Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands City Guide
For over 20 years, Pamela Lanier's Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Travel Guide has been your connection to Grand Cayman's tourism community with invaluable details on local attractions, restaurants, shopping, museums, history, outdoor recreation and more.
Grand Cayman Island History
Christopher Columbus first sighted the Cayman Islands in May of 1503 when strong winds blew his ship off course on its way to what are now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Noting that the islands were full of turtles, Columbus called them “Las Tortugas,” a name that stuck until the 1530s when they were referred to as the Caymanas, derived from the Carib Indian word for the marine crocodile known to have lived on the islands. The islands’ large turtle population made them a popular destination for ships sailing the Caribbean and in need of meat to feed the sailors, though the popularity eventually led to the extinction of the islands’ turtles. A royal grant of land in Grand Cayman was made by the Governor of Jamaica in 1734 and others soon followed, developing existing settlements as well as creating new. Shipwrecks have long been part of Grand Cayman’s history, including the legend of The Wreck of the Ten Sail, when a convoy of ten ships almost perished along the reef. From their earliest years, the Cayman Islands were politically dependent on Jamaica, though a tradition of self-government was strong. The British Parliament officially made the Cayman Islands a dependency of Jamaica, though in 1962 when Jamaica achieved independence, the Cayman Islands chose to remain under British rule. For many years Cayman Islanders earned their living at sea and Grand Cayman today is known world-wide as a remarkable bed and breakfast destination, thriving as a tourist destination and important financial center.
