Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic, southeast of the Bahamas and north of Hispaniola. Cockburn Town on Grand Turk has been the capital since 1766, and the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands make up the territory.

Arawak-speaking people crossed from Hispaniola between AD 500 and 800 and, together with Taíno from Cuba, became the Lucayan people. Caicos comes from a Lucayan phrase for string of islands, while the Turks Islands are named after a cactus whose red top resembles a Turkish fez. Juan Ponce de León probably reached the islands in 1512. Salt rakers from Bermuda began to visit seasonally from the mid-1600s and later settled.

France captured the islands in 1783, but the Treaty of Paris confirmed British rule, and Loyalists from the new United States brought cotton farming before salt became the main export. Britain made the islands part of the Bahamas in 1799, a separate colony in 1848 and part of Jamaica in 1873. The islands became a Crown colony when Jamaica gained independence in 1962 and received their own governor in 1973, and a constitution of 30 August 1976 created an elected government.

Tourism and offshore finance drive the economy, while spiny lobster and conch are the main natural resources, and the islands have the only conch farm anywhere. Middle Caicos, the largest island, is home to few people, and a long coral reef runs along the islands. Government has sat in Cockburn Town on Grand Turk since 1766, ripsaw music began on the islands, and conch fritters and conch salad are the common local dishes.