Turks and Caicos is still a British Colony, now styled British Overseas Territory. This became possible because somebody eventually decided to live there. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This is a pleasant Commonwealth style issue showing fish. The Queen Angelfish is indeed present in the ocean area around the islands. The angelfish are something less than angelic. In aquariums they are known to fight each other. There is also the issue that they tend to chew on coral reefs. They can be forgiven of course because they don’t understand the climate crime they are committing.
Todays stamp is issue A69, a 20 cent stamp issued by the British self governing colony of Turks and Caicos on December 15th, 1981. This was a 28 stamp issue in different denominations that came out over five years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.50 used.
There is evidence that a Lucayan Indian outpost existed on the island before it was spotted by Europeans but they were long gone. The first person to try to live on the islands was in 1709 when English colonist Bernard Caicos arrived. He thought himself of long ago Ottoman heritage explaining the Turk name. At the end of the American revolutionary war, 40 Crown Loyalists from Georgia and South Carolina were granted land to replace land seized from them. They brought with them 1000 slaves and grew sisal, a fiber used in ropes.
The big industry on the islands was however raking salt. Bermudan and Bahamians came in seasonally to get the salt, which was quite valuable then for food preservation. Turks and Caicos salt passed through trading houses in Bermuda and sold all along the east coast of North America. The trading got so lucrative that Bermuda petitioned the Crown to be given authority over Turks and Caicos, so they could exclude the Bahamians. The government ruled that no colony could itself have a colony and that any British subject had a right to rake the salt. Some may say non conguently, they then beefed up the administration from Jamaica. After first Jamaica then Bahamas became independant, Turks and Caicos was granted it’s own Governor and self rule. The position of both political parties is eventual independence but not now, as it would interfere with the tax haven status.
Being a colony has been a boon for good governance. In the early 2000s a string of three locally elected Premiers were arrested on charges of stealing, drug running, and even sexual assault. After a British Parliamentary inquiry it was decided to revoke self government until reforms and financial controls could be put in place. Since the return to self rule, there have been two Premiers. Neither has been arrested to date.
Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.