Windsong Luxury Beach Front Resort in Turks & Caicos
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The Turks and Caicos Islands are a country of eight major islands and numerous uninhabited cays located 575 miles south of Miami. Their colorful history is infused with piracy, slavery, visitations by Columbus, and a game of colonial musical chairs, with a helping of salt on the side.
Many people are curious about how the Turks and Caicos Islands got their strange sounding names. There are two possible sources for the Turks part of the name. The first source is the indigenous Turk’s Head Cactus that grows on the islands; while the second is the historical use of the word Turk for pirate. This came from the period when the Ottoman Empire dominated Mediterranean shipping. Because these islands were pirate hideouts in the 17th and 18th centuries, it is believed they became known as the Turks Islands.
The name Caicos is said to come from the Lucayan (the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the islands) term for "string of islands", caya hico.
Some islanders believe that the Turks and Caicos beaches were the first landfall of Columbus in 1492, though this is uncertain. Upon the European arrived, the Lucayan inhabitants were wiped out within a generation by disease.
Over the ensuing centuries, the islands’ ownership bounced between the French, Spanish and the English. Because the islands had little in the way of natural resources, their development was slow and few people inhabited them.
In the 1600s, a group from Bermuda began extracting salt from Turks and Caicos beaches and trading it to the cod industry of the northern colonies. The salt raking industry continued until the 1960s. Salt-drying pans, or salinas, which are depressions in the ground that were filled with water, can still be seen around the islands today.
In the 1700s, following the American War of Independence, Empire Loyalists moved to the islands and established cotton plantations. But storms and pests destroyed the cotton plants and by 1820 owners moved on, many abandoning their slaves on the islands.
During the 1800-1900s, the Turks and Caicos Islands became part of the Bahamas, then part of Jamaica, until 1973 when they became a Crown Colony of Great Britain, which they remain today.
Discovering the local culture is a fun part of any Turks and Caicos holiday. Many groups over the centuries have influenced the islands’ culture.
The majority of islanders are black descendants from the early Bermudan salt rakers and Loyalist slave settlers dating back 300 years.
"Ripsaw" or "Rake’n’Scrape" music is the most traditional of the islands’ musical styles. Turks and Caicos music is also influenced by other Caribbean countries, such as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Local art reflects the natural scenery of the island setting.
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Consisting of 40 islands and cays, eight of which are inhabited, the Turks and Caicos Islands are home to roughly 30,000 full time residents, and welcome more than 200,000 tourist annually...
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What you should know about entry requirements, customs, climate, dress, pets, and tipping in the Turks and Caicos Islands...
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The Turks and Caicos Islands currently have 2 full service international airports, Providenciales and Grand Turk, and limited entry facilities in North and South Caicos...
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