The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and northern West Indies. They are known primarily for tourism and as an offshore financial centre. The resident population in July 2021 was put at 57,196, making it the third-largest of the British overseas territories by population. The islands are southeast of Mayaguana in the Bahamas island chain and north of the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Grand Turk (Cockburn Town), the capital since 1766, is situated on Grand Turk Island about east-southeast of Miami, United States. They have a total land area of . The islands were inhabited for centuries by indigenous peoples. The first recorded European sighting of them was in 1512. In subsequent centuries, they were claimed by several European powers, with the British Empire eventually gaining control. For many years they were governed indirectly through Bermuda, the Bahamas and Jamaica. When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, the islands received their own governor, and have remained an autonomous territory since. Etymology The name Caico[s] is from the Lucayan caya hico, meaning 'string of islands'. The Turks Islands are named after the Turk's cap cactus, Melocactus intortus, whose red cephalium resembles the fez hat worn by Turkish men in the late Ottoman Empire. History Pre-colonial era The first inhabitants of the islands were the Arawakan-speaking Taíno people, who most likely crossed over from Hispaniola some time from AD 500 to 800. Together with Taíno who migrated from Cuba to the southern Bahamas around the same time, these people developed as the Lucayan. Around 1200, the Turks and Caicos Islands were resettled by Classical Taínos from Hispaniola. European arrival It is unknown precisely who the first European to sight the islands was. Some sources state that Christopher Columbus saw the islands on his voyage to the Americas in 1492. However, other sources state that it is more likely that Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León was the first European in Turks and Caicos, in 1512. In either case, by 1512 the Spanish had begun capturing the Taíno and Lucayans as labourers in the encomienda system to replace the largely depleted native population of Hispaniola. As a result of this, and the introduction of diseases to which the native