Bermuda

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1070km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; 1236km south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia; and 1578km north of Puerto Rico. The capital city is Hamilton. Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community (CARICOM).The first person known to have reached Bermuda was the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez in 1503, after whom the islands are named. He claimed the islands for the Spanish Empire. Bermúdez never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the archipelago, of which he created a recognisable map. Shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock (previously called Spanish Rock). Subsequent Spanish or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, which had become feral and abundant on the island by the time European settlement began. In 1609, the English Virginia Company, which had established Jamestown in Virginia two years earlier, permanently settled Bermuda in the aftermath of a hurricane, when the crew and passengers of the Sea Venture steered the ship onto the surrounding reef to prevent its sinking, then landed ashore.