Founded Upon the Seas: A History of the Cayman Islands and Their People is the first comprehensive history of the Cayman Islands. Researched and written by the noted Caribbean Historian, Dr Michael Craton and the Cayman Islands New History Committee, it explores in detail the social, economic, and political history of all three islands. Caymanians were once renowned as shipbuilders, turtlers, and sailors, and their life, whether on sea or land, was marked by resourcefulness and strong communal ties born of hardship and isolation. Rapid changes since the 1960s have transformed the islands into a major tourist destination and an international banking centre. Founded Upon the Seas traces how this distinct community evolved from the days of the first settlers to the era of cruise ships, land development, and international finance. Based on a wealth of information drawn from archives and libraries in the Caribbean, Europe and North America, the text is illustrated with rare maps, facsimile documents and numerous photographs.
The three islands comprising the Cayman Islands support 415 native taxa in a land area over 100 square miles, 29 of which are uniquely Caymanian. This field guide satisfies the needs of the professional botanist, while providing the non-expert and eco-tourist with an introduction to the unique endemic flora of the Cayman Islands.
" Who is a Caymanian? What should be the nature of the relationship between established Caymanian and expatriate Caymanians in arriving at a definition? J.A. (Roy) Bodden argues that Caymanian society is based on a synergistic and symbiotic relationship between expatriates and Caymanians. At the heart of this dilemma of twenty-first Caymanian society to define its identity and future direction, is its peculiar status as a modern-day frontier society made up of a totally imported population. The author provides an engaging account of the peculiarities of that frontier status, its historical antecedents and the implications for the Islands future development. He introduces a number of new analytical concepts such as pigmentocracy to analyse the role of colour and class distinctions in the Islands development and voluntary colonialism to describe an existing political structure in which there appears to be no desire to evolve beyond the current status as a colony of Great Britain. Bodden is the first Caymanian to offer such a thorough examination of Cayman Islands society. He adopts a multidisciplinary approach to describe and analyse the specific ways that Caymanians and expatriates have grappled and continue to grapple with issues of settlement, colonialism, domination, prejudice, rapid economic growth, modernity and globalization. The Cayman Islands in Transition is a contribution to the emerging academic discipline of Island Studies and is bound to generate considerable debate, discussion and dialogue both within Caymanian society and beyond. "
In the course of the last century a considerable amount of scientific work has been carried out in the Cayman Islands. The results of this (outlined in Chapter 1) are widely distributed in unpublished reports, university theses, various scientific publications and books, many of these sources being difficult to find and some now unobtainable. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to bring all this scattered information together and to present a coherent account of the biogeography and ecology of the Islands, as an easily available reference source and as a foundation on which future work can be based.
First sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1503, Jenny Palmer has captured the beauty of the Islands and the lives of the peaceful, friendly people who live there. This book gives readers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the islands exotic flora and fauna, including the Caymans national symbol, the green turtle. The Cayman Islands clear, crystalline waters are rich in marine life and magnificent coral reefs, making it one of the world's top diving sites.
This book will enable the identification of each of the 57 species of butterfly that has been recorded from the Cayman Islands. There is a description of every butterfly, stressing its most important characteristics, with photographs of living and mounted specimens. The distribution, history and biology of each species are reviewed and the plants which provide adult butterflies with nectar or feed their caterpillars are tabulated. A general introduction includes a discussion of the affinities and size of the Caymanian butterfly fauna. The three islands share most of their butterfly species but each island has uniquely characteristic elements and five subspecies live only in the Cayman Islands. Knowledge is fundamental to conservation; it is hoped that both the casual butterfly watcher and those more committed to the study of butterflies will discover much of interest in this book and thereby make a contribution to the continuing survival of these beautiful insects.
"The first illustrated nautical history of the Caymans. . . . For those interested in the sea and the history of the Caribbean and for travelers who wish to learn more about the Caymans and their wonderful resources."--"Colonial Latin American Historical Review" "Fascinating information."--"Choice" "Neatly summarizes the history and archaeology of these small islands located at the crossroads of the Caribbean, covering an array of topics as diverse as crocodiles and pirates, the simultaneous wrecking of 10 ships on a treacherous reef, the building of sloops and schooners, and the importance of sea turtles as a food source for colonists and mariners. There is a little bit of everything here, and it is all fascinating."-Kevin Crisman, Texas A&M University "A fascinating story of how the sea molded the lives of people inhabiting the small and isolated Cayman Islands. . . . The perfect blend of archaeology and history."-William Keegan, curator of Caribbean archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History Blending elements of geography, archaeology, and ethnography, this readable, illustrated history offers a fascinating portrait of all aspects of Caymanian nautical traditions and describes how an intrepid and independent group of islanders flourished on the frontiers of the sea. From the moment of their discovery by Europeans in 1503, the Caymans were recognized for their abundance of sea turtles, a resource that supported the colonization of the West Indies and fostered the development of a distinctive group of sea-hardened people whose nautical skills were known throughout the world. Roger C. Smith follows the mysterious tracks of the sea turtles and the mariners who hunted them, from the shores of the Caymans to the coastal lagoons of Cuba and finally to the Miskito Cays of Nicaragua. He also pursues the colonial exploits of privateers and pirates, examines the development of island catboats and schooners, and takes the reader underwater to the sites of unlucky ships that wrecked on poorly charted reefs. Roger C. Smith, state underwater archaeologist for the Florida Division of Historical Resources, is the author of "Vanguard of Empire: Ships of Exploration in the Age of Columbus" and coauthor of "An Atlas of Maritime Florida" (UPF, 1997).
Defining the Caymanian Identity analyzes the factions and schisms surging throughout the multicultural, multi-ethnic, and polarized Cayman Islands to identify who or what is considered a Caymanian. In the modern world where Caymanian traditions have all but been eclipsed, or forgotten, often due to incoming, overpowering cultural sensibilities, it is a challenge to know where traditional Caymanian culture begins and modern Caymanian culture ends. With this idea in mind, Christopher A. Williams investigates the pervasive effects of globalization, multiculturalism, economics, and xenophobia on an authentic, if dying, indigenous Caymanian culture. This book introduces and expounds the provocative solution that the continued prosperity of the Cayman Islands and their so-called indigenous people may well depend on a synergistic moral link between Caymanianness and foreignness, between Caymanianness and modernity.
