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Royal West Indies Resort Hotel
BOX 482, GRACE BAY ROAD - Turks And Caicos, Turks And Caicos Islands

Experience The Beauty Of Grace Bay's 12 Miles Of White Powder Sands And Turquoise Ocean At Turks & Caicos' Newest All-suite Oceanside Property, The Royal West Indies Resort

Royal West Indies Resort

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The Turks and Caicos Islands
is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, southeast of the Bahamas, at 21°45′N 71°35′W. The territory is geographically part of the Bahamas islands, but not politically. The thirty islands total 166 sq. mi. (430 km²), primarily of low, flat limestone with extensive marshes and mangrove swamps. The weather is usually sunny and relatively dry, but suffers frequent hurricanes. The islands have limited natural fresh water resources; private cisterns collect rainwater for drinking. The primary natural resources are spiny lobster and conch. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Turks and Caicos Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Politics
See also Politics of the Turks and Caicos Islands
The capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands is Cockburn Town on Grand Turk. The islands were under Jamaican jurisdiction until 1962, when they assumed the status of a crown colony. The governor of the Bahamas oversaw affairs from 1965 to 1973. With Bahamian independence, the islands received a separate governor in 1973. Although independence was agreed upon for 1982, the policy was reversed and the islands are presently a British overseas territory. The islands adopted a constitution on August 30, 1976, which is Constitution Day, the national holiday. The constitution was suspended in 1986, but restored and revised March 5, 1988. The territory's legal system is based on English common law, with a small number of laws adopted from Jamaica and the Bahamas. Suffrage is universal for those over 18 years of age. English is the official language.

As a British territory, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is the sovereign, represented by a governor. The head of government is the chief minister. The Executive Council consists of three ex officio members and five appointed by the governor from among the members of the Legislative Council. No elections are held; the monarch is hereditary, the governor appointed by the monarch, and the chief minister appointed by the governor.

The unicameral Legislative Council consists of 19 seats, 13 popularly elected; members serve four-year terms. Elections were held March 4, 1999, and again in 2003. The Progressive National Party, led by Hon. Dr. Michael Misick holds eight seats, and the People's Democratic Movement, led by Derek H. Taylor, holds five seats. The United Democratic Party, led by Wendal Swann, received a small fraction of the popular vote, but not enough to earn a seat.

The judicial branch of government is headed by a Supreme Court.

Turks and Caicos participates in the Caribbean Development Bank, is an associate in Caricom, and maintains an International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol sub-bureau. Defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom. In December of 2004 the Turks and Caicos Islands sought to become a new associate member to the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) article.

History of the Turks and Caicos Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The first inhabitants of the Turks and Caicos Islands were Amerindians, first the Arawak people, who were, over the centuries, gradually replaced by the warlike Carib.

The first European to sight the islands was Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, who did so in 1512, though some historians claim that Guanahani, the native name of the island Christopher Columbus called San Salvador on his 1492 voyage, is Grand Turk Island or East Caicos Island.

Spanish slavers frequently raided the islands, enslaving the Caribs of the islands. Only a year after first being discovered, the entire archipelago was completely depopulated.

During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the islands passed from Spanish, to French, to British control, but none of the three powers ever established any settlements.

From about 1690 to 1720, pirates hid in the cays of the Turks and Caicos Islands, attacking Spanish treasure galleons en route to Spain from Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Spanish possessions in Central America and Peru.

The islands were not fully colonised until 1681, when salt collectors from Bermuda built the first permanent settlement on Grand Turk Island (thought to be so named due to the presence of cacti with, what appeared to them to be red fez-like structures on their tops, but this not likely to be true, since the fez was unknown to Turkey before 1826). The salt collectors were drawn by the shallow waters around the islands that made salt mining a much easier process than in Bermuda. Their colonization established the British dominance of the archipelago that has lasted into the present day. Huge numbers of trees were felled to discourage rainfall that would dilute the salt mining operation. Most of the salt mined in the Turks and Caicos Islands was sent to Newfoundland to be used for preserving cod.

The agricultural industry sprung up in the islands in the late 1780s after 40 Loyalists arrived after the end of the American Revolution, primarily from Georgia and South Carolina. Granted large tracts of land by the British government to make up for what they lost in the American colonies, the Loyalists imported well over a thousand slaves and planted vast fields of cotton.

Though in the short term highly successful, the cotton industry quickly went into decline, with hurricanes and pests destroying many crops. Though a few of the former cotton magnates changed to salt mining, just about every one of the original Loyalists had left the islands by 1820, leaving their slaves to live a subsistence lifestyle through fishing and hunter-gathering.

In 1799 the islands were given representation in the Bahamas Assembly, and they remained part of that colony until 1848, when the inhabitants successfully petitioned to be made a separate colony under the supervision of the governor of Jamaica. This arrangement proved to be a financial burden, and in 1873 the Turks and Caicos Islands were annexed to Jamaica with a Commissioner and a Legislative Board.

The islands remained a dependency of Jamaica until 1959, when they received their own governor. When Jamaica was granted independence from Britain in August 1962, the Turks and Caicos Islands became a crown colony.

The salt industry, along with small sponge and hemp exports, sustained the Turks and Caicos Islands (only barely, however; there was little population growth and the economy stagnated) until in the 1960s American investors arrived on the islands and funded the construction of an airstrip on Provo Island and built the archipelago's first hotel, "The Third Turtle". A small trickle of tourists began to arrive, supplementing the salt economy. Club Med set up a resort at Grace Bay soon after. In the 1980s, Club Med funded an upgrading of the airstrip to allow for larger aircraft, and since then, tourism has been gradually on the increase. It is common for foreign couples to be married in the Turks and Caicos Islands today.

In 1980, the ruling pro-independence party, the People's Democratic Movement, agreed with the British government that independence would be granted if the PDM was reelected in the elections of that year. The PDM lost the elections to the Progressive National Party, which supported continued British rule. The PNP's leader, Norman Saunders, became chief minister, and won the 1984 elections. However, in 1985 Saunders and two associates were convicted in the USA on drug charges.

The PNP emerged victorious from the following by-elections, but on July 24, 1986, the governor dissolved the government and replaced it with an advisory council after a report on allegations of arson and fraud found that the chief minister post-Saunders, Nathaniel Francis, along with four other PNP officials were unfit to rule.

Under the careful guidance of the governor and the advisory council, a new constitution for the Turks and Caicos Islands was created and elections held in 1988, with the PDM winning by a landslide, and Washington Misick becoming the new chief minister.

Wenika Ewing was the islands' representative to the Miss Universe contest in 2005.

Background:
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 governor of The Bahamas oversaw affairs from 1965 to 1973. With Bahamian independence, the islands received a separate governor in 1973. Although independence was agreed upon for 1982, the policy was reversed and the islands are presently a British overseas territory.
Geographic coordinates:
  21 45 N, 71 35 W
Map references:
 Central America and the Caribbean
 
Area - comparative:
2.5 times the size of Washington, DC
Climate:

tropical; marine; moderated by trade winds; sunny and relatively dry
Terrain:
low, flat limestone; extensive marshes and mangrove swamps
Ethnic groups:
black
Religions:
Baptist 40%, Methodist 16%, Anglican 18%, Church of God 12%, other 14% (1990)
Languages:
English (official)
Currency:
US dollar (USD)
Currency code:
USD
Exchange rates:
the US dollar is used

 

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