Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. They were administered by Jamaica until 1962 and then passed under the administration of the Bahamas until 1973. In 1982 the United Kingdom granted independence to the islands, however, the islands preferred to remain a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. The islands are one of seventeen Non-Self-Governing Territories under the supervision of the United Nations Committee on Decolonization.

The name of the Turks comes from an indigenous cactus, the Turk's head (Melocactus intortus), whose scarlet top resembles a fez. The name Caicos may be derived from caya hico, a phrase meaning "island chain" in the language of the Lucayo (Arawak) indigenous people.

The Turks and Caicos Islands lie southeast of Mayaguana in the Bahamas and north of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti and the Dominican Republic meet, in Atlantic Ocean waters. Cockburn Town, the capital, is about 1,042 kilometers (647 mi) east-southeast of Miami in the United States. The islands have a total area of 948 km².

On October 17, 2016, the Queen-appointed Governor of the islands was John Freeman, who acted as head of state and oversaw the work of a 17-member Legislative Council (15 elected by universal suffrage). The council legislates from the city of Cockburn Town, the capital of the territory. Since February 19, 2021, the head of government has been Prime Minister Washington Misick.

The islands' economy is based on tourism, offshore financial services and fishing. Most capital goods and food for domestic consumption are imported. The United States is the main source of tourists, accounting for more than three quarters of the more than 1 million visitors that arrive annually. Three quarters of the visitors come by boat. The main sources of government revenue also include fees from offshore financial activities and customs revenue. The legal tender is the US dollar and since July 2, 1991 the Turks and Caicos Islands are an associate member of the Commonwealth of the Caribbean.

History

The Turks and Caicos Islands were inhabited by the indigenous Lucayan Taino people of the Arawak family. Christopher Columbus' journal indicates that he arrived on the islands in 1492. The islands were later documented by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, in 1512. During the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the islands passed from Spanish to French rule. and the British, but none of the three crowns made settlements.

Salt collectors from Bermuda settled in the Turks in 1681. In the early 18th century, the islands served as a haven for pirates. During the American Revolution (1775-1783), many British loyalists to the English crown fled and became the first permanent European settlers in the Caicos Islands in 1783, which were briefly occupied by the French on March 9, until their return to the British by the Treaty of Paris.

In 1799, both the Turks and the Caicos Island group were annexed by the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the Bahamas. In 1807, the slave trade was prohibited, although not its possession.

In 1841, the Trouvadore, a Spanish ship used for the illegal slave trade, sank off the coast of East Caicos. One hundred and ninety-two captive Africans survived the sinking and made it ashore, where, as a British colony, slave ownership had also been illegal since 1834. These survivors were released and incorporated as apprentice trades for a year, settling mainly in the Grand Turk Island. In 2004, marine archaeologists rediscovered a shipwreck, called the "Black Rock Ship" (Blackrock Ship), which subsequent research has suggested may be the Trouvadore. This proposal was supported by a NOAA-funded underwater archeology expedition in November 2008, which confirmed that artifactual remains comprising the style and date of manufacture supports the association of these remains with that of the Trouvadore. . The remains, however, have not been identified with absolute certainty.

Since 1873 the islands belonged to the colony of Jamaica. When Jamaica gained its independence from the United Kingdom in August 1962, it became dependent on the colony of the Bahamas. When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, Turks and Caicos received its own governor, becoming a colony and later a British Overseas Dependency and Territory to the present day. In 1917 the Prime Minister of Canada, Robert Borden, suggested the possibility of Turks and Caicos being incorporated as a new Canadian province, but the proposal was rejected by the British. In 1980 the British reached an agreement with the Turks and Caicos People's Democratic Movement to grant them independence in 1982. But in the subsequent elections, which were at the same time a referendum, the National Progressive Party, opposed to it, won. he turned down the offer.

Administrative division

The islands are divided into six administrative districts (two in the Turks and four in the Caicos Islands), headed by district commissioners. For the House of Assembly, the archipelago is divided into 15 electoral districts (four in the Turks and eleven in the Caicos Islands).

