Cayman Islands: From Pirate Hideout to 12,000 Companies at Ugland House

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The Cayman Islands are the coral-capped peaks of the submerged Cayman Ridge, beside the Cayman Trough, which drops to about 20,000 feet. The highest point, The Bluff on Cayman Brac, is 43 meters above sea level. Columbus named them Las Tortugas in 1503 for their sea turtles, which sailors later hunted to near extinction, and the name that stuck comes from the crocodiles in the mangroves. With no rivers and thin soil, the islands had no indigenous population. Pirates, shipwrecked sailors and British Army deserters settled them; the first recorded resident, Isaac Bodden, was born around 1661. England took control in 1670 under the Treaty of Madrid, and when Jamaica became independent in 1962 the Caymans stayed British.

A legend grew from the 1794 Wreck of the Ten Sail, when islanders rescued the crews of a merchant convoy: that King George III rewarded them with a promise of no taxes. No record supports it, but in the 1960s the islands legislated no income, corporate or capital gains tax. Today Ugland House in George Town is the registered address of over 12,000 corporations, the territory hosts over 100,000 companies for about 81,000 people, and financial services and tourism make up 50 to 60 percent of GDP. The government instead relies on import duties of 22 to 25 percent on most goods and up to 100 percent on cars. Barack Obama called Ugland House a tax scam, and the islands signed legal assistance treaties with the United States.

• The endemic blue iguana is critically threatened, with introduced agoutis, dogs and cats preying on its eggs and young.
• Royal land grants in the 1730s brought enslaved Africans to the islands, and slavery was abolished in 1833.
• Under the 2021 census, non-Caymanians made up 56 percent of the workforce and immigrants 52.5 percent of the population.
• Jamaicans are the largest immigrant group, close to 25 percent of the population, and work permits carry term limits.
• In 2004 Hurricane Ivan struck as a Category 5 storm and damaged or destroyed an estimated 83 percent of dwellings on Grand Cayman.