Turks and Caicos Islands – from Lucayan homeland to salt, cotton and tourism
The first inhabitants of the Turks and Caicos Islands were Arawakan-speaking people who probably arrived from Hispaniola between about AD 500 and 800 and, together with other migrants, developed into the Lucayan culture. It is uncertain which European first sighted the islands – possibly Columbus in 1492, or more likely Juan Ponce de León in 1512. What is certain is that Spanish slave raids and introduced diseases had completely depopulated the islands by around 1513.
From the mid-17th century salt collectors from Bermuda began visiting the islands seasonally, later settling with enslaved Africans; salt raking would remain the backbone of the economy for centuries. Around 1700 the islands were also a popular pirate hideout. After being briefly captured by France in 1783, they were confirmed as British. Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution established cotton plantations on the Caicos Islands, which declined within a few decades. Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in the 1830s.
Over time the islands were administered from the Bahamas and later from Jamaica. When Jamaica became independent in 1962, the Turks and Caicos became a separate British crown colony. From the late 20th century tourism and offshore finance transformed the islands' economy, and today they are a British Overseas Territory with their own government.
Today the islands are shaped by their Belonger culture, their reefs and beaches, and a close connection to the sea.
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