Geography

Nr	Administrative district	Head	Area (km2)	Population	Electoral districts
Caicos Islands
1	Providences (including Caicos del Oeste)	Providences	163.6	23 769	6
2	North Caicos	Bottle Creek	144.9	1443	2
3	Central Caicos	Conch Bar	144.2	168	1
4	Caicos del Sur (including Caicos del Este)	Cockburn Harbour	136.8	1139	2
Turks
5	Grand Turk	Grand Turk	17.6	4831	4
6	Cayo Sal	Salt Cay	9.1	108	-
	Turks and Caicos Islands	Cockburn Town	616.3	31 458	15

The two groups of islands are located in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the Bahamas, north of Isla Española, and about 1,000 kilometers from Miami in the United States. The territory is geographically contiguous with the Bahamas and comprises the Lucayan Archipelago, but politically they are separate entities.

The eight main islands and more than twenty smaller islands have a total area of 948 square kilometers, mainly low, flat limestone with extensive swamps and mangroves and 332 km² of beachfront. The climate is sunny and dry, but suffers from frequent hurricanes. The islands have limited natural freshwater resources; private cisterns collect rainwater for drinking. The main natural resources are lobster, shells and other shellfish.

The two island groups that make up the Turks and Caicos are separated by the Turks Passage.

Climate

Average Turks and Caicos Islands climate parameters: Grand Turk
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	27	27	28	28	29	30	31	31	31	30	29	28	29.1
Temp. medium (°C)	23	23	23	24	25	26	27	27	27	26	24	24	24.9
Total precipitation (mm)	36.1	34.0	24.6	35.6	29.5	54.9	30.0	40.4	66.5	74.9	93.5	85.1	605.1
Source: Weather.com [1] Weatherbase.com [2]

Caicos Islands

The Caicos Islands are the largest group, with almost 96% of the land area 227.6 and 82% of the population (26,584 of a total of 33,302 in 2006). The Caicos Islands lie around the Caicos Bank, like an atoll, with the six large islands to the west, north, and east, and some small reefs and cays to the south. The Caicos Bank is made of limestone and has an area of 6,140 km² / 2,370 square miles. The area consists of sand, coral reefs, mixed coral, algae, and other habitats, typically at depths of 1 to 5 meters.

• Main Islands:
  • Caicos Central or (Middle Caicos) and its district header is Conch Bar.
  • Caicos del Norte o (North Caicos)' and its district header is Bottle Creek.
  • Caicos del Sur y Caicos del Este o (South Caicos y East Caicos), the head of this district is Cockburn Harbour.
  • Providenciales and Caicos del Oeste (Providenciales and West Caicos), Blue Hills is its district head.
  • Cayo Ambergris (Ambergris Cay).

• Minor islands:
  • Cayo Pine (Pine Cay).
  • Cayo Parrot (Parrot Cay).

Turks Islands

The Turks are divided into two districts:

• Cayo Sal (Salt Cay), with district header in Balfour Town
• Grand Turk Island (Grand Turk), with a district header in Cockburn Town, which is both the capital of the Islands.

Demographics

The population of the islands is 55,926 people (July 2020).

The ethnic composition is as follows:

Afro-descendants 87.6%

Whites 7.9%

· Mixed race 2.5 %

East Indians 1.3%

Others 0.7% (2006)

Languages

The official language of the islands is English, but the population also speaks Turks and Caicos Creole, which is similar to Bahamian Creole. Due to its proximity to Cuba and Hispaniola Island, large Haitian Creole and Spanish-speaking communities have settled in the territory, who arrived both legally and illegally, Haitian Creole from Haiti and Spanish from Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Religion

86% of the population of the Turks and Caicos Islands consider themselves Christian (Baptists 35.8%, Church of God 11.7%, Catholics 11.4%, Anglicans 10%, Methodists 9.3%, Seventh-day Adventists 6%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.8%), other faiths make up the remaining 14%.

Catholics are served by the Mission "Sui Iuris" for the Turks and Caicos Islands, which was established in 1984 with territory taken from the then Diocese of Nassau.

Politics

Turks and Caicos is a British Overseas Territory, a possession of the United Kingdom, currently governed directly by an appointed British Governor. Its self-governing system was suspended in August 2009. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the territory on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

With the first popular election in the territory, the islands' Chief Minister, JAGS McCartney, adopted a constitution (1976), this day is celebrated on 30 August. of 1976, the Constitution was suspended in 1986, but restored and revised on March 5, 1988. A new Constitution entered into force on August 9, 2006, but it was suspended in some parts and modified in 2009. The legal system of the Territory is based on English common law, with a small number of laws passed from Jamaica and the Bahamas. Suffrage is universal for those over 18 years of age. English is the official language. Grand Turk is the administrative and political capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Cockburn Town has been the seat of government since 1766.

