1. Cayman Islands profile from BBC (posted November 22 2012)

One of the world’s largest financial centres and a well-known tax haven, this British overseas territory in the Caribbean has more registered businesses than it has people.

Grand Cayman and its sister islands Cayman Brac and Little Cayman have natural attractions too. Beaches, coral reefs and abundant marine life make them a popular haunt for the wealthier visitor.

Once a dependency of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands came under direct British rule after Jamaica declared independence in 1962. Granted greater autonomy under a 1972 constitution, the islands are largely self-governing and economically self-sufficient.

Tourism, banking and property are big money earners, having overtaken the traditional trades of fishing, turtle hunting and shipbuilding.

More than 9,000 mutual funds, some 260 banks and 80,000 companies operate through the islands. The industry has come under scrutiny and the government has enforced stricter banking regulation to counter money laundering.

Hurricanes are a natural hazard in the low-lying islands. In September 2004 Hurricane Ivan pounded the main island with winds of up to 200 mph. A national disaster was declared.

The offshore finance industry quickly resumed operations. But the rebuilding of homes and other buildings – 70% of which were damaged – took longer.

Christopher Columbus discovered the islands in 1503 and named them Las Tortugas, after the giant turtles that he sighted in the surrounding seas. The islands were later renamed Caymanas, from the Carib indian word for a crocodile.

Once threatened with extinction from over-hunting, turtles are now bred – mainly for domestic consumption – at the Cayman Turtle Farm. The farm releases hundreds of turtles into the wild every year.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20219637

Cayman Islands: A loyal British subject from Ken LaRive (posted August 26 2009)

It is hard to see the Cayman Islands as anything but cosmopolitan today. I’m told that the traffic is so bad one can hardly get around anytime day or night! It’s a far cry from the sleepy, slow moving ways of the past. Just thirty years ago the only thing the locals had to do was work for a rope factory, or fish. Times have changed, and today there are wall to wall major hotels along seven-mile beach, and a banking system that provides a prosperous tax-free haven from the tip of Canada to the tip of South America.

To understand this complicated island one must go back hundreds of years. Blown off course in 1503, on his fourth voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus landed in Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, two of the three islands. He named them los Tortugas, because of the many sea turtles found there. (Note: Sea Turtles can be kept alive for more then a year on a ship, and was a great way to have fresh meat for a long trip.) Early maps of the area showed these islands to be named Lagartos (large lizard), and by 1530 Las Caymanas, a name that the Carib Indians used to describe a small saltwater crocodile found there.

Sir Francis Drake stopped over in the Caymans for provisions in 1586 and his log indicates the island to be “uninhabited” and “infested” with a great serpent called Caymanas.

In 1592 it was found by Captain William King to have a safe harbor, and he found “fresh water, turtles, and wildfowl in abundance.” (Note: I don’t understand this because when I lived there the only fresh water the locals had was from a cistern.)

Something must have been found because in the next fifty years it was a regular provision stop for sailing ships passing through the area.

The Spanish feared they were loosing their grip in this area and started attacking French and English ships. In response, the English organized what was called the Privateer. These were privately owned ships, a de facto English Navy that supported themselves by piracy. Oliver Cromwell tried to drive the Spanish out and attacked Hisponida, Jamaica, and succeeded on the second attempt. It is from these original English settlers that both Jamaica and Cayman colonized, and finally in 1713, peace was declared. Since there was no longer a need for legal piracy, by 1730 it was completely wiped out. Blackbeard, who made his base in the Caymans, is said to have buried treasure there, but so far his horde has never been found.

An amazing thing happened in 1788 that changed the island forever. It is known as “the wreck of the ten sails,” and is a real classic in the annals of marine history. A lead ship in a group of ten merchant ships floundered in the shallow reefs of the east end of the island, and despite signals trying to alarm the others, but all ten went aground on the ironstone rocks. The Caymanians quickly came to the rescue and not one soul was lost. The English monarchy was so thankful that the Islands were granted never to pay taxes ever again!

The islands are beautiful, especially underwater where the diving is rated to be the third best in the world. However, the tax absolution is the primary reason the island has continued to grow and prosper. When I lived there in 1987-88 there were 567 banks. I’m sure there are many more now. At that time there were 16,712 corporations registered there, with a local population of about 16,000 and 5 or so thousand expatriates. This flow of wealth helped develop a thriving tourism business with an infrastructure of major hotels, condominiums and diving services.

It is not surprising that the islands have remained loyal to the British Empire!

For more on this story go to:

http://www.examiner.com/article/cayman-islands-a-loyal-british-subject

Comments from the public about the above article:

1. I reside and live in the Cayman Islands and must say that the comment about traffic is no where near accurate. After 7pm at night you can drive about anywhere with little to no traffic. Of course we have our peak traffic times like anywhere in the world. Also, we never had a rope factory. I wish that people would investigage their stories properly before putting them online.

2. You Sir, will never land a proper job with the amount of wrong information this little article has!!!! Please do yourself a favour and experience the Cayman Islands!!!yourself and Please stay away from hearsay. You have managed to make an idiot of yourself!!!!

3. Here we go again another wannabee journalist who feels they have the most accurate and substantiated information about this country I call home. I call it home by blood, and not by a piece of paper that our stupid Govts. have dished out over the years to many undeserving persons. I see you were on our shores from 87-88, well Sir, a lot has happened since that time and since your news report is what most would call on this island “stale news” you may want to spend a few of your dimes or pennies and return to these here shores and get a more accurate account of what is happening rather than publishing your comments in this article based on hearsay.

4. Nice article, a lot of it true. The islands have indeed changed and I think if you were to come back today you would be horrified. I know the people above are only trying to defend the islands they live in but to be honest, and we have to be, traffic IS brutal, too many cars on the road, too many careless drivers. Seven Mile Beach is NOT anything like people imagine, you cannot see the ocean for most of it, too many high rises monstrosities. sorry but not the island I came to live on. Now the UK want to bail on us and I don’t blame them. The high times are over folks.

Final word from author, Ken LaRive:

I spoke to many people who confirmed there was a rope factory there, and spoke to an Ebanks family member who said they grew hemp and jute in the 1920s, before DuPont. They now grow sugar cane and mostly banana on the same farm, located in the middle of the island, the only place with any usable topsoil. You are too quick to judge Sandra. Learn your own bloody history of corruption, slavery, and violence, and you will realize why Pirate’s Week is still celebrated. I love the island life, but meanness permeates from people like you who have a great resentment for America. Still, most of you have dual citizenship and milk us to pay for your considerable medications. If you like the old ways I’m sorry to say, your own government has sold you out; not me for telling the truth.