The Turks and Caicos Islands ( and or ; abbreviated TCI) are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.
The Turks and Caicos Islands lie southeast of Mayaguana in the Bahamas and north of the island of Hispaniola. Cockburn Town, the capital since 1766, is situated on Grand Turk Island about east-southeast of Miami in the United States. The islands have a total land area of. Different sources give different figures for the Islands' area. The by the Turks and Caicos Islands Department of Economic Planning and Statistics gives the same numbers as the Encyclopedia Britannica though its definitions are less clear. The islands are geographically contiguous to the Bahamas, but are politically a separate entity.
The total population is about 45, 000, of whom approximately 22, 500 live on Providenciales in the Caicos Islands.
In August 2009, the United Kingdom suspended the Turks and Caicos' self-government after allegations of ministerial corruption. The prerogative of the ministerial government and the House of Assembly are vested in the islands' incumbent governor, Gordon Wetherell, for a period of up to two years.
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