The Cayman Islands - often referred to as The Caymans, or (more correctly) just Cayman - were first visited by Christopher Columbus on May 10, 1503 during his fourth and final voyage to the New World. The first recorded English visitor to the islands was Sir Francis Drake, who landed there in 1586 and named them the Cayman Islands after the Neo-Taíno nations term (caiman) for crocodile (Zayas, 1914). The islands, along with nearby Jamaica, were ceded to England in 1670 under the Treaty of Madrid. They were governed as a single colony with Jamaica until 1962 when they became a separate British overseas territory and Jamaica became an independent commonwealth realm.

The island of Grand Cayman was severely damaged by the Category Five Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, which destroyed many buildings and damaged most of them. Power, water and communications were all disrupted. Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the islands in 86 years. The island has made rapid recovery since Ivan, with most of the infrastructure now restored.

Source: Wikipedia