{"id":9312,"date":"2022-03-08T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9312"},"modified":"2022-03-08T17:58:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T01:58:33","slug":"9312-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/9312-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Cayman Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

The Cayman Islands is a self-governing\u00a0British Overseas Territory<\/a>, the largest by population, in the western\u00a0Caribbean Sea<\/a>. The 264-square-kilometre (102-square-mile) territory comprises the three islands of\u00a0Grand Cayman<\/a>,\u00a0Cayman Brac<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Little Cayman<\/a>, which are located to the south of\u00a0Cuba<\/a>\u00a0and northeast of\u00a0Honduras<\/a>, between\u00a0Jamaica<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mexico<\/a>‘s\u00a0Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula<\/a>. The capital city is\u00a0George Town<\/a>\u00a0on Grand Cayman, which is the most populous of the three islands.<\/p>\n

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Cayman Islands on the Globe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cayman Islands is considered to be part of the geographic\u00a0Western Caribbean Zone<\/a>\u00a0as well as the\u00a0Greater Antilles<\/a>. The territory is considered a controversial major world\u00a0offshore financial haven<\/a>\u00a0for international businesses and wealthy individuals, largely as a result of the state not charging taxes on any income earned or stored.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

No archaeological evidence for an indigenous presence has been found on the Cayman Islands.<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, it is believed that they were discovered by\u00a0Christopher Columbus<\/a> on 10 May 1503 during his final voyage to the Americas.\u00a0He named them ‘Las Tortugas’ due to the large number of turtles found on the islands (which were soon hunted to near-extinction);<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0however, in the succeeding decades the islands began to be referred to as the Caymans, after the\u00a0caimans<\/a> present there.<\/sup> No immediate colonization occurred following Columbus’s discovery; however, a variety of settlers from various backgrounds made their home on the islands, including pirates<\/a>, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters from\u00a0Oliver Cromwell<\/a>‘s army in\u00a0Jamaica<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Sir\u00a0Francis Drake<\/a> briefly visited the islands in 1586.<\/p>\n

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Cayman Islands National Museum, George Town, Grand Cayman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The first recorded permanent inhabitant of the Cayman Islands, Isaac Bodden, was born on\u00a0Grand Cayman<\/a>\u00a0around 1661. He was the grandson of the original settler named Bodden who was probably one of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers at the taking of Jamaica in 1655.<\/sup><\/p>\n

England<\/a>\u00a0took\u00a0formal control<\/a>\u00a0of the Cayman Islands, along with Jamaica, as a result of the\u00a0Treaty of Madrid of 1670<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0That same year saw an attack on a turtle fishing settlement on Little Cayman by the Spanish under\u00a0Manuel Ribeiro Pardal<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Following several unsuccessful attempts at settlement in what had by now become a haven for pirates,<\/sup>\u00a0a permanent English-speaking population in the islands dates from the 1730s.<\/sup>\u00a0With settlement, after the first royal land grant by the\u00a0Governor of Jamaica<\/a>\u00a0in 1734, came the perceived need for slaves.<\/sup>\u00a0Many were brought to the islands from Africa; this is evident today with the majority of native Caymanians being of African and\/or English descent.<\/sup>\u00a0The results of the first census taken in the islands in 1802 showed the population on Grand Cayman to be 933, with 545 of those inhabitants being enslaved.<\/sup> Slavery was abolished in the Cayman Islands in 1833. At the time of abolition, there were over 950 people of African ancestry enslaved by 116 white families of English ancestry.<\/sup><\/p>\n

On 22 June 1863, the Cayman Islands became officially declared and administered as a dependency of the Crown Colony of Jamaica.<\/sup>\u00a0The islands continued to be governed as part of the\u00a0Colony of Jamaica<\/a>\u00a0until 1962, when they became a separate\u00a0Crown colony<\/a>\u00a0while Jamaica became an independent\u00a0Commonwealth realm<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n

