Neighbours :   

George Town description :

Country description : The Caymans consist of three islands—Grand Cayman (76 sq mi; 197 sq km), Cayman Brac (22 sq mi; 57 sq km), and Little Cayman (20 sq mi; 52 sq km)—situated about 180 mi (290 km) northwest of Jamaica. They were dependencies of Jamaica until 1959, when they became a unit territory within the Federation of the West Indies. In 1962, upon the dissolution of the federation, the Cayman Islands became a British dependency, and a new constitution approved in 1972 provided for a greater degree of autonomy. Tourism and finance are the Cayman Islands' major industries. For a time, the Cayman Islands were blacklisted by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for its allegedly loose policy concerning money laundering. It was removed from the list in 2001.Cayman Islands (kā'mun), British dependency, comprising three islands in the West Indies. George Town, the capital and chief port, is on Grand Cayman; the other islands are Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. There are eight administrative districts. The largely Christian, English-speaking population is about 40% of mixed European and African ancestry, 20% white, and 20% black. Finance and tourism are the economic mainstays of the Cayman Islands. The islands have prospered as an international offshore banking center, rivaling even Switzerland, and since the 1970s, the luxury tourist industry has also become an economic mainstay. Almost all goods are imported, primarily from the United States. The islands were sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1503, but were colonized by the British beginning in the 1800s. Administered from Jamaica after 1863, they became a separate British crown colony when Jamaica became independent in 1962.