Caribbean Cruise Destinations: Turks And Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands ( and or ; abbreviated TCI) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of two groups of sub-tropical islands in the West Indies, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are southeast of Mayaguana in the Bahamas and north of the island of Hispaniola. Cockburn Town, the capital, is about east-southeast of Miami in the United States http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=156, The islands have a total land area of .Different sources give different figures for the Islands' area. The CIA World Factbook gives 430 km2, europa.eu says 417 km2 and the Encyclopedia Britannica says "Area at high tide, 238 square miles (616 square km); at low tide, 366 square miles (948 square km)". A report by the Turks and Caicos Islands Department of Economic Planning and Statistics gives the same numbers as the Encyclopedia Britannica though its definitions are less clear. The islands are geographically contiguous to the Bahamas, but are politically a separate entity.

The total population is about 36,000, of whom approximately 22,500 live on Providenciales in the Caicos Islands. Cockburn Town, the capital, is on Grand Turk Island.

In August 2009, the United Kingdom suspended the Turks and Caicos' self-government after allegations of ministerial corruption. The prerogative of the ministerial government and the House of Assembly are vested in the islands' incumbent governor, Gordon Wetherell, for a period of up to two years.

The term British West Indies refers to territories in and around the Caribbean which have been or were at one time colonised by the United Kingdom. definition Collectively these territories are also now known as the Anglophone Caribbean. Between 1958 and 1962 all of the island territories except the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, and Bermuda were organised into the West Indies Federation. It was hoped that the Federation would become independent as a single nation, but it had limited powers, many practical problems and a lack of popular support. Consequently, the West Indies Federation was dissolved. Most of the territories, including all the larger ones, are now independent as separate countries with membership to many international forums such as the Organization of American States, the Association of Caribbean States, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the Caribbean Community, the Commonwealth of Nations and the Caribbean Development Bank among others. Some of the smaller nations which still make up the current British West Indies are British dependencies. All the former nations of the British West Indies, except the Commonwealth of Dominica are Commonwealth Realms.Islands in the Caribbean - Lists islands still classified as British West Indies

The official Turks and Caicos tourism website claims Columbus set foot on the island in 1492.

The history of the Turks and Caicos Islands can be traced back to early European explorations of the Americas. The first recorded sighting of the islands now known as the Turks and Caicos Islands occurred in 1512. In the subsequent centuries, the islands were claimed by several European powers with the British Empire eventually gaining control. After the islands' settlement, the 18th century African slave trade brought many Africans to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Their descendants form a large part of Bahamas' population. The islands were governed by the British indirectly through Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, the islands received their own governor and have remained a separate autonomous British Overseas Territory since.