The Cayman Islands was first sighted by European explorers on May 10 1503, owing to a chance wind that blew Christopher Columbus’ ship off course. On his fourth and final voyage to the New World, Columbus was en route to the island of Hispaniola (home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic) when his ship was thrust westward toward “two very small and low islands, full of tortoises (turtles), as was all the sea all about, insomuch that they looked like little rocks, for which reason these islands were called Las Tortugas”. Columbus named the islands after the turtles he saw in the waters around them.
The two islands sighted were Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. A 1523 map showing all three Islands gave them the name Lagartos, meaning alligators or large lizards, but by 1530 the name Caimanas was being used. It is derived from the Carib Indian word for the marine crocodile, which is now known to have lived in the Islands. This name, or a variant, has been retained ever since. Thus the word eventually developed into Cayman and adding the word Islands, we became the ‘Cayman Islands’.
An early English visitor was Sir Francis Drake, who on his 1585-86 voyage to these waters reported seeing” great serpents called Caimanas, like large lizards, which are edible.” It was the Islands’ ample supply of turtle, however, that made them a popular calling place for ships sailing the Caribbean and in need of meat for their crews. This began a trend that eventually drastically depleted our local waters of the turtle, compelling Caymanian turtle fishermen to go further afield to Cuba and the Miskito Cays in search of their catch.
WHO WERE THE FIRST INHABITANTS?
It is a well established fact that most of the early settlers in the Cayman Islands came from the British settlement in Jamaica. The first known settlers arrived in Little Cayman around 1658, and it is generally believed that they were deserters from Oliver Cromwell’s army in Jamaica.
It is also believed that some may have been pirates who gave up their errant ways to live a more peaceful life on the islands. The first two settlers were Mr. Bodden or Bowden and Mr. Watler or Walter. Over the course of the next couple of years some other settlers came to join Mr. Bodden and Mr. Watler, and many of these settled on Cayman Brac. Some of the early settlers were fishermen who caught turtle to sell to Jamaican merchants. Isaac Bodden, the first recorded permanent inhabitant of the Cayman Islands, was born on Grand Cayman around 1700. He was the grandson of the original settler named Bodden who was likely one of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers at the taking of Jamaica in 1655. A variety of people settled on the islands: pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors and slaves. The majority of Caymanians are of African and British descent, with considerable interracial mixing.
WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS?
English is the official language, but it is important to note that it is British English, rather than American English thus we say ‘colour’ rather than ‘color’ and ‘centre’ rather than ‘center’. Despite this, Caymanians have over the years developed their own vernacular dialect which is a form of broken standard English. Each district has its own idiosyncratic differences.
WHAT ARE SOME COMMON EXPRESSIONS OR SAYING USED BY CAYMANIANS?
Traditionally Caymanians have been known to pronounce words beginning with “V” as “W’s” e.g. Very become W-ery. Vegetables become W-egetables. The dialect of Caymanians is very distinct and each District has its own intonations. For example, when asking someone who their parents are, an East Ender would say: Boy who ya fah? (Boy, who are you for?). While a George Towner would query: who u belong ta? (Who do you belong to?). Cayman Brac and Little Cayman also have distinct ways of pronunciation and it is quite noticeable when they speak.
Source: www.caymanislands.ky