Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands, dependency of the United Kingdom in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises three islands: Grand Cayman, located north-west of Jamaica, and Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, located about 130 km (80 mi) north-east of Grand Cayman. The islands are generally low-lying and of coral formation, with a total land area of 262 sq km (101 sq mi). Tourism and international banking form the backbone of the economy. Its banking secrecy laws have recently been relaxed. Fishing, shipbuilding, turtle raising, and crop farming are locally important. The leading exports include turtle shells, green turtles, lobster, finfish, and fish for aquariums. The capital is Georgetown, on Grand Cayman. English is the official language, spoken by less than half the population as a first language. Cayman Islands English, which has some creole features although not creolized itself, is spoken by slightly more people as a mother tongue.

Sighted in 1503 by Christopher Columbus, who named them Las Tortugas (Spanish, “the turtles”), the Cayman Islands were colonized in about 1734 by British settlers from Jamaica. The islands remained a dependency of Jamaica until 1959, when they became a self-governing member of the Federation of the West Indies. In 1962 they became a British dependency again. The governor since May 2002 has been Bruce Dinwiddy. Population (1989) 25,253.