|
George Town history - learn what once happend
Before heading out in the sun, visit the Cayman Islands National Museum. The renovated building has a varied past, having served at different times as a jail, a house of worship, and most recently as the island's courthouse. The museum houses a collection of more than 2,000 items depicting the natural, social, and cultural history of the Caymans. Of particular note is the three-dimensional model showing the Caymans as small peaks of massive underwater mountains. There is a gift shop, theater, and a cafe in the museum where you can enjoy a meal as you look out over the sea. The Cayman Islands were discovered on May 10th, 1503 by Christopher Columbus on his fourth and last voyage to the new world. He was actually on his way from Panama to Hispaniola when his ships were steered off course by strong winds and he sighted Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. The story says that he reported sighting two small islands so full of tortoises (turtles) that they looked like rocks and he gave the islands the name Las Tortugas (The Turtles). Over the next 150 years the islands went through several name changes and played host to various visiting ships as sailors would use the islands to replenish their supplies of fresh water, as well as stocking up on turtle meat and various wild fowls. One of the name changes, Caymanas, is believed to have reflected the presence of crocodiles and was derived from the Carib word for the crocodile family. Indeed, several visiting buccaneers including Sir Francis Drake and William Dampier noted "large lizards" and crocodiles on these islands during the 1500's to 1700's. In 1655, the islands came under British control when Jamaica was captured from the Spanish by Oliver Cromwell's army. They officially became a British territory when the Treaty of Madrid was signed in 1670 and Spain gave to Britain, "all those lands, islands, colonies and places whatsoever situated in the West Indies". In 1790 Fort George was constructed probably to ward off attacks by French or Spanish.
|
|
George Town Vacations site
Our company is running one of the largest pc and mobile travel website networks, covering top hotel, vacation package, airline ticket, beach, cruise, all inclusive and honeymoon destinations worldwide.
We will also run a travel blog portal which centralises the blogs posted by our visitors on all of our websites and which represents one of the world's best travel information resources, totally build by people such as yourself.
In the link section, you can check more links to our travel website network as well as to other third party specialized websites as lastminute.com or orbitz.com which we suggest you to visit if are you planning a trip to George Town Grand Cayman.
|
