Bermuda is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the British Overseas Territories in the North Atlantic. Bermuda is about 1,070 km (665 mi) east-southeast of Cap Hatteras in North Carolina ; 1,236 km (768 mi) south of Cape Sable Island in Nova Scotia ; and 1,578 km (981 mi) north of Puerto Rico's capital San Juan . The capital of the island is the city of Hamilton . Bermuda is an associate member of the Caribbean Group .The first person to know that he arrived in Bermuda was the Spanish sailor Juan de Bermudez in 1503, named after the islands. Bermudez declared ownership of the islands of the Spanish Empire. Bermudez did not land on the islands, but he made two visits to the archipelago, and drew a comprehensive map of the island. It is believed that the Portuguese sailors whose ship crashed here carved an inscription on a rock dating back to 1543, now known as the Portuguese Rock (formerly called the Spanish Rock). [7] It is believed that Spanish groups or other subsequent Europeans released pigs there, which inspired and filled the island by the time of European settlement. In 1609, the English Virginia Company, which founded the Jamestown settlement in Virginia two years ago, established a permanent settlement in Bermuda following a hurricane on the island, when the crew and passengers of the Sea Venture headed to nearby reefs so that they would not sink and then landed on the shore.