Cayman Islands
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- to 4 Jul 1959
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- Adopted 4 Jul 1959
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- Government Ensign Adopted
25 Jan 1999
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Map
of the Cayman Islands
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Hear
National Anthem
"God Save the King"
("God Save the Queen"
1837-1901, 1952-2022)
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Hear
Local Anthem
"Beloved Isle Cayman"
Adopted 21 Jul 1993
(from 1930)
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Constitution
Order
(6 Nov 2009, 18 Nov 2020)
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1972 Constitution
(22 Aug 1972 - 6 Nov 2009)
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Capital:
George Town
(Bodden Town c.1773-c.1879)
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Currency:
Caymanian Dollar
(KYD); 1900-1959
Jamaican
Pound (JMP)
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National
Holiday:
2nd Sat. in Jun (1948)
Birthday of King
Charles III
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Local Holiday:
1st Monday in July
(1959)
Constitution Day
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Population:
66,653 (2024)
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GDP: $5.7
billion (2023)
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Exports: $5
billion (2022)
Imports: $3.3
billion (2022)
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Ethnic groups:
Cayman Islander 35.4%, Jamaican 24.8%,
Filipino 5.5%, British 5.3%, American
5.2%, Honduran 4.2%, Canadian 3.3%,
Indian 2.1%, Cuban 1.6%, Nicaraguan
1%, other 11.1%, unspecified 0.5%
(2021)
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Total Active
Police Force: 393 (2018)
Defense is the
Responsibility of the U.K.
Merchant marine:
130 ships (2023)
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Religions:
Protestant 60.8% (includes Church of
God 19.5%, Seventh Day Adventist 8.7%,
non-denominational 8.3%, Baptist 6.9%,
Pentecostal 6.8%, Presbyterian/United
Church 5.7%, Anglican 2.8%, Wesleyan
Holiness 1.5%, Methodist 0.5%), Roman
Catholic 13.6%, Hindu 1.7%, Jehovah's
Witness 0.9%, other 4.8%, none 16.7%,
unspecified 1.4% (2021)
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International
Organizations/Treaties:
Caricom (associate), CDB, Interpol
(subbureau), IOC, UNESCO (associate), UNFCC, UNFCC-KP,
UPU |
Cayman
Islands
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Chronology
10 May
1503
Cayman Brac
and Little Cayman first sighted and
claimed for Spain by
Columbus, the
islands are
named Islas Las Tortugas
(no settlement).
22 Apr
1586
Sir Francis Drake's (b. c.1540 - d.
1596) fleet
stops for two days at
Grand Cayman (Caiman).
1661 - 1671
First
recorded settlements located on Little
Cayman
and Cayman Brac
(withdrawn after Spanish raids).
8 Dec
1662
Islands considered as an integral part
of Jamaica
by the instructions
appointing the first governor
of Jamaica.
18 Jul
1670
Recognized
as English possessions with Jamaica
in
Treaty of Madrid by Spain (called
Caymanas).
1700
Permanent settlement has begun
by this time.
7 Sep
1734
First royal land grant deed
(registered in Jamaica
28 Feb 1735).
1734 - 1741
Permanent settlements established.
5 May
1835
Emancipation, slaves
were made "absolutely and
unconditionally free"
immediately.
22 Jun
1863
Formally made a dependency of Jamaica
by "The Act
for the Government of the
Cayman Islands"
(ratified 24 Mar 1865).
4 Jul
1959
Separate British crown colony (Cayman
Islands).
4
Jul 1959 - 31 May 1962 Territory
within the Federation
of the West Indies.
6 Nov
2009
Autonomy, self-government.
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Magistrate
c.1734 - 1750?
William Cartwright
Chief magistrates of Custodes (Custos
rotulorum)(locally called Governors to
1855)
1750 - 1776
William Cartwright
1776 - 23 Apr 1789
William Bodden I
(b. 1722 - d. 1789)
1789 -
1823
William Bodden II
(b. 17.. - d. 1823)
24 Nov 1823 -
1829
James Coe "the
Elder"
(b. 1769 - d. 1839)
1829 -
1842
John Drayton
1842 -
1855
James Coe "the
Younger"
(b. 1799 - d. 1875)
1855 - 17 Sep
1879
William
Eden
(b. 1807 - d. 1879)
1879 -
1888
William Bodden
Webster
(b. 1832 - d. 1916)
(senior justice of the peace)
1888 -
1898
Edmund
Parsons
(b. 1850 - d. 1915)
Commissioners of the Cayman Islands
22 Aug 1898 - 25 Oct 1906 Frederick Shedden
Sanguinetti (b. 1847 - d.
1906)
1903 - 1904
H.E. Henderson Davis
(acting
for Sanguinetti)
Oct 1906 - 16 Mar 1907 Charles Henry Yorke
Slader (acting)(b. 1867 - d. 1934)
16 Mar 1907 - 8 Jun 1912 George Stephenson
Shirt Hirst (b. 1871 - d.
1912)
Jun 1912 - Jan 1913
Hugh Houston Hutchings (1st time) (b. 1869 - d.
1937)
(acting)
Jan 1913 - 1917
Aubrey Charles Robinson
(b. 1875 - d. 1946)
1917 -
1919
Cecil Everard Mellish (acting) (b.
1872 - d. 1949)
1919 -
1929
Hugh Houston Hutchings (2nd time) (s.a.)
1929 -
1931
Geoffrey Hammond
Frith
(b. 1891 - d. 1945)
1931 -
1934
Ernest Arthur
Weston
(b. 1880 - d. 1940)
1934 - Jan
1940
Allan Wolsey
Cardinall
(b. 1887 - d. 1956)
Jan 1940 - Nov
1941 Albert
Colonridge Panton, Sr. (b. 1896 - d.
