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The Cayman Islands, like many islands in the Caribbean, have played host to a broadly diverse group of seafaring travelers over the years. Today, roughly 50,000 people reside on one of the three Cayman Islands. If an overseas locum tenens assignment has you island-bound, it's worth understanding the history of the Cayman people.
'Land ho!'
When thinking of island cultures, it's easy to envision indigenous populations displaced by conquering travelers. While conquest plays a role in the islands' history, the Cayman peoples' story might surprise you.
When Englishman Sir Francis Drake sailed for the West Indies in the 1580s, he and his crew may well have been the first to set foot on the uninhabited Cayman Islands. Columbus had sighted the islands in 1503, and they were ostensibly under Spanish control. However, the British captured the Caymans when they took Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. Later, when Jamaica opted for independence, the Cayman Islands chose to maintain territorial ties with Great Britain.
It wasn't until the 1700s that settlers began to populate the Cayman Islands. However, for hundreds of years they would play host to Caribbean sailors of all stripes and nationalities, and some more savory (pirates!) than others.
Tourism and accounting
Today, two widely disparate economic drivers support life on the Cayman Islands. Like Bermuda and the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands are a haven for offshore financial services. In 1950, the construction of the islands' first hotel revolutionized the Cayman economy, and tourism is now an economic complement to finance.
In 2007, more than 1.7 million cruise ship passengers toured the Cayman Islands. The cultural variation of the islands' residents, combined with multinational recreational traffic, ensures that patient care in the islands will be diverse.
Understanding the history and relative newness of the Cayman Islands people may give you a little insight into patient care during an island assignment. It might lend some context to your off-hours adventures around these beautiful Caribbean islands, as well.