kāˈmən, British dependency (1995 est. pop. 33,000), 100 sq mi (259 sq km), 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.

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