Cayman Islands profile – BBC News

Some key dates in the history of the Cayman Islands:

1503 – Navigator Christopher Columbus sights the islands.

1670 – Spain cedes the islands, along with Jamaica, to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Madrid.

1794 – Legendary “Wreck of the Ten Sails”: A ship hits a reef off Grand Cayman, closely followed by its convoy of nine vessels.

1832 – Legislative assembly set up.

1863 – Caymans become a Jamaican dependency, administered by an appointed commissioner.

1877 – Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman come under common administration.

1959 – Caymans join short-lived Federation of the West Indies.

1962 – Federation of the West Indies dissolves. Jamaica declares independence. Caymans stay under British rule; a separate administrator is appointed.

1971 – Title of administrator is changed to governor.

1972 – New constitution provides for a greater autonomy.

1994 – Constitution modified.

2002 – British Overseas Territories Act grants British citizenship to all Caymanians.

2004 – Hurricane Ivan, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, causes widespread destruction on Grand Cayman.

2009 – Territory joins OECD’s global “white list” of countries using internationally recognised tax standards.

2010 – British police brought in to help tackle gang-related crime.

2012 – Premier McKeeva Bush is arrested as part of a corruption investigation, with charges including misuse of a government credit card and importing explosive materials. He denies all charges. Parliament passes vote of no confidence in him after he refuses to resign, effectively removing him from the premiership.

2013 – Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands sign agreements on sharing tax information with Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain as part of an international drive against tax evasion.