Kaiman

Kaiman's islands became valued Caribbean stopping places because their turtles could provision passing ships. Attempts at settlement on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac in 1661–1671 were disrupted by Spanish privateers, even as the Treaty of Madrid of 1670 recognized English possession. More lasting settlement developed on Grand Cayman, where the governor of Jamaica granted three thousand acres between Prospect and North Sound in 1734.

The growing community depended on enslaved labour as well as seafaring. The 1802 census counted 933 people on Grand Cayman, including 545 enslaved people. Local government also acquired more formal institutions: in December 1831, a meeting at Pedro Castle initiated elections for an assembly. In May 1835 Governor Sligo of Jamaica proclaimed the end of the apprenticeship system and the freedom of the remaining enslaved population. Turtle grounds, land grants, slavery and local representation all shaped the islands before they acquired their later colonial constitutional arrangements.