🇹🇨Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic, southeast of the Bahamas, prized for some of the most spectacular beaches in the Caribbean. Built on tourism and offshore finance, the islands draw visitors to their barrier reefs and the famous Grace Bay. The seat of government is Cockburn Town on Grand Turk.

The territory comprises two groups of low-lying coral islands, the Turks and the Caicos, separated by a deep channel. The terrain is flat scrubland fringed by white-sand beaches and protected by extensive coral reefs. The climate is warm and tropical, cooled by trade winds.

Island culture blends African, Bermudian and British heritage, with a strong maritime tradition of fishing, salt-raking in earlier centuries, and boat-building. Ripsaw music, conch cuisine and a laid-back pace define local life, while tourism shapes the modern economy.

Inhabited by the Lucayan people before European contact, the islands were long associated with salt production and at various times administered with the Bahamas and Jamaica. They remain a British Overseas Territory today, using the US dollar and relying heavily on luxury tourism.