Turks and Caicos Islands History

The Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum

The Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum on Grand Turk is a wonderful way to learn more about the rich history and culture of the islands.

The Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum

Packed with artifacts and interesting displays, the Turks & Caicos Islands museum has details of the rich history of Turks and Caicos Islands including the Lucayans, the Spanish Conquest, the Pirates and the industries of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Astronaut John Glenn celebrates his historic space flight on Grand Turk Island

The History of Turks and Caicos Islands in a Nutshell

The Turks and Caicos Islands have a long recorded history, and entire books have been written about the colorful pirates and colonists.  Our favorite book is “Turks Islands Landfall - A History of the Turks and Caicos Islands” by H. E. Sadler, an amazing book with great detail.

The original Turks & Caicos Islands inhabitants were the Lucayans, Native Americans whose artifacts are preserved in the Turks and Caicos National Museum on Grand Turk Island.

Sadly, the Lucayans disappeared shortly after the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, as they succumbed to European diseases, slavery and abuse by their Spanish conquerors. 

Lucayans were most populous on East and Middle Caicos but spread to the Turks islands.  There is evidence that the Lucayans traded extensively with other Caribbean islands, and there was booming trade in dried Conch and cigars with the Tainos tribe on nearby Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic).  The Lucayans were successful in harvesting tobacco and made rolled cigars and snuff.  Living simply in conical straw huts, the peaceful Lucayans were completely obliterated by disease and slavery before 1513.

By the early 1500’s, only a few native Lucayans remained on the Turks and Caicos Islands Islands.  To learn more, we highly recommend the book “The Lucayans,” which can be purchased on Amazon or locally at the Unicorn bookstore on Provo or the Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum on Grand Turk Island.

Grand Turk, 1492: Discovering the New World in Turks and Caicos Islands

While many Caribbean nations claim rights to the first landfall of Christopher Columbus in 1492, there is overwhelming evidence that Columbus first set foot in the New World on the western shore of Grand Turk Island, in the area now designated as the Columbus Landfall National Park.  This coastline on Grand Turk is also home to some of the world’s best scuba diving and snorkeling, second only to the Great Barrier Reef.

The Lucayans were a peaceful people and greeted Columbus with gifts, (as shown in the ancient woodcut below) not knowing their impending peril at the hands of the Conquistadors.  The Lucayans were the original “Indians” described by Columbus when he observed the natives and concluded that he had reached India.

A period print showing Columbus greeting the Lucayans
 

Columbus’ Pinta in Turks and Caicos Islands

The Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria are among the most famous ships in history and are one of Turks and Caicos Islands’s greatest secrets.  In the past 400 years, over a thousand sailing ships have fallen victim to the Turks & Caicos Islands shallows and many remain unexplored.  Antique Spanish and British cannons are so common that you will see them as decorative accessories for hotels and government buildings.  The Pinta, one of Columbus’ three caravels, is said to have sunk in the shallow waters of Turks and Caicos Islands and remains undiscovered, a lure for treasure seekers worldwide.

Turks and Caicos Islands after Columbus

Ultimately, the Spanish enslaved many of the local Lucayans and wiped-out the native populations.  During the 1500’s and 1600’s, Turks and Caicos Islands became a strategic stopping place near the route of Spanish shipments and a perfect place for the ribald Caribbean pirates.

The Turks and Caicos Islands islanders defied the British to support the American Revolution, and in 1776, they risked their lives to dodge the British blockade to provide salt to General Washington’s soldiers.

The Turks & Caicos Islands has long had ties to Great Britain, and the islands were the home to American Loyalists who fled the newly-formed United States in the 1770’s to start their plantations on the islands.

Old Spanish Cannons found on Salt Cay

At one point during the colonial plantation period in the late 1700’s, Middle Caicos was the most populated island in Turks and Caicos Islands, while today Middle Caicos has less than 300 residents.

In 1678, the Bermudans occupied the Turks and Caicos Islands area and began the salt raking operations that would last for nearly 300 years.  Salt production officially ended in 1964 when the Morton Salt Company moved their salt production to the Bahamas. 
 

The Pirates of Turks and Caicos Islands

As the Spanish began their plunder of the natural resources of the Caribbean and Mexico, large ships laden with American gold, Caribbean pearls and silver became the target for the pirates.  The Turks & Caicos Islands, by virtue of their vast network of islands, was a perfect place for the pirates to operate and hide their booty.

The most famous of the Turks & Caicos Islands pirates were Ann Bonny and Calico Jack Rackham, a colorful local pair who made their home base at Pirates Cay, which is now Parrot’s Cay.  Captured in 1720, Calico Jack was hanged in Jamaica, and Ann Bonny disappeared into the American frontier, starting her life anew.

Anne Bonny hid her gender for many years and became notorious as a pirate in “his” own right, long before her gender was revealed.  

Pirate Ann Bonny from a period engraving

The Turks & Caicos Islands lies right along the major trade routes to Europe, so the islands became a stopping place for hundreds of seafarers, many of whom stopped to carve their names on the Sapodilla hilltop on Providenciales. These engravings were a tradition for centuries, and many can be traced to the mid 1700’s.

Sapodilla hill mariner engravings on Provo

(Mike Ault)

When Salt was King

Heated by the warm tropical sun, the Turks islands had all the natural resources to supply the salt demands for the USA and Europe, and the natural shallow inlets of Grand Turk were ideal evaporation chambers. 

