Interesting Facts about Turks and Caicos Islands

Did You Know?

2 curious facts about Turks and Caicos Islands.

• The islands were part of the UK's Jamaican colony until 1962, when they assumed the status of a separate crown colony upon Jamaica's independence.
• The popular story is the name Turks being derived after the indigenous Turk’s Head "fez" cactus and the name Caicos, a Lucayan term "caya hico," meaning string of islands. A more romantic, origin of the name is a reflection of the Islands’ pirate history, when 17th and 18th century pirates used the islands as hideouts and preyed upon the passing Spanish treasure ships bound for Europe. The term "Turk" for a pirate stemmed two centuries earlier when the Ottoman Empire dominated the Mediterranean and Turkish corsairs harried European Atlantic shipping, thus translated "Turks" Islands becomes "Pirate" Islands!