Info about Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands on May 10, 1503. It was his fourth voyage, which was his last one. Columbus named the islands Las Tortugas because there were so many sea turtles. Sir Francis Drake was the first Englismen to go to the islands. He arrived in 1586 and renamed the islands Cayman Islands after the word caiman which is an alligator.
Isaac Bodden was the first one to be documented as living there. He was born on Grand Cayman in 1661. Isaac Bodden was a grandson of an original settler. His grandfather was believed to be one of Oliver Cromwell’s soliers in 1655 when he took over Jaimaica.
Hardly anyone lived on the Cayman Islands until the 1800s. Around this time many people from various backgrounds including refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, Oliver Cromwell’s deserters, pirates, and shipwrecked sailors. Most Caymanians are
The Cayman Islands and Jaimaica were captured by the Spanish Empire, but the Treaty of Madrid gave Great Britain and Jaimaica control of the islands in 1670. Permanent settlements began there in the 1730s. They were governed as one colony with Jaimaica until they became a separate British Overseas Territory in 1962.
The Grand Cayman Island is an unprotected island that sits at sea level. It was hit by Hurricane Ivan on September 11, 2004. Over 90% of the buildings suffered damage.In some places there was no power, water, or phone service for months. Ivan was the worst hurrican to hit the islands since 1918, but thanks to a huge rebuilding effort it was mostly rebuilt within two years. The Cayman Islands have received the most major hurricane strikes in history. They are hit an average of every 2.23 years.
The Cayman Islands are a tax exempt place. They were rewarded by King George III by paying no taxes because they had rescure crews from a Jaimaican merchant ship convoy that hit a reef during a hurricane. He promised that no tax would ever be imposed on them.
The Cayman Islands are found in the western Caribbean Sea. They are actually the peaks of huge underwater mountains that are called the Cayman Trench. They ris 8,000 feet form the sea floor. They are in the northwest Caribbean sea which puts them west of Jaimaica and south of Cuba. They are about 400 miles south of Miami, and 195 miles northwest of Jaimaica. Grand Cayman is 76 sq. mi. There are two islands that are called the sister islands called Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. They are about 180 miles east of Grand Cayman. Little Cayman has an area of 14 sq. mi. and Cayman Brac only has an area of 10 sq.mi.
All three islands are mainly flat. The were mad by large corals that covered peaks of the western arm of the Sierra Maestra range. The only exception is The Bluff which is on the eastern part of Cayman Brac. It stands about 140 feet above sea level at its highest point.