The Cayman Islands are a British dependency and island country. It is a three-island archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. Georgetown, the capital of the Cayman Islands is 438km (272miles) south of Havana, Cuba,[1] and 5040NaN0 northwest of Kingston, Jamaica,[2] northeast of Costa Rica, north of Panama and are between Cuba and Central America. Georgetown's geographic coordinates are 19.300° north, 81.383° west.[2]
The Cayman Islands have a land area of 264km² approximately 1.5 times the size of Washington, D.C., and just 3km² larger than Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Cayman Islands have a coastline of 1600NaN0. The Cayman Islands make a maritime claim of a 2001NaN1 exclusive fishing zone and a territorial sea of 12nmi.[3] [4]
See main article: Geology of the Cayman Islands. The islands are located on the Cayman Rise which forms the northern margin of the Cayman Trough. The trough is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea and forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The Cayman Rise extends from southeastern Cuba along the northern margin of the Cayman Trough toward Costa Rica and resulted from Paleocene to Eocene island arc formation with associated volcanism along an extinct subduction zone.[5] The islands are formed of marine limestone and dolomite that was uplifted during the late Miocene epoch.[6] Due to the islands' location, the Cayman Islands do get earthquakes.
The Cayman Islands have a tropical wet and dry climate, with a wet season from May to December, and a dry season that runs from January to April. Terrain is mostly a low-lying limestone base surrounded by coral reefs.
Besides earthquakes another major natural hazard is the tropical cyclones that form during the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November.
| Colspan=14 | Climate data for George Town | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average sea temperature °C (°F) | 26.6 (79.9) | 26.6 (79.9) | 26.8 (80.2) | 27.7 (81.9) | 28.3 (82.9) | 28.7 (83.7) | 29.2 (84.6) | 30.0 (86.0) | 29.9 (85.8) | 29.3 (84.7) | 28.6 (83.5) | 28.0 (82.4) | 27.9 (82.2) |
| Mean daily daylight hours | 11.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 12.2 |
| Average Ultraviolet index | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 10.5 |
| Colspan=14 style="background:#f8f9fa;font-weight:normal;font-size:95%;" | Source #1: seatemperature.org[7] | ||||||||||||
| Colspan=14 style="background:#f8f9fa;font-weight:normal;font-size:95%;" | Source #2: Weather Atlas[8] |
An important environmental issue is the lack of fresh water resources. Drinking water supplies must be met by rainwater catchment and desalination. There is also a problem with trash washing up on the beaches or being deposited by there by residents. The Cayman Islands have no recycling or waste treatment facilities.[9]
Natural resources include fish and a climate and beaches that foster tourism, which is the islands' major industry. A 2012 estimate of land use determined that the Cayman Islands' had 0.83 percent arable land and 2.08 percent permanent crops.
In Cayman Islands forest cover is around 53% of the total land area, equivalent to 12,720 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 13,130 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 12,720 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 0 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity). For the year 2015, 0% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership, 12% private ownership and 88% with ownership listed as other or unknown. [10] [11]
The territory is subdivided into six districts that are governed by district managers and that have a role as electoral districts and as regional units for statistics. Five of the districts are located on the main island, Grand Cayman. The sixth, Sister Islands, comprises the islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.
| Nr. | District or island | Area (km2) | Pop. 1999-10-10 | Pop. 2007 est. | Pop.- density | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,764 | 6,918 | 865 | |||
| 2 | 36 | 1,822 | 1,500 | 42 | ||
| 3 | 50 | 1,371 | 1,552 | 31 | ||
| 4 | 29 | 20,626 | 31,785 | 1096 | ||
| 5 | 26 | 115 | 200 | 8 | ||
| 6 | 1,079 | 1,258 | 14 | |||
| 7 | 19 | 8,243 | 11,436 | 602 | ||
| Cayman Islands | 259 | 39,020 | 54.649 | 211 |
The population is concentrated in the three (south-)western districts George Town (capital), West Bay, and Bodden Town. Those have a population density many times higher than all remaining districts.