As a British territory, King Charles III of the United Kingdom is the sovereign, represented by a governor appointed by the monarch, on the advice of the Foreign Office.

The assembly has 19 seats; 15 members in multi-place constituencies and a single all-island constituency directly elected by simple majority, 1 member appointed by the Prime Minister and appointed by the Governor, 1 appointed by the leader of the opposition party and appointed by the Governor, and 2 from the Turks and Caicos Islands Civic Society appointed directly by the Governor.

The judicial branch of government is headed by a Supreme Court, with appeals heard by the Court of Appeal and final appeals by the Judicial Committee of the UK Privy Council. The islands also have a Court of Appeals, with a President and at least two appellate judges.

Turks and Caicos participates in the Caribbean Development Bank, is a CARICOM associate, and maintains an Interpol sub-office. Defense is the responsibility of the UK. The National Insurance Board and the National Health Insurance Board of the Turks and Caicos Islands are members of the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS).

Movement towards independence

The winning party of the Turks and Caicos Islands' first general election in 1976, the Popular Democratic Movement (MPD) under McCartney, sought to establish a framework and accompanying infrastructure in the quest for full independence for the islands. However, with McCartney's tragic death, confidence in the country's leadership waned. In 1980, the PDM agreed with the British government that independence would be granted in 1982 if the PDM was re-elected at that year's election. That election was effectively a referendum on the question of independence and was won by the pro-dependency Partido Nacional Progresista (PNP), which claimed victory again four years later. With these events, the question of independence largely disappeared from the political scene.

However, in the mid-2000s, the question of the islands' independence was raised again. In April 2006, NPP Prime Minister Michael Misick reaffirmed that his party saw independence from Britain as the "ultimate goal" of the party. for the islands, but not at the present time.

In 2008, opponents of Misick accused him of advancing the islands' independence in order to circumvent a commission of inquiry, which examined reports of corruption by the Misick Administration.

Proposed union with Canada

A large number of tourists who visit the Turks and Caicos are Canadian. Because of this, the islands' status as a British colony, and the historical trade links, some politicians in both Canada and the Turks and Caicos have suggested that some form of union should exist between Canada and the British territory. In 1917, Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden was the first to suggest that the Turks and Caicos Islands be annexed to Canada. In 1974, Max Saltsman, MP for the Waterloo-Cambridge constituency in the House of Commons for the New Democratic Party of Canada, put forward an unsuccessful attempt at consolidation of the islands. The idea was raised again in 1986 at the initiative of Conservative MP Dan McKenzie, but was rejected by his party's committee on foreign affairs in 1987. The committee, chaired by David Daubney MP, considered immigration, banking, health care and tourism issues in making your decision. For the islands to join Canada as a province, this would require an amendment to the Constitution of Canada, ratified by seven provincial legislatures representing at least half of the national population. Because such a measure could attract attention to the provinces to demand other changes to the Constitution, in exchange for such support, this is seen as a politically unfeasible option. Noting that less radical changes to the Constitution do not require unanimous consent. The last province admitted to the Confederation, Newfoundland and Labrador, was annexed to the country in 1949 by an act of the British Parliament. Participating as a territory would be easier, as these can be created by an Act of Parliament. Also, a population of around 30,000 people is considered insufficient for province status - the smallest province, Prince Edward Island, has about 130,000 people. However, this attitude could change if the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, with about 30,000 people each, were made provinces.

In 2004, Alberta Conservative MP Peter Goldring visited the Turks and Caicos to explore the possibility once more. A motion was drafted asking the Canadian government to look into the matter, but his party refused, citing immigration, tourism and economic issues.However, the Canadian government does not rule out the possibility of a future union.

The province of Nova Scotia voted to invite Turks and Caicos to join the province in 2004, if the islands would ever become part of Canada. This would avoid admitting the issues with Turks and Caicos as a separate province.

On March 2, 2009, the Ottawa Citizen published an article on its online site of information of interest to the Canadian government to open a deep-water port in the Caribbean that would open up "a new market for Canadian products in the Caribbean".