Old postcard of salt raking on Grand Turk

(Turks and Caicos Islands National Museum)

The salt industry permeated every aspect of the Turks Cay society, and the salt ponds were given names and were owned by private families.  The salt production was grueling work, and the constant toil helped shape the unique character of the Turks and Caicos Islands Belongers.

As late as the 1960’s, Morton Salt negotiated to resurrect salt production, until Morton started their salt production in the Bahamas.  Today, the salt ponds are favorites of the flamingos and egrets; otherwise, the ponds sit idle as a testimonial to the days when salt was king.

Turks and Caicos Islands History with Great Britain

The Turks & Caicos Islands has always been a loyalist nation, and their national identity became firm in the 1780’s when displaced American loyalists fled the newly formed United States to remain loyal to King George III.

The 72 American British Loyalists

Immediately after the American Revolution, 72 American British loyalists from South Carolina and Georgia were given land grants on Turks and Caicos Islands and moved there with hundreds of their slaves to start a new life on scattered plantations in the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

These slaves and workers forged the ancestry for many of today’s Turks & Caicos Islands Belongers.  The displaced Americans fared poorly, and most of the plantations were abandoned by 1800.  Today, the remains of several dozen of these plantations dot the islands and are great fun to explore.

In 1799, the Turks & Caicos Islands became an official extension of the Bahamas, but it was not a happy marriage.  The strained alliance caused Turks and Caicos Islands to have their alliance shifted to Jamaica in 1873.  When Jamaica became independent in 1962, Turks and Caicos Islands also became independent and acquired its first British provincial Governor.

The American colonists brought their slaves and endeavored to sustain themselves by creating plantations.  They raised sisal (a sword-like cactus used to make twine and coarse rope), cotton, date and coconut palms on the more arid islands.  The islands with more rainfall, North and Middle Caicos, were able to support crops of cassava, okra, guava, tamarinds, sapodillas, sugar apples and corn.

Since the deep water surrounding the Turks & Caicos Islands is on the Humpback Whale superhighway, the Bermuda based whalers moved in to Turks and Caicos Islands in the late 1700’s.  Many of the old Bermuda whaling houses still exist.  The most notable is the Salt Raker Inn on Grand Turk, which was built as a whaling house in the 1830’s.
 

Turks and Caicos Islands in the 20^th Century

Turks and Caicos Islands has always been a land of vast secrets, and it been used by Caribbean pirates to hide ill gotten gains, by governments for secret missile testing and as a favorite stopping place for Columbian drug runners. 

As the salt business declined in the early 20th century, the Turks & Caicos Islands found a new purpose as a huge supplier of seafood, especially the Spiny lobster, a huge delicacy in the top restaurants all over the world.

During the period between 1970 and 1990, Turks and Caicos Islands was visited by some notorious criminals who used the vast archipelago because of its thousands of uninhabited island airstrips.  As it turned out, Turks and Caicos Islands served as a prime location for a midway stopping point between Columbia and Florida.

The drug smugglers are an integral part of Turks and Caicos Islands history and some of Turks and Caicos Islands’s most interesting moments in that history involve the Belongers fight against the Columbian menace.  On one occasion, a small airplane with bales of cocaine landed at South Caicos for refueling and suffered a blown tire. 

While the tire was being repaired in Providenciales, the residents of South Caicos raided the stash.  The Columbian gangsters surrounded Cockburn Town with machine guns, and the islanders were able to ransom the cocaine back to the Columbians at a handsome profit.

With the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard, the drug problem is now under control, and the thousands of Turks and Caicos Islands islands are now monitored by satellite, interceptor boats and high-speed helicopters. 

Old English phone booth on Grand Turk

(Mike Ault)

Today, Turks and Caicos Islands gathers significant revenue from offshore banking, tourism and aquaculture involving conch and lobster.  The Turks & Caicos Islands is a cosmopolitan country with ex-pats from almost every country on the globe in residence.

Thanks to smart investment and promotion, the Turks and Caicos Islands Belongers enjoy a quality of life that is superior to many other Caribbean nations, with low-cost medical care, free College education anywhere in the world, and a booming and prosperous economy.

Today, Turks and Caicos Islands has become the home of the Rich and famous (featured on the TV show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous), and for savvy travelers who want the very best of the Caribbean experience.
 

The History of the Belongers

The descendents of the slaves and workers for the plantations, the Turks and Caicos Islands Belongers are a closely knit group of interconnected extended families.

In the Turks & Caicos Islands, there are less than 30,000 Belongers, and this population is dwarfed by the number of tourists and foreign workers.  With a little practice, you will learn to distinguish between a Belonger and a foreign worker, who may be work permit holders from Hispaniola, Haiti or the Dominican Republic.

Uniformed school children on Grand Turk

All Belongers speak excellent English and are generally friendly and courteous.  Even young children will greet you on the street with a warn “Good Evening”, and they will wave to you from the roadside as you drive by, especially on the outer islands.

A Typical Turks and Caicos Islands home

(Mike Ault)

It is not easy to become a Belonger, as it is almost exclusively a right of birth to those born in Turks and Caicos Islands; although, it can also result from contributions to the growth of Turks and Caicos Islands or the establishment of long term residency.

If you ask a Belonger where their family is from, a disproportionate number will answer Salt Cay.  Today, Salt Cay boasts less than 100 residents, but it was once a booming island of thousands of Belongers.

This is an excerpt from the book "Turks and Caicos Islands Insider Adventures" by Rampant TechPress.