."
Little Cayman and Cayman Brae lie about 70 miles to the northeast of Grand Cayman, and are close to one another. They are much of the same size, being each nine or ten miles long by one mile in width. In 1888 there were 41 persons, all white, on Little Cayman. There are between four and five hundred inhabitants on Cayman Brae, the large majority of whom are white.
The affairs of the Cayman Islands were managed by the "Justices and vestry," a body composed of magistrates appointed by the Governor of Jamaica and of elected vestrymen. Their enactments become law on confirmation by the Governor of Jamaica acting under the provisions of 26 and 27 Vict. c. 31.
The two islands were treated as separate territories only in 1962 when Jamaica became a commonwealth and Cayman Islands a British Overseas Territory. Cayman Island’s first airfield was opened in 1953. It was also about this time that the George Town Public hospital was opened to the public. Formalized commerce was introduced by Barclays as it opened the first commercial bank in the island.
After two years of campaign, the 1959 Constitution allowed women to vote. It was also about this time that the Cayman started to break away as a dependency of Jamaica which was formalized in 1962 but the two territories still shared many links and experiences. Today, Jamaicans comprised 50% of expats working in Cayman Islands.
In 1971 the structure of the government was changed to governorship with Athel Long being the last administrator and first governor of Cayman Islands.
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