Turks and Caicos Islands

About this destination

The Turks and Caicos Islands (English: Turks and Caicos Islands) are two island groups that form part of the Antilles. They lie to the north of the island of Hispaniola and to the southeast of the Bahamas. The islands lie on the route followed by many tropical storms. The island group is named after the Melocactus (English nickname: Turk's-cap cactus) and a corruption of the term caya hico, which means string of islands in the Taíno language. Around 700, Taíno Indians migrated from Hispaniola to the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas. They developed their own culture, left behind archaeological traces, and called themselves the Lucayans.