Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands , dependency of Great Britain (2005 est. pop. 20,600), 166 sq mi (430 sq km), West Indies. There are more than 30 cays and islands, of which six are inhabited. Geographically, the islands are a southeastern continuation of the Bahamas . The capital is at Cockburn Town on Grand Turk. Lobster and conch are primary exports; the economic mainstays are tourism and offshore financial services. There is also an underground economy based on the transportation of illegal drugs. For nearly three centuries (until the 1960s), salt production was the islands' main industry. The population is largely of African descent; Protestantism is the main religion and English is spoken. The islands are governed under a constitution that came into effect in 2006. There is a unicameral 21-seat House of Assembly with 15 elected and 6 appointed members, all of whom serve four-year terms. The government is headed by a premier, and the monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by a governor, is the head of state. The islands were first visited by Europeans in 1512 when Ponce de León landed there.

Turks and Caicos Islands A group of some fifty Caribbean islands incorporated into the Bahamas in 1799, and ruled as a Jamaican dependency, 1859–1959. When the Federation of the West Indies collapsed because of Jamaican independence, it became a British Overseas Territory in 1962. A self-governing territory in domestic affairs since then, constitutional government was temporarily suspended (1986–8) by Britain as the government was charged with corruption.