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The Heroes Square in the center of George Town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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On 8 February 1794, the Caymanians rescued the crews of a group of ten <\/span>merchant ships<\/a>, including HMS\u00a0<\/span>Convert<\/i>, an incident that has since become known as the\u00a0<\/span>Wreck of the Ten Sail<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The ships had struck a reef and run aground during rough seas.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Legend has it that\u00a0<\/span>King George III<\/a> rewarded the island with a promise never to introduce taxes as compensation for their generosity, as one of the ships carried a member of the King’s own family. While this remains a popular legend, the story is not true.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the 1950s, tourism began to take off with the opening of Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA) in 1952,<\/sup> a bank and several hotels, plus a number of scheduled flights and cruise stop-overs. Politically the Cayman Islands were an internally self-governing territory of Jamaica from 1958 to 1962; however, they reverted to direct British rule following the\u00a0independence of Jamaica<\/a>\u00a0in 1962.<\/sup>\u00a0In 1972, a large degree of internal autonomy was granted by a new constitution, with further revisions being made in 1994.<\/sup> The Cayman Islands government focused on boosting the territory’s economy via tourism and off-shore finance, both of which mushroomed from the 1970s onwards. The Caymans have historically been a tax-exempt destination, and the government has always relied on indirect and not direct taxes. The territory has never levied\u00a0income tax<\/a>,\u00a0capital gains tax<\/a>, or any\u00a0wealth tax<\/a>, making them a popular\u00a0tax haven<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Detailed Cayman Islands Map<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 11 September 2004 the island of Grand Cayman, which lies largely unprotected at sea level, was hit by\u00a0Hurricane Ivan<\/a>, creating an 8-ft (2.4\u00a0m)\u00a0storm surge<\/a> which flooded many areas of Grand Cayman. An estimated 83% of the dwellings on the island were damaged including 4% requiring complete reconstruction. A reported 70% of all dwellings suffered severe damage from flooding or wind. Another 26% sustained minor damage from partial roof removal, low levels of flooding, or impact with floating or wind driven hurricane debris.<\/sup>\u00a0Power, water and communications were disrupted for months in some areas as Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the islands in 86 years.<\/sup> Grand Cayman began a major rebuilding process and within two years its infrastructure was nearly returned to pre-hurricane status. Due to the tropical location of the islands, more hurricanes or tropical systems have affected the Cayman Islands than any other region in the Atlantic basin; it has been brushed or directly hit, on average, every 2.23 years.<\/p>\n

Geography:<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Map of the Cayman Islands, showing the three main islands about 120 kilometres (75 miles) apart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The islands are in the western\u00a0Caribbean Sea<\/a>\u00a0and are the peaks of an\u00a0undersea mountain range<\/a>\u00a0called the\u00a0Cayman Ridge<\/a>\u00a0(or Cayman Rise). This ridge flanks the\u00a0Cayman Trough<\/a>, 6,000\u00a0m (20,000\u00a0ft) deep<\/sup>\u00a0which lies 6\u00a0km (3.7\u00a0mi) to the south.<\/sup>\u00a0The islands lie in the northwest of the Caribbean Sea, east of\u00a0Quintana Roo<\/a>, Mexico and\u00a0Yucat\u00e1n State<\/a>, Mexico, northeast of Costa Rica, north of Panama, south of Cuba and west of Jamaica. They are situated about 700\u00a0km (430\u00a0mi) south of\u00a0Miami<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0750\u00a0km (470\u00a0mi) east of\u00a0Mexico<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0366\u00a0km (227\u00a0mi) south of\u00a0Cuba<\/a>,[28]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and about 500\u00a0km (310\u00a0mi) northwest of\u00a0Jamaica<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Grand Cayman<\/a>\u00a0is by far the largest, with an area of 197\u00a0km2<\/sup> (76 sq mi). Grand Cayman’s two “sister islands”,\u00a0Cayman Brac<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Little Cayman<\/a>, are about 120\u00a0km (75\u00a0mi) east north-east of Grand Cayman and have areas of 38 and 28.5\u00a0km2<\/sup>\u00a0(14.7 and 11.0\u00a0sq\u00a0mi)<\/sup>\u00a0respectively. The nearest land mass from Grand Cayman is the\u00a0Canarreos Archipelago<\/a>\u00a0(about 240\u00a0km or 150 miles away), whereas the nearest from the easternmost island Cayman Brac is the\u00a0Jardines de la Reina<\/a>\u00a0archipelago (about 160\u00a0km or 100 miles away)\u00a0\u2013 both of which are part of Cuba.<\/p>\n

