Re: A History of Turks in America
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In reply to:
Re: A History of Turks in America
Larry Keels 1/06/07
an excerpt from http://www.tradewindscondotel.com/1_922_923.htmlhttp://www.tradewindscondotel.com/1_922_923.html
In 1706 the Turks & Caicos Islands were captured from the Bermudians by the French and the Spanish. Bermuda was a colony of Great Britain and in 1710 the British recaptured the islands on behalf of Bermuda. In subsequent years the islands were often used as a pirate haven for pirates such as Anne Bonny and Francoise L`Olonnois who used French Cay as his pirate base for raiding passing ships.
During the American War of Independence from Great Britain the islands supplied salt to General Washington`s army. In defiance of a Royal Navy blockade in 1776 Bermudian sloops ignore the blockade in order to supply the "enemy".
In 1783 the French seize Grand Turk during its wars with Great Britain.The Royal Navy sent Horatio Nelson to recapture Grand Turk and even the Admiral glorious in British history for defeating the enemy fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar was unsuccessful in taking Grand Turk back for the Crown. However, the islands are later restored to Britain by the Treaty of Versailles.
Many Americans loyal to the Crown (known as Loyalists) fled the American colonies during the war of independence. Many went north to Canada but others came to islands like the Turks & Caicos Islands. It was in 1789 when the Loyalist refugees first started arriving in the islands and then in 1790 the Crown granted land to the British loyalists on Providenciales, Middle Caicos, North Caicos and Parrot Cay. If you look carefully you can still see a living tribute to those Loyalist pioneers in the form of cotton trees that they brought to the islands in hope of cultivating a commercial crop. Unfortunately their efforts were unsuccessful in this regard.
In 1792 Grand Turk becomes the official Port of Entry to the Turks & Caicos Islands and Customs are set up rather than in Nassau in the Bahamas. But in 1799 Britain decides in favour of Bahamian rule for the Turks & Caicos Islands which does not go down well at all with the Bermudians. Most of the inhabitants in the Turks & Caicos Islands in those days were Bermudian and start to resist rule from the Bahamas.
In the war of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain settlers in the islands set up cannons at Fort George Cay (a small cay located between the island of Providenciales and North Caicos) in anticipation of attack by pirate and American ships. The war between the United States and Great Britain led to the suspension of trade and subsequently famine throughout the islands.
In 1813 a large hurricane forced many of the Loyalists to leave the islands for safer havens on other British islands or in Canada. Some Loyalists moved to Grand Turk and took their slaves with them. Then in 1821 hundreds of slaves fled from the islands and escaped to freedom in Haiti. By 1834 all British Colony slaves were granted their freedom, many years before the American Civil War that resulted in freedom for the American slaves. In 1842 Bambarra on Middle Caicos was settled by survivors of a Spanish slave shipwreck called the "Gambia".