British Overseas Territory, the Turks and Caicos Islands are geographically contiguous to the Bahamas, both belonging to the Lucayan Archipelago in Atlantic Ocean. Turks and Caicos consist of 8 main islands and 299 smaller islands and islets. Two-thirds of the population lives on the island of Providenciales.
Spaniards exterminated aboriginal Indians population that inhabited these islands for more than a thousand years. When British gained control of the islands in 1799, Turks and Caicos became part of the Bahamas and British West Indies. Over the years, status of these islands changed several times. It was a separate territory, or belonged to Jamaica and again to the Bahamas. When the latter gained independence in 1973, Turks and Caicos became a separate British Overseas Territory.
As soon as in 1834 the Slavery Act became a law, slave trade was declared illegal not only in the British Isles, but also in almost all its territories. Over the years, all slaves have become free people. Descendants of slaves brought from the Bahamas and other American colonies make up the core of today's native islanders in Turks and Caicos.