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George Town waterfront<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

All three islands were formed by large\u00a0coral heads<\/a>\u00a0covering submerged ice-age peaks of western extensions of the Cuban\u00a0Sierra Maestra<\/a>\u00a0range and are mostly flat. One notable exception to this is\u00a0The Bluff<\/a>\u00a0on Cayman Brac’s eastern part, which rises to 43\u00a0m (141\u00a0ft) above sea level, the highest point on the islands.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Terrain is mostly a low-lying\u00a0limestone<\/a>\u00a0base surrounded by\u00a0coral reefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n

The economy of the Cayman Islands is dominated by financial services and tourism, together accounting for 50-60% of\u00a0Gross Domestic Product<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The nation’s low tax rates have led to it being used as a\u00a0tax haven<\/a>\u00a0for corporations; there are 100,000 companies registered in the Cayman Islands, more than the population itself. The Cayman Islands have come under criticism for allegations of\u00a0money laundering<\/a>\u00a0and other financial crimes, including a 2016 statement by former US president Barack Obama of a particular building as “tax scam” for housing 12,000 corporations.<\/p>\n

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A proportional representation of Cayman Islands exports, 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

With an average income of US$71,549, Caymanians have the highest standard of living in the Caribbean. According to the\u00a0CIA World Factbook<\/a>, the Cayman Islands real GDP per capita is the 10th highest in the world, but the CIA’s data for Cayman dates to 2018 and is likely to be lower than present-day values.<\/sup>\u00a0The territory prints its own currency, the\u00a0Cayman Islands dollar<\/a>\u00a0(KYD), which is pegged to the\u00a0US dollar<\/a>\u00a0US$1.227 to 1 KYD. However, in many retail stores throughout the islands, the KYD is typically traded at US$1.25.<\/sup>\u00a0The government has established a\u00a0Needs Assessment Unit<\/a>\u00a0to relieve poverty in the islands.<\/sup>\u00a0Despite this, the Cayman Islands holds a relatively low unemployment rate of about 4.24% as of 2015,<\/sup>\u00a0lower than the value of 4.7% that was recorded in 2014.<\/p>\n

The government’s primary source of income is\u00a0indirect taxation<\/a>: there is no\u00a0income tax<\/a>,\u00a0capital gains tax<\/a>, or\u00a0corporation tax<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0An\u00a0import duty<\/a>\u00a0of 5% to 22% (automobiles 29.5% to 100%) is levied against goods imported into the islands. Few goods are exempt; notable exemptions include books, cameras, gold, and perfume.<\/p>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n

Local transportation is on mostly paved roads via taxi, private car, or bicycle.<\/p>\n

George Town is the port capital of Grand Cayman. There are no berthing facilities for cruise ships, but up to four cruise ships can anchor in designated anchorages. There are three cruise terminals in George Town, the North, South, and Royal Watler Terminals. The ride from the ship to the terminal is about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

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Observation Deck at the Owen Roberts International Airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cayman Airways<\/a> is the national airline.\u00a0 The international airport is Owen Roberts International located near Georgetown. Local flights to the outlying islands are also available.<\/p>\n

