Located in the western Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory which comprises three islands: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Until the 17th century the islands weren't inhabited than by pirates, refugees and deserters. England took formal control of the Cayman Islands, along with Jamaica, as a result of the Treaty of Madrid of 1670. Following several unsuccessful attempts at settlement, a permanent English-speaking population in the islands dates from the 1730s. After 1734 were brought many black slaves from Africa, even if the slavery was less common on the Cayman Islands than in other parts of the Caribbean. The islands continued to be governed as part of the Colony of Jamaica until 1962, when they became a separate Crown colony.
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