Cayman Islands
Subject
Subject Source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Scope Note: The islands were uninhabited when charted by Columbus in 1503, but the Arawaks and Caribs probably had visited here. The name comes from the Spanish "caimán", meaning "alligators," though they were really indigenous iguanas. The Spanish and French visited them, then the British settled here in the 17th century and brought Africans as slaves. The official language is English, though Spanish is also widely spoken.