Flag of the Cayman Islands:<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0flag of the Cayman Islands<\/b>\u00a0consists of a\u00a0Blue Ensign<\/a>\u00a0defaced<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0the British overseas territory’s coat of arms<\/a>. Adopted in 1959 to supplement the\u00a0Union Jack<\/a>\u00a0and to replace the flag of the\u00a0Colony of Jamaica<\/a>, it has been the flag of the\u00a0Cayman Islands<\/a>\u00a0since the territory was granted self-government that year. The design of the present flag entailed removing the white disc and outlining the coat of arms with a white trim, although the previous version is often used in an official capacity. The Cayman Islands’ flag is similar to the flags of eight other\u00a0British Overseas Territories<\/a>, which are also Blue Ensigns with their respective coats of arms.<\/p>\n

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Flag of the Cayman Islands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cayman Islands were granted their\u00a0own coat of arms<\/a>\u00a0on 14 May 1958.<\/sup> It was consequently utilized on the Blue Ensign<\/a>, with a white disc as its background. This was adopted as a proxy national flag in 1959,<\/sup><\/sup> after authorization was granted by the\u00a0Admiralty<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The territory was given\u00a0self-government<\/a>\u00a0in July of the same year,<\/sup>\u00a0around the time that they joined the\u00a0West Indies Federation<\/a>. They remained a British territory after the federation was dissolved in 1962.\u00a0The usage of both the Blue Ensign and the\u00a0Red Ensign<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a\u00a0courtesy flag<\/a> flown unofficially on private ships \u2013 was ultimately authorized in 1988. The flag was redesigned eleven years later, with the size of the coat of arms increased, and the white disc removed and replaced with a white outline. The Union Jack<\/a>\u00a0remains the\u00a0state flag<\/a> of the Cayman Islands.<\/p>\n

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The flag used from 1958 until 1999.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Although the flag was officially changed in 1999, both old and new flags are interchangeably used in an official capacity. According to the Government of the Cayman Islands, the flag includes the white roundel, unchanged from before 1999.<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0Parliament of the Cayman Islands<\/a>\u00a0has vested responsibility for the sale and production of all national flags to the\u00a0National Museum<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and because they regard the white disc version to be correct, the vast majority of flags produced have white discs.<\/sup>\u00a0The white disc flag is employed as the backdrop for the official 2020 portrait of the Governor of the Cayman Islands on the\u00a0UK Government Website<\/a>\u00a0and for the portraits of most government officials.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The colors and symbols of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The blue and white waves evoke the Caribbean Sea<\/a>, while the three green stars represent the territory’s three islands of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The yellow\u00a0lion<\/a>\u00a0on the red\u00a0field<\/a>\u00a0is a conspicuous symbol of the Kingdom of England, the Cayman Islands’ mother country.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The turtle alludes to the original Spanish name for the islands (Las Tortugas<\/i>), as well as its tradition of\u00a0seafaring<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The pineapple signifies the Caymans’ connection with Jamaica,<\/sup>\u00a0whose\u00a0coat of arms<\/a>\u00a0features five pineapples.<\/sup> The turtle and pineapple also epitomize the flora and fauna of the islands.\u00a0The motto, “He hath founded it upon the seas”, is derived from the Book of\u00a0Psalms 24:2<\/a>, <\/sup>and recognizes the Christian patrimony of the islands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flag of the Cayman Islands consists of a Blue Ensign defaced with the British overseas territory’s coat of arms. Adopted in 1959 to supplement the Union Jack and to replace the flag of the Colony of Jamaica, it has been the flag of the Cayman Islands since the territory was granted self-government that year. The design of the present flag entailed removing the white disc and outlining the coat of arms with a white trim, although the previous version is often used in an official capacity. The Cayman Islands’ flag is similar to the flags of eight other British Overseas Territories, which are also Blue Ensigns with their respective coats of arms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32,8,59,5,6,7,29,41,60,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9615,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9312\/revisions\/9615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}