In support of the 1990s for integration into the province of Canada as an "11" it was at 90%, while in 2003 support for integration stood at around 60% in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Goldring, a Conservative MP from Edmonton, has championed the cause of integrating the Turks and Caicos as a territory of Canada for security benefits, as well as Canada's growing influence in Central and South America in terms of fighting the terrorism, trade and anti-invasion Chinese influence on several small islands in the Caribbean, such as Saint Lucia.

Corruption

In 2008, after members of the British Parliament conducted a routine review of the administration after receiving several allegations of high-level corruption of civil servants in the Turks and Caicos, then-Governor Richard Tauwhare announced the appointment of a Commission of Investigation into Corruption. The same year, Prime Minister Michael Misick became the focus of a criminal investigation after a woman identified by the news media as a US citizen residing in Puerto Rico was accused of sexually abusing her, although he strongly denies the accusation.

On Monday March 16, 2009, the UK threatened to suspend self-government in the islands and transfer power to the new Governor, Gordon Wetherell, over systemic corruption.

On 18 March 2009, on the advice of her UK ministers, Queen Elizabeth II issued an Order in Council giving the Governor the power to suspend parts of the 2006 Constitution governing ministerial government and the House of Assembly, and to exercise the powers of government itself. The order, which could also establish an Advisory Council and Advisory Forum, instead of the Assembly, will take effect on a date to be announced by the Governor, and will remain in effect for two years unless extended or revoked.

On March 23, 2009, after the investigation found evidence of "high probability of systemic corruption or other serious forms of dishonesty," Misick resigned as prime minister to make way for a new unified government. Politicians were accused of selling Crown land for personal gain and misusing public funds. The next day, Galmo Williams was sworn in as his replacement. Misick denied all charges, and referred to the British government's debate over whether to remove sovereignty from the territory as "tantamount to being re-settled. It is a step back completely contrary to the whole movement of history.

Transportation

Providenciales International Airport is the main gateway to Turks and Caicos. In addition, there are seven more airports, located on each of the other islands. For them there are five paved tracks (three of which are approximately 2,000 meters long and one of them approximately 1,000 meters), although there are two more that are unpaved (one of which is approximately 1,000 meters long and the other is significantly shorter). The island has 121 kilometers of expressways, 24 km paved and 97 km unpaved. The main ports and piers of the country are in Grand Turk and Providenciales. The islands do not have a railway system worth mentioning.

Education

Education is free and compulsory for children ages five to sixteen. Primary education lasts six years and secondary education lasts five years. In the 1990s, the island launched the Primary In Service Teacher Education Project (PINSTEP) in an effort to increase the skills of its primary school teachers, nearly a quarter of whom were unqualified. Turks and Caicos has worked to renovate elementary schools, reduce the costs of textbooks and increase equipment and supplies given to schools. For example, in September 1993, each elementary school was given enough books to allow teachers to establish classroom libraries. In 2001, the student-teacher ratio in primary education was approximately 15 students to one teacher. The Turks and Caicos Islands Community College offers higher education to students who have successfully completed their secondary education. The community college also oversees an adult literacy program. The Ministry of Health, Education, Youth, Sports and Women's Affairs oversees education in Turks and Caicos.

Schools

• Burkes University
• Boston University's: The School for Field Studies
• Turks and Caicos Institute of Professional Studies
• Turks and Caicos Islands Business College

Literature

Turks and Caicos appears in Frederick Forsyth's novel "Icon", which was translated into Spanish as "El Manifesto Negro". In the novel, the protagonist Jason Monk, a former CIA spy who had worked in the Soviet Division, now retired, lives on these islands as skipper of the ship "Foxy Lady".

The writer Peter Benchley, best known for being the author of the best-seller "Jaws", as well as co-writer of the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg in 1975, wrote in 1979 the novel "The Island", published in Spanish under the title "Isla", also set in the Turks and Caicos Islands, about the mysterious disappearance, based on real events, of a series of people and boats in the area.

The Worricker trilogy saga, written and directed by David Hare, consists of three films, the second of which is precisely titled "Turks and Caicos". It was filmed between 2011 and 2014 and chronicles the adventures of Johnny Worricker, a former MI5 agent.

Sports

• Turks and Caicos at the Olympic Games
• Soccer Selection of Turks and Caicos Islands
• WIV Premier League