Christopher Columbus discovers the unihabited Cayman islands in 1503 and names them Las Tortugas. In the seventeenth century variety of people settle on the islands, including pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica, and slaves. The islands become an English posession in 1670 and become part of the colony of Jamaica. Permanent settlement begins in the 1730s. In 1959 the Cayman islands are seperated from Jamaica and become a separate colony and part of the Federation of the West Indies. After the dissolution of the British West Indies in 1962, the Cayman Islands become a seperate British colony. The colony has internal self-government since 1972. Politics in the Cayman Islands is not based on a party system. All candidates run as non-partisans.