Christopher Columbus discovered
the Cayman Islands on May 10,
1503 and named them Las Tortugas
after the numerous sea turtles
there. Columbus had found the
two small islands (Cayman Brac
and Little Cayman) and it was
these 2 islands that he named
"Las Tortugas". A 1523 map of
the islands referred to them as
Lagartos, meaning alligators or
large lizards, but by 1530 they
were known as the Caymanas after
the Carib word for the marine
crocodile which also lived
there. The first recorded
English visitor was Sir Francis
Drake in 1586, who reported that
the caymanas were edible, but it
was the turtles which attracted
ships in search of fresh meat
for their crews. Over fishing
nearly extinguished the turtles
from the local waters. The first
recorded permanent inhabitant of
the Cayman Islands, Isaac Bodden,
was born on Grand Cayman around
1700. He was the grandson of the
original settler named Bodden
who was likely one of Oliver
Cromwell's soldiers at the
taking of Jamaica in 1655. A
variety of people settled on the
islands: pirates, refugees from
the Spanish Inquisition,
shipwrecked sailors, and slaves.
The majority of Caymanians are
of African and British descent,
with considerable interracial
mixing. Britain took formal
control of the Caymans, along
with Jamaica, under the Treaty
of Madrid in 1670 after the
first settlers came from Jamaica
in 1661-71 to Little Cayman and
Cayman Brac. These first
settlements were abandoned after
attacks by Spanish privateers,
but British privateers often
used the Cayman Islands as a
base and in the 18th century
they became an increasingly
popular hideout for pirates,
even after the end of legitimate
privatizing in 1713. Following
several unsuccessful attempts,
permanent settlement of the
islands began in the 1730s. The
Cayman Islands historically have
been popular as a tax haven. In
November 1794, 10 vessels which
were part of a convoy escorted
by HMS Convert, were wrecked on
the reef in Gun Bay, on the East
end of Grand Cayman, but with
the help of local settlers,
there was no loss of life. The
incident is now remembered as
The Wreck of the Ten Sail.
Legend has it that there was a
member of the Royal Family
onboard and that in gratitude
for their bravery, King George
III decreed that Caymanians
should never be conscripted for
war service and Parliament
legislated that they should
never be taxed. However, no real
evidence has been found for this.
