Cayman Islands Holidays - Brief History

Found just to the south of Cuba and to the north west of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands rank as the 5th largest offshore banking centre in the World. Since the 1960s these islands have grown to one of the most popular scuba-diving destinations in the World. They boast spectacular underwater walls, caverns and reefs. Despite being a British Overseas Territory, the majority of the tourists are Americans. It is only around 90 minutes flying time from Florida. With its short flying time and English as the official language, along with a low crime rate, it is no wonder that thousands of Americans have a Cayman Islands holiday each year.

After getting blown off course while sailing between Panama and Hispaniola (the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1503 Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the smaller two of the three island that now make up the Cayman Islands. As there was a high concentration of turtles on these islands, Columbus called them 'Las Tortugas', which is Spanish for turtle. These two islands are now known as Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

The name didn't last as when Sir Francis Drake sailed through, he renamed them after another animal, the now extinct caimans (related to crocodiles). The Islands became part of the British Empire in 1670 under the Treaty of Madrid. The Cayman Islands where then governed as a Jamaican dependency until 1962 when Jamaica became an independent country. The Cayman Islands chose to remain as a British Colony.

The old sea based industries such as fishing and working about merchant ships have been replaced by finance and tourism as the major providers for the Cayman economy, with most locals and expats working in one or the other.