Welcome to The Cayman Islands Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands on 10 May 1503 when his ships were blown off course by strong winds. He saw two small islands so full of turtles that he named them Las Tortugas, Spanish for "the turtles." It was the presence of the marine crocodile, however, that gave the islands their name, after the Carib word caymanas. The capital, George Town, was named after King George III of England. The Cayman Islands remained largely uninhabited until the 17th century. The first known settlers arrived in Little Cayman and Cayman Brac around 1658; many inhabitants were Britons from Jamaica and some early residents were believed to be pirates that settled down looking for a more peaceful life. Soon turtle fishermen, slaves, shipwrecked sailors, and refugees from the Spanish Inquisition joined the blend. The melting pot of cultures and backgrounds mixed together to create what we know as Caymankind today.
The three islands Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac lie in the Caribbean Sea. Grand Cayman, the largest island, is approximately 22 miles (35 kilometers) long and 8 miles (13 kilometers) wide. Cayman Brac, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northeast of Grand Cayman, is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) long and a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide; Little Cayman, lies about 5 miles (8 kilometers) west of Cayman Brac.