A Quick Historical Look at the Turks and Caicos

The Turks and Caicos still argue over who discovered them—even 500 years later. Some folks claim that the island nation was discovered by Christopher Columbus, while others maintain that the islands were truly founded years earlier by Ponce de Leon. In any event, the island's odd name comes from the landscape. Turks come from the naturally-occurring Fez cactus and the term 'Caya Hico' (meaning 'String of Islands). The Turks and Caicos Islands were colonized by several countries such as Spain, England, and even the Bahamas. Eventually, the country failed to mesh well with any of these cultures as a colony, but always maintained ties to them via trade.