1956)
(acting)
1941 -
1946
John Penry
Jones
(b. 1887 - d. 1974)
26 May 1946 - Jan 1952 Ivor
Otterbein
Smith
(b. 1907 - d. 2003)
17 Jun 1952 -
1956
Andrew Morris Gerrard
(b. 1916 - d. 1994)
1956 - 1960
Alan Hilliard Donald
(b. 1917 - d. 1996)
1960 - 1962
Jack
Rose
(b. 1917 - d. 2009)
Administrators
1962 -
1964
Jack
Rose
(s.a.)
27 Jan 1964 -
1968
John Alfred
Cumber
(b. 1920 - d. 1991)
29 Oct 1968 - 3 Nov 1971 Athelstan Charles
Ethelwulf Long (b. 1919 - d. 2019)
Governors
3 Nov 1971 - 12 Nov 1971 Athelstan
Charles Ethelwulf Long (s.a.)
12 Nov 1971 - 30 Nov 1971 Desmond Vere
Watler (acting) (b.
1914 - d. 1994)
30 Nov 1971 - Jul
1974 Kenneth Roy
Crook
(b. 1920 - d. 2012)
28 Aug 1974 -
1981
Thomas "Tom"
Russell
(b. 1920 - d. 2016)
14 Jan 1982 - 10 Jun 1987 George
Peter
Lloyd
(b. 1926 - d. 2007)
10 Jun 1987 - 14 Sep 1992 Alan
James
Scott
(b. 1934)
14 Sep 1992 - 16 Oct 1995
Michael Edward John
Gore
(b. 1935 - d. 2022)
16 Oct 1995 - 5 May 1999
John Wynne
Owen
(b. 1939)
5 May 1999 - 9 May
2002 Peter John
Smith
(b. 1942)
9 May 2002 - 29 May 2002
James Ryan
(acting)
(b. 1944)
29 May 2002 - 28 Oct 2005 Bruce
Harry
Dinwiddy
(b. 1946 - d. 2021)
28 Oct 2005 - 23 Nov 2005 George
A. McCarthy (acting)
23 Nov 2005 - 2 Dec 2009 Stuart
Duncan Macdonald
Jack (b. 1949 - d.
2022)
2 Dec 2009 - 15 Jan 2010 Donovan Ebanks
(acting)
(b. 1947 - d. 2024)
15 Jan 2010 - 7 Aug 2013 Duncan
Taylor
(b. 1958)
7 Aug 2013 - 6 Sep 2013 Franz Ireland
Manderson (1st time)
(acting)
6 Sep 2013 - 5 Mar 2018
Helen Marjorie Kilpatrick
(f) (b. 1958)
5 Mar 2018 - 26 Mar 2018 Franz Ireland
Manderson (2nd time)
(acting)
26 Mar 2018 - 20 Sep 2018 Anwar
Choudhury
(b. 1959)
(suspended from 13 Jun 2018)
13 Jun 2018 - 29 Oct 2018 Franz
Ireland Manderson (3rd time)
(acting [for Choudhury to 20 Sep 2018])
29 Oct 2018 - 29 Mar 2023 Martyn
Keith
Roper
(b. 1965)
29 Mar 2023 - 21 Apr 2023 Franz Ireland
Manderson (4th time)
(acting)
21 Apr 2023
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Jane Caroline Owen
(f)
(b. 1963)
Leaders of Government Business (official post
from 30 Jun 2003)
25 Nov 1992 - Apr 1995 Thomas
Carroll Jefferson
(b. 1941 - d. 2006) Non-party
Apr 1995 - 15 Nov 2000
Truman Murray
Bodden
(b.
1945)
Non-party
15 Nov 2000 - 8 Nov 2001 Darwin Kurt
Tibbetts (1st time) (b. 1954)
Non-party
8 Nov 2001 - 18 May 2005 William
McKeeva Bush (1st time) (b.
1955)
UDP
18 May 2005 - 27 May 2009 Darwin Kurt
Tibbetts (2nd time) (s.a.)
PPM
27 May 2009 - 6 Nov 2009 William
McKeeva Bush (2nd time) (s.a.)
UDP
Premiers
6 Nov 2009 - 19 Dec 2012
William McKeeva Bush
(s.a.)
UDP
19 Dec 2012 - 29 May 2013 Juliana
O'Connor-Connolly (f) (b.
1961) UDP
(1st time)
29 May 2013 - 21 Apr 2021 Alden
McNee McLaughlin,
Jr. (b.
1961)
PPM
21 Apr 2021 - 15 Nov 2023 Gurney Wayne
Panton
(b. 1964)
Non-party
15 Nov 2023 - 6 May 2025 Juliana
O'Connor-Connolly (f)
(s.a.) UPM;3-2025 PPM
(2nd time)
6 May 2025
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André Martin Ebanks
(b. 1976?)
TCCP
Party abbreviations: CINP = Cayman
Islands National Party (centrist, populist, est.2025); PPM
= People's Progressive Movement (center-left, economic
liberal, est.Sep 2002); TCCP = The Caymanian
Community Party (center-left, progressive, social
democracy, est.Jan 2025);
- Former parties: UDP = United
Democratic Party (centrist, fiscal conservative, classic
liberal, later named Cayman Democratic Party, Nov
2001-Feb 2021); UPM = United People's
Movement (center-right, conservative, Nov 2023-Apr 2025)
© Ben Cahoon
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