TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS

British dependency in the West Indies, comprising two small groups of islands at the southeastern end of The Bahamas and about 90 miles (145 km) north of the Dominican Republic. The Turks group is the smaller of the two and consists of Grand Turk, Salt Cay, and lesser cays. The Caicos group consists of six principal islandsSouth Caicos, East Caicos, Middle (or Grand) Caicos, North Caicos, Providenciales, and West Caicosand several cays. The seat of government is at Cockburn Town on Grand Turk Island. Area 193 square miles (500 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 13,400. For information about regional aspects of the Turks and Caicos Islands, see West Indies: Turks and Caicos Islands. British colony in the West Indies. It consists of two groups of islands lying on the southeastern periphery of the Bahamas, of which they form a physical part, and north of the island of Hispaniola. The islands include eight large cays (keys) and numerous smaller cays, islets, reefs, banks, and rocks that have a combined area of 166 square miles (430 square kilometres). The Turks group is composed of Grand Turk, Salt Cay, and lesser cays. The Caicos group, which lies northwest of the Turks and is separated from them by a 22-mile (35-kilometre) deepwater channel, the Turks Island Passage, consists of six principal islandsSouth Caicos, East Caicos, Middle (or Grand) Caicos, North Caicos, Providenciales, and West Caicosand several cays. Only six of the larger cays and two of the smaller cays are inhabited. More than 80 percent of the population lives on Grand Turk (which includes Cockburn Townthe seat of government and main commercial centre), South Caicos, and Providenciales. The name Turks allegedly derives from a species of cactus whose scarlet flowers resemble a Turkish fez; that of Caicos perhaps from cay icoco (a coco plum tree). Additional reading Information on these islands is found in works cited above in the section on the Bahamas. Works specifically on the Turks and Caicos include Turks and Caicos Islands (annual), a standard reference paper of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British Government that provides basic facts; Donovan S. Correll and Helen B. Correll, Flora of the Bahama Archipelago: Including the Turks and Caicos Islands (1982); W. John Rodman, Turks and Caicos Islands: The Caribbean Secret, The Caribbean & West Indian Chronicle, special issue (JuneJuly 1983), on economic conditions; J. Harrison et al., Tourism and Development: The Problems of Small Islands in the Caribbean, Environments, 16(3):125130 (1984), a study of the economic development of Turks and Caicos; C.O. Hesse and K. Hesse, Conch History in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Underwater Naturalist, 10(3):49 (1977), which discusses ecology and commercial fishing; and James H. Stark, Starks's History and Guide to the Bahama Islands: Including Their History, Inhabitants, Climate, Agriculture, Geology, Government, and Resources (1891), a classic background study that provides a history. History A pre-Columbian Indian culture (Arawak perhaps) existed on the islands, but they were probably uninhabited when discovered by Juan Ponce de Len, the Spanish explorer, in 1512. They remained mostly unsettled by Europeans until 1678, when Bermudans arrived and established a solar salt industry. The Caicos Islands were settled by royalist sympathizers from the United States after the War of Independence; they established cotton plantations employing slaves. In 1799 the islands were annexed by the Bahama Islands government, but in 1848 they were granted a separate charter. In the meantime slavery had been abolished (183343), and the plantation owners left the islands, their former slaves remaining in possession. After a period of financial difficulties, the colony was placed under the authority of the British governor-general at Kingston, Jam. (18741959), because ships voyaging between England and Jamaica passed the Turks and Caicos and made communication much easier than with Nassau in the Bahamas. The islands became a crown colony in 1962 when Jamaica became independent. For a time in the 1960s and '70s the islands were under the control of the Bahama Islands, but with Bahamian independence (1973) the Turks and Caicos were placed under a British governor at Grand Turk. As preparation for independence a commission was appointed in the 1980s to make recommendations on a new constitution and to consider the future economic direction of the islands. John H. Bounds The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica