These Islands were seen by Columbus in 1503. They were then uninhabited but visited by Arawak Indians. They were not settled until 1670 when the British took them. They were ruled as a Dependency of Jamaica until 1959. Now they are a British overseas territory.

The Cayman Island $=US$.

The main business is tourism, money laundering and tax avoiding (with a certain amount of cocaine smuggling from isolated islands). There are a large number of Banks and businesses which the owners wish to conceal from regulators' eyes.

Creole

English

British Overseas Territory administration and a rather corrupt local government. Will it follow the Turks Islands into Direct Rule from London?

A well-known tax haven with many offshore banks and post box companies where money can be hidden from national control. It is alleged that some of the money belongs to criminals.

This is a business which the 1991 collapse of the Bank of Commerce and Credit International, which based some its activities in Cayman, may cause the world community to regulate in future. BCCI was closed by the British and American regulators who revealed a fraud which might have reached $8,000 million.

In 2009 even bigger frauds are linked with the islands and the regulators are closing in.

The government is very short of money as its normal sources of income - from hedge funds - are drying up.

Islanders were awarded full British citizenship in 21 May 2002. However, British citizens do not have the right to move there.