Claim: Spanish Empire claimed the island Bermuda.

Bermuda -LRB- -LSB- pronbərˈmjuːdə -RSB- -RRB- is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean . It is approximately 1070 km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina ; 1236 km south of Cape Sable Island , Nova Scotia ; and 1578 km north of San Juan , Puerto Rico . The capital city is Hamilton . Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community -LRB- CARICOM -RRB- .   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 -LRB- previously called Spanish Rock -RRB- . 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 .   The island was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614 . Its spin-off , the Somers Isles Company , took over in 1615 and managed the colony until 1684 . At that time , the company 's charter was revoked , and the English Crown took over administration . The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England , which created the Kingdom of Great Britain . After 1949 , when Newfoundland became part of Canada , Bermuda became the oldest remaining British overseas territory . After the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 , Bermuda became the most populous British territory . Its first capital , St. George 's , was established in 1612 .   Bermuda 's economy is based on offshore insurance and reinsurance , and tourism , the two largest economic sectors . Bermuda had one of the world 's highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century and several years beyond . Recently , its economic status has been affected by the global recession . It has a subtropical climate . Bermuda is the northernmost point of the Bermuda Triangle , a region of sea in which , according to legend , a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared under supposedly unexplained or mysterious circumstances . The island is in the hurricane belt and prone to severe weather . However , it is somewhat protected from the full force of a hurricane by the coral reef that surrounds the island .